Robyn – Body Talk Part 1

Review by: Meeks

Ever have a day where you feel frustrated with everything?  Robyn does. In her first song from her new “LP” she’s frustrated.   She lets you know what is killing her and you can empathize with her.  Wait, or is she empathizing with us?  Some days we feel like everything is killing us slowly.  On those worst days all the bad things pile up and even the good things get to us.  When the track reaches the end after she describes just about everything that is making her, and us mad she changes the song on us.   She says what we all want to say to a busy day at work, school or a full day with the spouse perhaps.  “Don’t fucking tell me what to do!”  Couldn’t have said it better myself.  This track is just a hint at what I, and sadly not every knows Robyn for.   Gone are the days of Show Me Love, “RNB’ish homogenized” music. (Which I loved back then by the way)  She is now a very well crafted Electro-synth-lush pop sexy female artist now.  In her previous self titled release Robyn we heard her at her best and unfortunately not many people heard that.  Thanks goodness she picks up where she left off with Body Talk Pt 1.  I say part 1 and “LP” because this is actually a three part release that will be released within the year.  This album has 8 tracks so I say it is more of an EP than LP.  All that aside it is 30 minutes of really good music which is better than most below average full length releases we’ve had thus far.

On her dance “ready for the club” track Dancing on My Own she is stalking an ex lover watching him dance and kiss another in a club.  This must be some fetish of hers because this is not the first track in which she describes herself doing this (Be Mine! –Robyn (self titled)).  Once again she is simply stating the obvious. Don’t we all want to purposely run into or peak in at an ex-lover’s life just to see if they are happy with the new replacement?  She makes it happen with this simple yet powerful song.  The productions she chooses, as usual, are well selected like the lyrics are done first then the music is arranged to compliment her words.  I find myself repeating this track because you can feel her pain as she witnesses every kiss the ex gives the new lover.  She is trying, in what becomes a drunken state, so hard to be noticed and he doesn’t even notice her!! Bastard.

Robyn continues on the album with a track that seems it was off of her last release called Cry When You Get Older.  She explains about how to move on from a break up when you are young and leave the crying and sadness for later on in life.  Even the most perfect love hurts in the end, she says.  This song is very well done and catchy with a comfortable bridge that doesn’t lose me.  The next two tracks Dancehall Queen and None of Dem have a great Reggae feel and keep me very interested in the album.

On what I consider to be the final track “Hang With Me” she gives me another reason to feel frustrated that a lot of people in the United States don’t know about her. This beautifully crafted song begins as a ballad then builds with strings and piano.  Robyn had similar ballads on her last album and I am glad she gave me another one to enjoy.  I love the fact that you can hear a hint of her Swedish/English accent which gives her a signature voice.  In this song she explains to a friend, who obviously has lover potential, about the complexities of being friends and not lovers.  “Hang with me, just don’t fall recklessly headlessly in love with me cuz it’s gonna be a heart break, blissfully painfully insanity if we agree you can hang with me”.  You can hear her trying to convince herself and the other person that this is not a good idea and there is no chance that it will work as friends only.

At first I didn’t agree with the three part release of Body Talk over a year.  Now as I hear these 8 songs repeatedly I eagerly await the next installment and happy that it’s only a few months away.