Robyn - Dancing On My Own

Holy crap. OK that wasn't exactly the best way to start a review but it's been a while since I've properly reviewed something that isn't Korean or Asian so yeah. Cut me some slack.

As you all probably know, I'm really out of the European pop loop at the moment and I haven't really made the best effort to try and catch up for lost time. I'm just really lazy, OK? But anyway, by some stroke of luck (and a little persuasion from Mel) I managed to not only get a hold of Robyn's new EP but also listen to it and actually adore the heck out of it.


I read Mel's review last night - she nailed it. So now I'm like, what the crap do I say now?

Robyn has been a rather vital part of my taste in music since probably the very beginning of this whole blogging thing (around 2007?) - Don't Stop the Music has got to be one of the most brilliant early 2000's pop masterpieces everrrrr and of course, it was covered by Play and I think you all know I was a Play fan for like a year or something. And of course when With Every Heartbeat came around I was all over it - as was probably everyone else.

Robyn has a distinct sound to her name, she doesn't sound like another RedOne clone or eurocrap wannabe - her last album practically banged that in our heads. So Robyn's back. And for crap's sake she's still brilliant.

Dancing On My Own is epic in the Robyn way, it really is like 2010's With Every Heartbeat. All the techno stuff in the background usually has the tendency to be annoying and whatnot, but Robyn has a knack for making these seemingly annoying eurocrap loops rather tasteful. I love the synths (are those synths? it sounds more like an electric piano) - it adds another dimension to the song.

The effects and the loops and practically the entire song remind me of a certain Simon Curtis, actually. And that was a compliment for both of them. hahah.

Put aside all the eurocrap and the bells and whistles and you have a flexible melody, like With Every Heartbeat. The hook sticks and the verses have the potential to be remixed and rearranged like there's no tomorrow (there're probably mixes floating around already) - that's a pop song. Artists decades later can take the basic melody and the chords and slap it on a new instrumental but it'll still sound like Robyn and it'll still sound like the same song.

5/5