Robyn

I'm going to karaoke in 45 minutes, guys. Need a ride?

yeah, that about sums it up for me too

xp that will also be true, in a moment

I'm going to repeat:

One of my problems with Robyn is how her vocal melodies and lyrics insist on mirrorball tragedy when her voice is clearly designed for giddy show-me-love.

jordan i love that if robyn came on at a party u and i would just leave, and go find lex

why does that crack me up so much ?

More resourceful vocalists can do something with this tension -- she can't.

xpost

alfred, you're looking too deep

she's like if a literal robin was a pop singer? is that the point?

Well, robins can generally sing

and they have pretty plumage

well -- the Swede does too

even tho i love "dancing on my own" this is the visual equivalent of robyn in that song

http://www.theolivepress.es/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/robin.jpg

if Robyn was a robin, and she caught a worm, she wouldn't celebrate how delicious the worm was -- she'd lament how the worm might give her heartburn.

rofl xp

u guys are seriously cracking me up

If Robyn was a robin she'd think it uncouth to leave her nest and risk mockingbirds stealing her song. The male robins are all like, "fuck that."

xposts -- I think lovers and haters could maybe agree that lots of Robyn tracks are basically using a voice that doesn't naturally read as "tough" and putting them in this heartbreak context where they get to act tough but convey vulnerability. Right? To me that seems like the great trick on "With Every Heartbeat" -- her voice is perfectly suited to "I am not naturally a tough person but I am being tough to get through this emotion." This is surely a lot of why indie fans find her relatable and various other people find her wimpy and cloying!

So, regarding her "rap moves" and whatnot: maybe I'm nuts, but to me her normal speaking-English voice sounds like she took a few language lessons in the Bronx or something. And given the shades of American and hip-hop stuff in her work, I wonder how much of it was stuff she absorbed during her mid-90s teenage pop-star period -- in other words, I get the feeling it's way more "authentic" to her than it comes off to a lot of listeners! Or else maybe they just have "street" lessons in Max Martin school, I dunno.

I shouldn't say "naturally a tough person," because it's about the voice, not the person -- but you probably know what I mean

I should add that "With Every Heartbeat" is my favorite Robyn track because her tentativeness for once works with and for the music instead of undermining it.

"with every heartbeat" is good again because it's on the more ballady side of things as well -- it's stuff like "fembot" that really grates

nabisco dropping dimes, as usual.

yeah even i love "with every heartbeat". she doesn't really sound like herself on it.

robyn's "tough" voice just makes me feel like i'm being attacked by a rubber, you know? i think björk does that tough-though-i'm-not thing a million times more effectively.

would party at non-robyn soundtracked parties w/jordan and surm.

this bears repeating:

and really if you want humor in your pop music, listen to mariah carey ffs

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 10, 2010 12:52 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

Is Robyn disallowed from copping rap moves because she's white?? Because she's not American ... because she has a high voice ... is it because she doesn't sound like DMX? Because she's short???

it comes off as gimmicky, whether it's authentic or not - like i don't doubt that diplo really does love all the music he samples and plays, it's just the way he does it is so thoughtless and superficial - robyn is the diplo of scandopop really. i think there's something telling in how her urban moves are embraced so much by popjustice types, who are notoriously allergic to any actual rappers or dancehall artists.

she's not Real, yeah we get it Lex

don't know why authenticity matters for synthpop.

don't know why authenticity matters for synthpop.

^^^ Real talk.

i think there's something telling in how her urban moves are embraced so much by popjustice types, who are notoriously allergic to any actual rappers or dancehall artists.

This is the old, tired "the audience damns the artist" argument -- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

infinite xpost

Bjork hilariously utterly unmoved throughout the performance of "Hyperballad".

it's never about authenticity in any case -- most criminals are not good rappers, and most good rappers probably would not make good criminals -- it's about how you PULL OFF that authenticity -- even taking out their various talents as musicians, that's why young jeezy is respected and rick ross is largely seen as a clown

and i think that's the argument that lex is making

to use a pop example, katy b went to the same school as kate nash & adele but she can pull off singing over funky tracks while i don't think you could say the same about kate nash or adele, even tho they are all equally 'authentic'

yeah but i don't understand how you define 'authentic'

it doesn't really matter

it's obviously a subjective judgment -- you can make your case either way, but it comes down to whether or not you think she "pulls it off"

of course, i'm just not sure why she has to 'pull anything off', as opposed to just being.

because she's a performer?

jordan otm, though it's not so much "authenticity" that's the quality in question here as...attitude? i know how annoying the word "swagger" is but that might come close. cf neneh cherry, who robyn is oft compared to, who wasn't remotely street but who absolutely nailed the rude-gyal talk on "buffalo stance". or that girl cher lloyd, who did "turn my swag on" on the x factor last week - middle-class white girl from worcestershire, obv not remotely authentic, but she totally convinced as someone who knew what she was doing.

I guess I've always taken Robyn's rapping and 'attitude' on those songs as knowingly ridiculous, which I think she does quite well. I never really saw it as anything else.

"Knowingly ridiculous" totally encapsulates why it grates on me - it's that thing of Wackiness and Craziness and basically taking on signifiers of an entire culture as silly mannerisms, "comedy" hip-hop just for larks.

I wouldn't call it "comedy", as that implies mocking. More playful.

Should add that I understand why you or anyone really would find it grating though.

i was going to agree with the smiley face thing, even re: tracks like "dancing on my own" but then i remembered that she has done tracks like "eclipse" (WHICH SHE DIDN'T WRITE)

i'm not following the last few posts especially the katy b thing.

oh and also i did hear robyn at a party recently, someone put on "fembot". lol.

hi robyn love u forever

Lex it sounds like if someone cops rap moves you want them to do so convincingly i.e. measure up to the rules of the Rap Game - i.e. spit bars, get the accent right, etc - but i really don't think Robyn is interested in being a legit rapper. So to judge her on that and find her wanting seems either disingenuous, mistaking what she's trying to do, or want to fit everyone into the same sort of box. To me she seems interested - sometimes - in the kinds of performances, the kinds of characters, that rap enables - ridiculous boasting, shouting out to your crew, etc. And to me at least it never feels like she's laughing at that or doing it ironically, she's trying on these attitudes, borrowing them, revelling in them - the way millions of non-black non-Americans do with rap all over the world every day. It's just one of the ways she pushes against her "natural" strengths; it's been mentioned that her voice seems more suited to pure pop "Show Me Love" stuff and instead she often goes for ambiguity, bitterness and disappointment - and nabisco's said how often this obviously untough girl is trying to be tough in the face of lovesickness. If you don't like her I guess you say "bad call" but if you do, that's what you like about her.

She totally has the right to try on and borrow attitudes, but it comes down to how I feel about her voice, which can only project one emotion: an immersion in pleasure. I suppose it's the same problem lots of critics in the seventies had with Bowie, but Bowie's songwriting and arranging skills mitigated the ickiness of his (emotional) vocal chops.

not robyn exactly but im feelin rasmus seebachs latest single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFtnV6pMqvA

hang with me is drenched with goodness

i can't

even

<3 the new Pt. 2 album, though I can barely get past the first three tracks, all are so stunning.