Her debut album, which appeared in 1995 in her home country, was peppered with chart-topping songs. Industry-tested Scandinavian producers – such as Max Martin, who went on to work with the likes of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys – crafted a commercially friendly sound for her: a hybrid of pop and R&B with a ’90s girl-power twist. Nearly 25 years ago, 11-year-old Robin Carlsson was already doing voice acting for animated films when an established Swedish pop star, Meja, spotted her performing in a school musical workshop and put her in touch with a manager. While her pop star peers exhibit a standard of highly controlled perfection, she’s become an icon of free-spirited self-expression. This is pretty typical: she’s more interested in her listeners being themselves than in them refashioning themselves in her image. An ingenious interactive featuring their grievances alongside Robyn’s sardonic lyrics went viral. She opened her last solo project, 2010’s epic three-part album Body Talk, with a song called “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do” – then asked her fans to tweet about their own frustrations. But unlike most other pop stars (she hates that term), Robyn is, as usual, very much doing what she wants, and very much for herself.Įver since she bought herself out of her major-label contract with BMG subsidiary Jive Records in 2004, Robyn has made music for girls and boys who dance alone in their bedrooms, who wear and say and do the things that make them happy. Which isn’t to say we don’t enjoy it as we shoulder-roll, high-kick and booty-shake along with her. Neither is she dancing for us, or making music for us. Of course, the 35-year-old Robyn is clearly not dressing up for me, or anyone for that matter. I’m dressing up for you,” she says, with an easy, high-pitched laugh. It’s a hot, sticky day, and she’s holding a water bottle, looking sporty in white muay Thai boxing shorts and a white crop top, with her latest signature: custom-made, ’80s basketball sneakers with 6 cm platforms. We’re backstage at the Latitude Festival, a weekend-long music and arts event that draws 35,000 people to a rural spot near the eastern English coast, and the Swedish singer is a few hours away from a headlining performance with her friends and collaborators, the Norwegian dance duo Röyksopp. I'll wait.Robyn looks like she’s warming up for a fight. Listen with headphones and minimize all your other tabs before you hit play-it demands undivided attention-and then circle back.
That's why I wait for her-perfection takes time and care to craft, and who am I to demand art before art's completion? Plus, sometimes, waiting yields a deeper appreciation for the music in question, which is exactly what brings us to today, the day Robyn released "Honey." It's embedded below for you. Also, if I've lost you, come back! Have you seen her cover of Björk's "Hyperballad" from 2010, which she performed with Björk watching and listening right in front of her? It will fuck you all the way up, you can thank me later. Her Body Talk trilogy is as close to iconic as pop albums come. "Cobrastyle," a 13-year-old Teddybears' production, could topple current pop hits right off the chart were it to come out today. "Show Me Love," written with the since-passed Denniz Pop alongside still current hitmaker Max Martin, was released as a single in 1997 but still goes 100% of the way off. To catch you up to speed: for decades now, Robyn-a Swedish pop musician and songwriter-has kept a firm, if somewhat irregular, stranglehold on pop. (If you're gay, we don't need to establish how you know Robyn.) If you're straight, you might know her as the "Dancing On My Own" or "Call Your Girlfriend" singer who percolated pop music more than half a decade ago you might only know her from that SNL backstage shot-for-shot "Call Your Girlfriend" remake Taran Killam posted 7 (yes, 7) years ago. If there's one pop star who knows anything about anticipation, it's Robyn.