Forget Hollywood. Right now, pop stars are the A-List. Taylor Swift just finished a massive arena tour, which was the best-selling tour of the summer. Katy Perry is the current ultimate-sex-symbol, and she and her better half Russell Brand are the current “it” couple. And Lady Gaga? She constantly takes prime position on Entertainment Tonight just for the way she dresses. All three have had multiple Billboard Top Ten singles. And all of this with only two albums each and less than three years in the limelight.
If someone were to design a perfect antithesis to these tabloid fodder pop queens, it would be Robyn. Robyn receives no mainstream attention, except in her home country of Sweden. Maybe that’s because she’s too weird for us stateside folks (Not in Lady Gaga-weird, but weird in an unassuming way). She’s different. She looks like Annie Lennox, struts like Gwen Stefani, and sounds like Cyndi Lauper on helium. On top of that, she is not fresh out of her teens like Taylor Swift and Ke$ha. She’s been rocking it since 1994, back when Christina and Britney were cute little Disney girls. Oh, and she’s got a potty mouth. “Don’t F***ing Tell Me What to Do” is a sample track name from her new album trilogy, “Body Talk”.
“Body Talk” is Robyn’s first release since 2005’s “Robyn”. Instead of a full LP like “Robyn”, “Body Talk” is being released in three EP-like segments of 8 tracks each. “Part 1” was released in mid- June, and “Part 2” dropped early September. Like Robyn, the albums have a feel unlike other pop records. The synth hooks, for example, are somewhere between Postal Service and Notorious B.I.G (both decidedly un-pop artists). “Part 1″‘s “Dancing On My Own” has one of the more unique pop melodies that has come out in years, and “Part 2″‘s “In My Eyes” has an excellent intro hook. Daft Punk-ish backbeats, too, are consistently present, and are evident in songs like “We Dance to the Beat” and “U Should Know Better” on “Part 2”. The latter, which features Snoop Dogg, is a fun pop-rap crossover, with Robyn and Snoop trading filthy rhymes over a throbbing beat. “Better” joins “Part 2″‘s acoustic closer, “Indestructible”, and “Dancing On My Own”, Robyn’s current single, as one of the standout tracks from the albums.
The other songs, unfortunately, don’t leave as much of an impression. The songs on the albums are pretty original, but most of them feel forced, fake, as if the swagger in Robyn’s lyrics is contrived. It isn’t a failure, because some the songs are so fun, but the falsehood of some is definitely a detractor. Another detractor is the occasional annoyance of the repeated beats and choruses, especially in “We Dance to the Beat”. Again, the song is fun, so it doesn’t really matter too much, but one can’t ignore the annoying lack of lyrical variety. An additional annoyance is Robyn’s voice, which, though unique, occasionally sounds less like a pop diva and more Alvin and the Chipmunks. All of these faults make the some of the songs something less than they should be (given Robyn’s obvious and experienced talents).
Despite their shortcomings, the “Body Talk” albums are better than most pop albums. The best songs are pop gems, and even the less-than-stellar songs are still better than anything Ke$ha’s ever written. For fans of pop music, these are must-haves. They might not be complete and total successes, but they’re good nonetheless. The albums get the job done, and Robyn proves that she is a pop star, and she even does it without marrying a talentless British comedian or dressing up in a meat dress.
