Songfacts®:

• "Oral" is a collaborative song by Björk and Spanish singer-songwriter and producer Rosalía. Originally written by the Icelandic singer in the late '90s, she revisited the song in the wake of protests against Norwegian-owned open-pen fish farming operations that are threatening native ecosystems on the eastern side of Iceland. Björk recorded it with Rosalía, who she had met through Spanish producer El Guincho in 2017. She donates all the proceeds from "Oral" towards the fight against fish farming in Iceland.
• The lyrics have nothing to do with fish farming or the environment. Rather, "Oral" is a Jamaican dancehall-inspired song of longing where Björk and Rosalia wonder whether to reveal their feelings to a love interest.
  
  "It's totally that moment when you've met someone, and you don't know if it's friendship or something more," Björk explained to Rolling Stone. "So you become, I guess, aroused. And you become very aware of your lips. That's maybe why I called the song 'Oral.' You don't know what the consequences are if you act. Sometimes fantasy can be amazing, and that's enough; you don't have to also do things."
  
  "But it's quite playful. It's not a painful song at all," she added. "And even though I obviously didn't write this song for salmons, I like the fact that it's a happy song."
• Björk originally recorded the song between 1997's Homogenic and 2001's Vespertine. "It was just so different; it was so poppy," she said. "It didn't fit either album somehow. But I never forgot about it. It was always kind of rolling around in my brain."
  
  The singer had a special feeling for the song and wanted to revisit it. Every three years Björk asked her manager to search for it, but he couldn't retrieve the track because she couldn't remember its name. For years, it went undetected, until March 2023.
  
  "There was this aristocrat, like in the financial district, who had a sex scandal or something, and there was a court case about him and his two sons," Björk explained. "I was touring in Australia at the time, and I was watching CNN. In the ribbon of headlines at the bottom of the screen, it said, 'Oral or not oral?' I was like, "Wow, that's the name of the song: 'Oral.'"
  
  So Björk texted her manager and asked him to look in the analog multitracks and find the song named "Oral." He found it and e-mailed it to her.
  
  "What's weird is that the song was exactly how I remembered it," she said. "I liked the song, but it was sort of its own little thing that doesn't fit on any albums or anything. And then this whole open sea fish farming thing came up, and I was like, "Oh, I will just give it to activism."
• When Björk listened to the Jamaican-inspired tune, she chose Rosalia to join her because her 2022 Motomami album was alternative reggaeton. Also, Rosalia is more contemporary. "There is an elegant resonance between the fact that both of our voices are the same age on the recording," Björk said.
• Irish-Scottish producer Sega Bodega helped Björk rework the song. Bodega has also worked with Caroline Polachek ("Sunset") and Shygirl (Slime").
• Björk has a long history of environmental activism. She has been vocal in her support for various environmental causes, including the protection of Iceland's highlands and the fight against climate change. Here are some examples of Björk's environmental activism:
  
  In 2008 she released the song "Náttúra" featuring Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke, with all proceeds going to an Icelandic environmental grassroots movement.
  
  In 2015, Björk canceled her performance at Iceland Airwaves festival and held a press conference instead to call for the creation of a national park in Iceland's highlands. She argued the highlands were a precious natural resource that needed to be protected from development.
  
  Between 2019-2023, Björk incorporated a video message by Greta Thunberg into her Cornucopia concert tour where she addresses climate change and sustainable energy.
• Spanish photographer Carlota Guerrero directed the music video. Shot at the Granja de la Ricarda in El Prat de Llobregat, Spain, it sees Björk and Rosalia in a fight reminiscent of a Mortal Kombat scene before they turn against the camera operator.