Latest Release
- JUN 18, 2024
- 1 Song
- Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat · 2023
- Body Talk, Pt. 1 · 2010
- Body Talk · 2010
- Robyn Is Here · 1995
- In Waves · 2024
- Honey · 2018
- Robyn Is Here · 1995
- Body Talk · 2010
- Honey · 2018
- Kleerup · 2007
Essential Albums
- 100 Best Albums The original version of Body Talk opens with “Fembot”—a track that serves as a de facto mission statement for the Swedish pop star’s landmark seventh album. Released in 2010, Body Talk is a mix of tight electro and dance pop, with Robyn’s formidable vocals and songcraft so polished, you can practically feel the production gleaming. But as Robyn declares on the track: “Fembots have feelings, too.” And boy does Body Talk have feelings. The album, which compiles standout tracks from a series of mini-LPs, would help launch two of the 21st century’s definitive “sad bangers”: “Dancing on My Own” and “Call Your Girlfriend.” Both tracks judder with achy, bittersweet emotion—while also encouraging you to grab your mates, throw your arms in the air, and let it all out on the dance floor. Not surprisingly, “Dancing on My Own” and “Call Your Girlfriend” both became worldwide smashes, so inescapable and influential that they inspired countless “crying-on-the-dance-floor” pop anthems. But Body Talk’s emotional core is embodied by more than just those two standout tracks. On “Love Kills” and “Hang With Me,” Robyn reminds listeners to steel themselves against the potential hurt and heartbreak of love. And with “Indestructible,” she revels in a new connection, and commits herself to dusting off past pain: “And I never was smart with love/I let the bad ones in and the good ones go, but/I’m gonna love you like I’ve never been hurt before.” Alongside those considerable moments of vulnerability, there are also plenty of Body Talk songs that teem with strutting, defiant confidence. There’s the stark and pulsing “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do,” the squelchy, Diplo-assisted “Dancehall Queen,” and the bizarre but wonderful Snoop Dogg collaboration “U Should Know Better,” with its pulsing beats and playful boasting (few pop stars save for Robyn could successfully pull off a line like, “Even the Vatican knows not to fuck with me”). The 15 tracks on Body Talk are a testament to the quality, consistency and ambition of Robyn’s output. And every single track here is an airtight addition to the vision articulated on “Fembot”: This is an album that’s immaculate and poised, featuring a protagonist unafraid to bare her soul.
- In between Robyn’s beginnings as a blue-eyed R&B siren and her later exploits as a synth-pop dance diva, Sweden’s sweetheart turned her attention to a more attitude-laden sound on her self-titled fourth album. Robyn raps her way through several tracks here, bringing a decidedly tougher persona to the fore. With some help from the more pop-centric single “With Every Heartbeat,” the record made her a global success and pointed the way to her next evolutionary leap.
Albums
- 2014
- 2024
- 2020
- 2019
Artist Playlists
- A teen star becomes an underground disco queen for the new millennium.
- Proof that decadence and vulnerability can happily coexist.
- Acoustic versions, breezy juvenilia, and Snoop Dogg collabs.
- Her sensibility was shaped by late-'80s pop.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
Compilations
More To Hear
- Sad bangers that captured the zeitgeist perfectly.
- ALL WOMEN EVERYTHING.
- ALL WOMEN EVERYTHING.
- The singer on her favorite female artists, plus Skylar Stecker.
- The Beats 1 host selects the 5 Best Songs on Apple Music.
- Elton John selects music from the artists and honors Tony Joe White.
- A breakdown of the week's biggest releases on Apple Music.
About Robyn
As a child, Robyn spent a good chunk of time touring with her parents' experimental theater group—an experience that ignited one of the more unusual trajectories in modern pop. Discovered performing at a school assembly, Robyn (born Robin Miriam Carlsson in Stockholm in 1979) launched her professional career at 15, cowriting every song on 1995's Robyn Is Here, including "Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What It Takes)," both of which crossed over outside Sweden and made her a genuine if somewhat reluctant star. Burned by the conservatism of the industry (especially when it came to the treatment of young women), she left her label in the early 2000s in order to start her own—a move that essentially set her back to square one, but also made her an emblem of independence at a time when pop, as a sound, was beginning to split from the conventions of the business. Working slowly, deliberately, and with a small circle of collaborators (including Klas Ã…hlund of Teddybears and Joseph Mount of Metronomy), she helped redefine pop as something that could be cool and almost boutique, releasing a string of singles and EPs (including 2010's Body Talk series) by turns vulnerable and empowering, triumphant and deeply bittersweet—bangers you could weep to. After taking a nearly eight-year-long break from releasing solo music (a gamble almost unheard-of for a pop artist in their prime), Robyn returned in 2018 with Honey, recasting loss—romantic and personal—as the fire in which strong hearts are forged. "I wish everyone could have a fan club that would just cheer them on and root for them," she told Apple Music. "What if you have people on your Instagram, texting you, 'Yeah, I'm so excited you're going to work!'" It was a joke, of course, but the sentiment—bringing the rush of pop to a human scale—is one she built a career on.
- HOMETOWN
- Stockholm, Sweden
- BORN
- June 12, 1979
- GENRE
- Pop