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Album: Robyn - 'Body Talk Pt. 3'
Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Pitchfork - 8,7 (BEST NEW MUSIC)
Quote:
Album Review
Body Talk
Robyn
Body Talk
[Konichiwa; 2010]
8.7
"Fembots have feelings, too." When we first heard Robyn sing those words, on a single promoting what would become a three-volume set of mini-LPs all bearing the name Body Talk, it was easy to focus on the Swedish pop singer's quirky sense of humor. But on this new full-length edition, "Fembot" also reveals itself as a compelling statement of purpose. Playing off contemporary pop's age-old diva-as-robot trope and cautioning that fellow droids who "burn out" are "ready for demolition," Robyn suggests that it's completely possible to be a pop star and also seek emotional connection.
If that's Robyn's artistic credo, then Body Talk is living, breathing, cybernetic proof. Melding dancehall with bubblegum pop, heartbroken love songs with hilariously catty weirdness, and euphorically catchy melodies with propulsive rhythms, Body Talk-- which combines the five-song Body Talk Pt. 3 with, outside of Pt. 1's uncommonly wise "Cry When You Get Older", the highlights from the first two mini-albums-- is a deeply affecting pop record. Robyn may not have released three full albums this year as first implied, but her first true full-length in five years is one of the year's best.
What sets Robyn apart from her contemporaries is the three-dimensional complexity of her character, and all sides are on display here. There's plenty of don't-****-with-me attitude in the icy electro-throb of "Don't ****ing Tell Me What to Do", which introduces a ****-talking heroine who may be flawed but won't be anyone's pawn. And with production by Diplo, the mock-outrageous Jamaica homage "Dancehall Queen" proves she's not kidding. But she's also sensitive enough that, during one of Body Talk's most inspired moments-- the soaringly tuneful electro-pop ballad "Call Your Girlfriend"-- she tells her boyfriend exactly how to break it off with the other woman to inflict the least emotional damage.
However, the highlight from this Year of Robyn remains the gorgeous "Dancing on My Own". What's especially remarkable is that there was any room for improvement: The track appears here as an amped-up "radio remix" with bonus synths giving the lovelorn chorus an extra wallop. But then again, Robyn is a master of re-invention: "Indestructible" and "Hang With Me" were first released as emotive acoustic ballads, and later given revved-up Eurodisco overhauls that ramped up the intensity without sacrificing an ounce of their bittersweet charm. Those are the versions included here, and both lend further ammunition to Body Talk's already military-grade stockpile.
Robyn's willingness to experiment with album conventions may feel like an ingenious gimmick, but there's no artifice to the desire for human connection that underlies her vocal quiver and party-starting kickdrums. She communicates heartbreak so convincingly that some of her most devoted fans actually wonder online about her presumed loneliness. She also attacks the charts from the fringes. She explores the fringes from the charts. She should be universal. So why isn't she? With Body Talk, Robyn ups the ante for pop stars across the radio dial and raises her own chances of appearing on yours. And for all her three-album talk, she never forgets that cardinal rule of showmanship: Always leave them wanting more.
— Marc Hogan, December 3, 2010
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![clap3](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/67d90ee8.gif)
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Member Since: 1/27/2006
Posts: 51,546
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Beautiful read. ![clap3](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/67d90ee8.gif)
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Member Since: 2/2/2009
Posts: 20,174
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Member Since: 2/2/2009
Posts: 20,174
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Member Since: 2/9/2008
Posts: 32,819
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Do you think there are any physical copies in big stores in the US?
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Member Since: 2/2/2009
Posts: 20,174
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Quote:
Originally posted by eli's_rhythm
Do you think there are any physical copies in big stores in the US?
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I hope so...or you have to order an import-cd from amazon or something like that.
I bought 6 today (@ 6 different shops...so every copy will help her in case of the chart position)
I also bought 2 copys of the Part 3-EP...just to be a good stan...I can sleep much better now ![toofunny2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRL_Smilies_All/faces/toofunny2_zpsb54f2d2d.gif)
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Member Since: 2/2/2009
Posts: 20,174
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Oooops...Double-Post
[IMG]http://static.tumblr.com/fe4svcu/qPMlco6ps/****_yeah_robyn.jpg[/IMG]
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Member Since: 12/1/2010
Posts: 23,572
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Can't wait to complete my Body Talk. I have loved everything I've heard from her. 'Dancing On My Own' is certainly memorable, for me at least ![:)](http://www.atrl.net/forums/images/smilies/images/smilies/smile.gif)
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Member Since: 2/21/2009
Posts: 1,926
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Quote:
Originally posted by eli's_rhythm
Do you think there are any physical copies in big stores in the US?
