“Colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back”

Björk has voiced her support for Greenland’s independence following Donald Trump’s proposition to annex the country, and said that the topic of “colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back”.

The US President has repeatedly hinted at the prospect of having the island become an annexed part of the United States, and told reporters recently that the country “need[s] Greenland from the standpoint of national security” (as per BBC News).

Citing how its location could be strategic for the US when it comes to defence purposes, the idea has been repeatedly criticised by officials and residents in the Danish territory.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen dismissed Trump’s threat as a “fantasy” and told the president “that’s enough now”. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also said that Trump has “no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom”.

Greenland has been self-governed since the late ’70s and has a population of roughly 57,000 people, although matters of foreign policy and defence are still run by Denmark.

Icelandic music icon Björk has now also hit back at Trump – as well as Denmark – sharing a statement across social media encouraging those in Greenland to keep a tight grip on their independence, especially given Iceland’s past.

“I wish all Greenlanders blessing in their fight for independence,” she began, going on to make reference to her own country’s history. “Icelanders are extremely relieved that they managed to break from the Danish in 1944. We didn’t lose our language (my children would be speaking danish now), and I burst with sympathy for Greenlanders.”

Björk went on to highlight the scandal of “forced contraception” in the mid-’60s and early ‘70s, and alleged that she believes “the Danish are treating Greenlanders like they are second class humans” in 2025.

“Colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back, and the chance that my fellow Greenlanders might go from one cruel coloniser to another is too brutal to even imagine,” the singer continued.

“’Úr öskunni í eldinn’, like we say in Icelandic,” she wrote, with the phrase roughly translating to “from the ashes into the fire”.

Concluding, Björk shared: “Dear Greenlanders, declare independence! Sympathetic wishes from your neighbours.”

Discussions around the territory possibly becoming annexed as part of the US have accelerated following the large military operation against Venezuela over the weekend – which saw the US seize the country’s president and his wife, and Trump claiming he would “run” the nation (via CNN).

As well as politicians and citizens in Greenland and Denmark widely rejecting the threats of the land being annexed as part of the US, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has also rejected the notions put forward by Trump, and said that Denmark and Greenland are the only ones who “must decide the future of” the nation (via BBC News).

A spokesperson for the European Union has also dismissed claims made by the US president that the union “needs” the island to be controlled by the United States – outlining to The Guardian that it was “certainly not” the outlook held by the EU.

This is far from the first time that Björk has used her platform to speak out on political matters, especially concerning disputes over territory and independence. Back in 2008 the singer stood behind the comments she made about Tibet during a visit to China, and later that year she shared that she supported Kosovo’s claim for independence.

Credit: Nick Knight

“I would like to put importance on that I am not a politician, I am first and last a musician and as such I feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions,” she said at the time, following rumours that she was dropped from the bill of a Serbian festival following the initial comments.

Similarly, in 2014 Björk urged the people in Scotland to vote ‘yes’ in the Scottish independence referendum and, more recently, she joined the ‘No Music For Genocide’ campaign. The latter is a move that comes amid the conflict in Palestine, and has made her back catalogue unavailable on streaming services in Israel.

Other names to have gotten involved in the campaign include Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., Amyl & The Sniffers, Kneecap, Paramore, Rina Sawayama, Primal Scream, Faye Webster, Japanese Breakfast, Yaeji, King Krule, MJ Lenderman, Mannequin Pussy, Wednesday, Soccer Mommy and MØ.

The Icelandic singer put her name towards the initiative in September last year, and the following month saw her call for her “childhood friend” and musician Magga Stína to be returned safely after her family claimed she had been kidnapped by Israeli forces.

Speaking to NME back in 2022, the artist opened up about her consistent efforts to speak out for what she believes in. This included both her resentment of the “mass murders, [and] racial violence” that she saw during her time living in the US, and her climate activism and work alongside David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg.

“I thought we’d be doing better with environmental things. We reacted so strongly to the COVID pandemic; all governments worked and we invented the fucking vaccine in 10 months or something. It was a miracle for seven billion people. I would hope we would react as strongly to the environment,” she said.

“Gen Z-ers are really radical, and I’m relieved that the environment is a priority for them – I’m up for it,” she continued. “When I read the news, most of it won’t matter in 20 years. The only thing that really matters is how we deal with the environment.”

The musician’s last studio album was 2022’s ‘Fossora’, and last month it was revealed that there may be a new record on the way for 2026.

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