 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Volta
Common Sense Media says
Electro music queen sings safe, beautiful poetry.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that there are a few dark images (corpses and pregnant terrorists, for example) sprinkled amid charming poetry and an experimental hodgepodge of sound effects. There are also subtle messages of female empowerment.
What's the story?
VOLTA, Bjork's sixth album, is filled with odd musical juxtapositions and playful experimentation. Kids will find the surprising mix of sound effects and inventive percussion on many of the tracks very cool. Timbaland fans will enjoy the fact that he produced two of the tunes. Feminists will love the all-female Icelandic brass section. And parents will appreciate that the few mentions of anything sexual are buried deep in innuendo ("Let's celebrate now all the flesh on our bones/let me push you up against me tightly") and that the few potentially frightening images ("turmoil carnage," "suicide bomber made to look pregnant") are softened with intriguing musical arrangements and wispy, ethereal vocals.
Is it any good?
As is often the case with quirky artistic efforts, some of it works and some of it doesn't -- and the songs that work the best are those that are the least self-consciously "artistic." When Bjork manages to get over herself and just be fun, her music is absolutely charming. There's something delightfully refreshing about Bjork's way of turning a phrase. For example, on Wanderlust, she sings, "I am leaving this harbour/giving urban a farewell/Its habitants seem too keen on God/I cannot stomach their rights and wrongs/I have lost my origin and I don't want to find it again/rather sailing into nature's laws/and be held by ocean's paws." Bjork is really one of a kind.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about creating something different. What makes Bjork's music and songwriting stand out from the other pop music out there? What is it about popular culture that makes so many artists try to sound the same? Do you think it's hard to be different?
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AGE
Bjork's latest album since 2004's Medulla sees her return to a more conventional sounding pop album (by Bjork's standards). This charming experimental pop album is suitable for all ages.
The sexual innuendo described by the CSR ("Let's celebrate now all the flesh on our bones/let me push you up against me tightly") is not sexual at all. That quote is lifted from the song "I See Who You Are", which is a song about her daughter.
The only song which has any really outright negative characteristics is "Hope", the lyrics are hopelessly bad and have something about a suicide bomber, the whole song just isn't very good/inspiring in general.
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