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I searched everywhere on black Friday and couldn't find one ![:(](http://www.atrl.net/forums/images/smilies/images/smilies/frown.gif)
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Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Member Since: 8/24/2010
Posts: 9,422
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Robyn performed Indestructible on a Swedish TV show tonight, a show that pays tribute to heroes of our country. She was amazing! ![cries](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/45ab1e3e.gif)
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/23/2008
Posts: 14,330
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I really have to take back everything I've ever said about Robyn. I was so skeptical of her as I have generally pretty **** tastes, deal only with the ultra-commercial and Robyn is a tad bit artsier than I tend to go. I think for those reasons I wanted to dislike her and I wasn't struck by the brilliance of this material on the first listen. Oh how wrong I was. I decided to give this a second chance today (listened to version with all 3 parts, but I suppose I'll have to go back and review the songs that were included on the other parts and not this one), but this time around the music had a completely different effect on me. These are some of the most amazing melodies I've heard in pop music, the production on every single track is flawless and these songs are way catchier than I ever would have expected from this girl that I have thought of as an over-praised hipster.
I have to go back and edit my top 50 singles countdown, but I feel like such a ridiculous poser doing so as I've just now realized the error of my ways and I've been so adamant in the past that Robyn just isn't that amazing. ![too funny](images/smilies/images/smilies/priceless.gif) She's amazing, she really is.
Robyn in 2010 is even better than the Robyn I loved in 1998.
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Member Since: 8/24/2010
Posts: 9,422
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Patrick ![cries](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/45ab1e3e.gif)
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/23/2008
Posts: 14,330
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The chorus on Time Machine has to be one of the best ever written in terms of being catchy and having that sing-along-ability factor. ![worship](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/971600d3.gif)
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Member Since: 8/24/2010
Posts: 9,422
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I've been listening to Time Machine a lot and I'd say that you're right, in terms of a smash. Call Your Girlfriend, though, is her best work ever IMO. That song is perfection.. ![worship2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/310230f4.gif)
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/23/2008
Posts: 14,330
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Quote:
Originally posted by annashaus
I've been listening to Time Machine a lot and I'd say that you're right, in terms of a smash. Call Your Girlfriend, though, is her best work ever IMO. That song is perfection.. ![worship2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/310230f4.gif)
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Yes, I'm absolutely loving Call Your Girlfriend as well!
The only songs that don't strike me right off the bat:
Don't ****ing Tell Me What to Do
We Dance to the Beat
But perhaps I just need to let them grow on me. And out of an album that's 15 tracks long (excluding that remix) to find only 2 tracks you dislike... unheard of.
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Member Since: 10/6/2010
Posts: 2,188
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Not loving some of the new songs on Pt. 3. "Time machine" is awesome but i'm not feelin the others. and it's shame that "cry when you get older" isn't on the tracklist. But i love robyn and I will still support her.
"dancing on my own" has certainly grown on me so much. I remember i didn't care for it that much when i first heard it but now i think it's one of the best songs she's ever done.
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Member Since: 8/24/2010
Posts: 9,422
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Quote:
Originally posted by Patrick
And out of an album that's 15 tracks long (excluding that remix) to find only 2 tracks you dislike... unheard of.
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I know right!
Track 3 to 9 are just hit after hit, to my ears. And then track 12 to 15. ![eek](http://www.atrl.net/forums/images/smilies/images/smilies/eek.gif) The fact that the amazing feeling remains when you're listening to them one after another is just incredible!
The only songs missing on the full album are Cry When You Get Older and Criminal Intent. And she should have put an acoustic version of Dancing On My Own on the Pt.3 EP. That's the only "negative" thing I have to say, really. But these are just small matters, and not at all necessary. The album as it is now, is one of the greatest work I've seen.
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Member Since: 6/4/2010
Posts: 38,919
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I read on a blog that she was releasing another one in June 2011.
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Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Pitchfork's The Top 100 Tracks of 2010
04
Robyn
"Dancing on My Own"
[Konichiwa / Cherrytree / Interscope]
How do you know when a new pop song is a stone instant classic? If it gives you chills whenever you hear it? If it mixes perfectly into basically any other song? When every straight guy you know confesses that he secretly loves and listens to it? If it interpolates the themes and sounds of every great disco torch song ever and updates them without being winky or retro, but keeps the "Funky Town" woodblock percussion? If it contains a couplet as perfect as, "Stilettos and broken bottles/ I'm spinning around in circles"? Or if, when the chorus comes on in the club, it always feels like the very first time?
Robyn gave us all kinds of great singles this year, but "Dancing on My Own", which kicked off her Body Talk trilogy, remains the standout. Defying expectations and categorizations at every turn, she continues to demonstrate that she is the Rocky Balboa of pop music. Summoning the eternal spirits of divas like Donna Summer, Sylvester, and Gloria Gaynor, Robyn alchemizes everything great about current dance music into flawless ABBA gold. --Molly Lambert
![worship2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/310230f4.gif)
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