Björk – Allow Lyrics

“Allow” was originally created during sessions for Björk’s previous album Utopia but was not released until 2022 with Fossora. In an interview with DAZED magazine, writer Selim Bulut described it as “one of the most straightforward, melodic songs” she was considering for Utopia, illustrating “the way that her relationship with [Arca, Utopia’s co-producer,] has developed over time.” Björk added:

We had a lot of holidays together. [A group of us] got Airbnbs in the Caribbean. We’d walk in the jungles, recording birds. The lyrics are very much like that. Just us, swimming in the ocean for days. On day nine, that song just happened.

[Verse 1: Björk]
The warm, open wind on my skin
Primordial, a plants glazed at me
With moisture directed at me, erupts
My hair fossilised with salt and crust (Crust)

[Chorus: Emilie Nicolas & Björk]
Allow, allow, allow
Allow you to grow (Allow)
Allow, allow, allow, allow
Allow, allow, allow, allow me (You to grow, you to grow)
Me to grow (Me to grow, grow, grow)

[Post-Chorus: Björk]
Allow, allow
To grow

[Verse 2: Björk, Björk & Emilie Nicolas]
I look up at the treetops
I will braid those twigs together
Create a cathedral ceiling above me
How I long to float at midair
Between the branches amongst impossible magic

[Chorus: Björk, Emilie Nicolas]
Allow, allow, allow
Allow you (Allow, allow, allow)
Allow, allow, allow it to happen (Allow, allow you to grow)
Oh, happen to us
Allow, allow, allow (Ooh)

[Outro: Emilie Nicolas, Björk, Both]
I made a moon (Allow, allow)
A translucent one
Now could I (Cut it out into something)
Cut it out for someone like you
How mysterious I must feel to you
The universe and the sky too
My little phoenix
When you burst out a song from my lips