Artist | Robyn
Grade | A
www.2.bp.blogspot.com
What Matt Liasse thinks:
While listening to Swedish pop star Robyn, it’s hard to see how other American musicians can measure up.
She’s the whole package, mixing Madonna’s attitude, Lady Gaga’s eccentric style, a slew of dance tunes like Britney Spears and vocals comparable to Kylie Minogue’s.
And, whether it’s realized or not, she is one of the artists who released the most amount of music in the year 2010, as well as some of the best.
Her recent release, “Body Talk,” is like a Greatest Hits compilation, mixing various tracks off the three EPs (extended plays) she released this year. The result is a full-length, 15-song, high-energy dance album.
She first appeared on American charts back in 1997 as another easily-digested creation by producer Max Martin. Her tune “Show Me Love” just didn’t match the likes of the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys.
However, more than a decade later, Robyn’s originality shines.
She successfully mixes substance with silliness over the course of the hour-long “Body Talk,” and features the ingredients crucial for a perfect pop act.
On the surface, “Body Talk” features laughable themes. The opening notes of the second track are “I’ve got some news for you/fembots have feelings too,” while the techno-induced “Don’t F*****g Tell Me What To Do” is a sing-along list of things that are annoying Robyn. That doesn’t take away from their greatness, though.
But for every catchy juvenile tune, Robyn also offers substance. “Indestructible” and “Hang With Me” offer heartfelt lyrics about love.
The album’s huge stadium choruses and heavy basslines are the best quality of “Body Talk.” “Love Kills” features a hard-pounding drum beat with a chorus made to be chanted, while the album’s strongest track, “Dancehall Queen,” reads like a diary of a night out in the clubs. “I take the bus to town/ sittin’ in the back and talk to no one/ I got the high heels on/ I go out dancing all by my own … soon as I get inside/ I lose myself in the blinding lights,” she sings on the track, inviting the listener to join her party.
Robyn’s innovative sounds help her run circles around current American pop acts. “None Of Dem” featuring Norwegion electronic duo Röyksopp, offers a better youthful anthem than Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R,” while the Snoop Dogg-assissted “U Should Know Better” blows Katy Perry’s Snoop Dogg collaboration “California Gurls” out of the water.
Its non-stop fun from the opening bassline in “Dancing On My Own” to the repetitious conclusion of “Stars 4-Ever.”