Attitude revisits Robyn’s Body Talks album as she makes her return to music with Sexistential

To say that Robyn’s seventh studio album was a cultural reset would be an understatement. Released in 2010 across four instalments – three mini albums and a compilation featuring five new tracks – it quietly reprogrammed the sound of pop. The mood and feel of Body Talk has influenced major artists such as Ariana Grande on Eternal Sunshine and Taylor Swift on 1989, as well as the likes of Lorde, Charli XCX and Zara Larsson. 

It’s remarkable to think that Robyn had already lived several pop lives by this point. A teenage prodigy with the Max Martin-produced Robyn Is Here (the blueprint for Britney’s early work), she spent the early 2000s wrestling with major-label expectations. Then, going independent and establishing her own label gave her something more valuable than chart security: control.

 Robyn released her fourth studio album, Robyn, in 2005

In 2005, the Swedish singer released her self-titled fourth studio album, generating the hits ‘Be Mine!’, ‘Handle Me’ and ‘With Every Heartbeat’ featuring Kleerup, helping her to establish a new direction and an M.O. that would become her trademark: ahead-of-the-curve production and sharp, introspective lyrics. What came next would solidify her as a music trailblazer thereafter. 

Sonically, Body Talk is icy yet euphoric. Frosted synths and clipped beats replaced the more commercially digestable sounds from the singer’s past work. ‘Fembot’, the opening track on the compilation, lays out the template for this. “I’ve got some news for you / Fembots have feelings too”, declares Robyn over a sparse, thumping beat. The track is a vocoded cry for help, rejecting the unsustainable pressures placed on female pop stars and reminding us that behind the product is simply a person. If anyone knew of the trials and tribulations of being a major recording artist, it was Robyn.  

“Robyn urges listeners to dance through their pain rather than drown in it”

The breakout hit from this era, and still Robyn’s biggest, is the heartbreak anthem ‘Dancing on My Own’. The track opens with an instantly recognisable bassline and is an ode to love lost – seeing your ex from across the dancefloor kissing someone new. Rather than wallow in self-pity, Robyn urges listeners to dance through their pain rather than drown in it. Like much of the singer’s discography, the synthpop smash was quickly adopted by the LGBTQ+ community. Its melancholic themes of being on the ‘outside’ resonated, and it continues to be a staple spin in gay clubs all around the world. Upon release, it reached number eight in the UK and number one in Robyn’s homeland of Sweden. The song completed its journey as a queer anthem when it was covered by gay singer Calum Scott, taking it higher still on the UK and US singles charts. 

“The album is an instruction manual on adult relationships and finding joy in heartache”

‘Call Your Girlfriend’, while overshadowed by the lasting impact of ‘Dancing on My Own’, is another standout moment. The track offers radical empathy and sees Robyn coach her new beau through a breakup. “You just tell her that the only way her heart will mend / Is when she learns to love again”, advises Robyn. It’s a mature take on being “the other woman”, refusing to villainise either party. This nuanced take on experiencing new love first-hand is explored further. ‘Hang With Me’ dissects the fear of intimacy, while ‘Indestructible’ is about embracing a new relationship without fear. The album is an instruction manual on adult relationships and finding joy in heartache. 

This is an expert from a feature appearing in the March/April issue of Attitude magazine.