Music
5 things we learned from A Conversation with Robyn
The Swedish pop star talked with Kindness in New York about the power of therapy, independence and her upcoming new album.
On May 21, 2018, Swedish pop phenomenon Robyn sat down for a 90-minute conversation with Adam Bainbridge – the musician, songwriter, and producer known as Kindness – at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. The talk spanned her early years as a teenage songwriter and Max Martin-collaborating pop star to her virtuosic later career, which has seen her offer ingenious spins on house music and electro-pop from 2005’s star-making self-titled LP on.
Robyn discussed the influences and passions of her art and personal life, treating the audience to early demo recordings of Be Mine! and Call Your Girlfriend, as well as music videos from Neneh Cherry and Robyn’s collaboration with late producer Christian Falk, La Bagatelle Magique. And for those who've been patiently awaiting a follow-up to her astounding 2010 LP Body Talk, she talked about that, too.
Below, check out five key takeaways from the conversation:
She started young
It’s well-known that Robyn’s pop career officially began after being signed at 14 years old to RCA, years before starting her own label to achieve creative independence – but even before then she was creating personal art on her own: at the age of 11, she wrote her first-ever song 'In My Heart', about her parents’ divorce. Meja – of Swedish dance outfit Legacy of Sound – heard Robyn perform the song while visiting her school, arranged a meeting between her management and Robyn’s parents, and the rest was history.
The Knife played a role in inspiring her to start her own label
After discovering the slippery, radical electronic pop of Swedish duo the Knife and their 2003 album Deep Cuts, Robyn worked with the pair on her 2005 single Who’s That Girl – a song which her then-label Jive didn’t take kindly to. “It was difficult to try new ideas… the environment censored me,” she said about her Jive days. “I could never be as experimental as I wanted to be.” The Knife’s managing of their own Rabid Records label inspired her to start her own Konichiwa label, which she continues to release music through to this day. “They were so supportive and feminist in their way of working,” Robyn enthused.
Early songwriting drafts sometimes sound like nonsense – on purpose
While discussing where she draws songwriting inspiration, Robyn and Bainbridge let the audience in on a recording-studio secret called 'yoghurting' – a French slang term for replacing the words in a pop song with meaningless vocalisations in a made-up language. Bainbridge then played the audience an early demo of Body Talk’s 'Dancing on My Own,' with Robyn laying purposefully nonsensical sing-song lyrics over a rough skeleton of the track, before cross-fading into the finished version.
“It’s so gothy, now that I hear it!” she exclaimed after having the song played back through the MoMA’s speakers. “I was trying to write a song that maybe Prince could like.” Bainbridge then revealed that when working with Robyn in the studio, she’ll often sing Sheila E’s A Love Bizarre when she’s happy with what they’re working on: “It’s a type of melody that I feel is timeless,” she explained her affinity for the song. “It’s like french fries – it’s always going to be amazing.”
She’s been through a lot over the last decade and therapy helped
While talking about her work as part of La Bagatelle Magique, Robyn discussed the death of her collaborator Christian Falk and how his sickness, coupled with a relationship 'separation' she dealt with around the same time, made for a difficult time in her personal life. She stated that regular psychoanalysis over the course of seven years was essential to getting through this time in her life, stating that the process helped her to the point where she feels 'amazing' today. “There’s nothing good about people getting sick and dying,” she stated. “But I still feel privileged to live through that experience. It helped me appreciate life a lot more.”
There’s plenty of new music on the way
Although Robyn didn’t offer any concrete details on the long-awaited follow-up to Body Talk, she dropped plenty of hints throughout the back half of the conversation about what the record may sound like, citing ’90s house music as an artistic inspiration while reminiscing about her days attending Body & Soul nights.
Robyn dropped a few names of potential collaborators, from Swedish pop icon Neneh Cherry and NYC house legends Masters at Work to Bainbridge, Todd Rundgren and legendary songwriting and production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – and she gave the audience a taste of unreleased jams too, in the form of a demo of Honey, a song that was first heard in the final season of HBO’s Girls. “Hashtag release ‘Honey’ damnit,” she said cheekily after playing the demo, noting that the reason the song remains unreleased is that she hasn’t quite decided on how the final version will sound.