Declare Independence (4:12)

“Declare Independence” is a song written and recorded by Icelandic singer Björk. The track was released as the third single from her sixth full-length studio album, Volta. The single was released on January 1, 2008. Björk’s dedicating of a live performance of the song in Shanghai, China to the Tibetan freedom movement caused international controversy. It failed to chart in the UK, becoming the second single in a row to do so, perhaps, once again, of the lack of a traditional physical release.

The song was originally an instrumental track by British musician and frequent musical collaborator Mark Bell, performed at his live shows as early as November, 2006. Björk later added her vocals on top. The lyrics are dedicated to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Declare Independence was originally meant to be released as the second single from Volta in August, 2007, but due to the worldwide success of the album Björk had to perform more international promotion work than her label One Little Indian had originally planned, meaning that the previously-planned video shoot for “Declare Independence” with Michel Gondry in London couldn’t take place. Björk has performed the song on every show of the worldwide Volta tour, usually as the very last song of the concert. The live performances make heavy use of the ReacTable, an electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop Tangible User Interface.