Robyn

"Fembot" is the worst song of the year. Worse than Heidi Montag.

"Fembot" is phenomenal.

fembomenal.

"Fembot" is meh and a little bit "ok I think we've had enough robots for a while, thank you". I quite like "Dancing On My Own" though.

the title "fembots" - and the other title "dancehall queen" - pissed me off so much that the merest mention of robyn's name to me right now is liable to send me into a RAGE BLACKOUT

listened to robyn again for the first time in maybe two, three years after really falling in love with her stuff - nowadays I don't know if I have time to her, she's a little too sincere/monochromatic - her emoting lacks the subtleties I've come to expect from my pop divas nowadays

Dancing On My Own is the best of her recent singles. She can emote all over my face.

Yeah. Fembot is fun but one note. Dancehall Queen doesn't do anything for me. But Dancing On My Own is a massive crying at the club anthem and is totally wonderful.

listened to robyn again for the first time in maybe two, three years after really falling in love with her stuff - nowadays I don't know if I have time to her, she's a little too sincere/monochromatic - her emoting lacks the subtleties I've come to expect from my pop divas nowadays

― "I am the bone lord," Tom proclaimed skulkingly. (dyao), Thursday, 22 April 2010 13:43 (6 hours ago) Permalink

YES

like i get the feeling that she doesn't know exactly why she's singing this pop music that she's singing

not going to dispel any of the anhedonia talk

None of Dem

"dancing my own" is amazing

it's like if m83 wrote a 4 min synth pop song

glad i'm not the only one underwhelmed by body talk. "cry when you get older" is pretty solid, though it's still overshadowed by "the girl and the robot"

and by "cry when you get older" i mean "none of dem"

okay I can't really deny 'dancing on my own' it's a nice background tune.

I've finally heard this now. On first listen "Cry When You Get Older" is the real standout for me. It's got all those harmonies everywhere! And I love how the synth does a sort of call-and-response with Robyn's voice. I also like how unpredictable/complicated it is, it seems to dive and fold in on itself in interesting ways.

It's true that "Fembots" is pretty one-note but it is irresistable.

She really has gone totally into this shiny clean and crunchy sonic territory - everything gleams and glistens. Everything sounds like it's incredibly close-miked, like you're 1mm away from all the pistons and churning robo-parts. I'd like to hear her mix it up a little - like the kind of sound she used on "Keep This Fire Burning" for instance - or just some kind of other textures, roughed-up a little for variety.

Maybe my own selfish preference is for her to just do more R&B.

But surm when you say "she doesn't know exactly why she's singing this pop music that she's singing" I don't think that's right at all! I think she's pretty clearly doing it because 1) It allows her to play different parts, assume different roles; she does this more explicitly than any other singer I can think of off the top of my head and 2) well, obviously she can sing, can write a good lyric (usually) and has great taste.

u make a good point. there's just something in her voice that doesn't compel me. i recognize that her composition is good, and that she has taste, but i don't feel engaged with her vocally. maybe she plays so many different parts because she's not sure who she is, as a singer.

... Or maybe she knows exactly who she is, ie someone who likes fucking around with a bunch of different things.

maybe. maybe i just don't feel like she's connecting fully with any of those things. or maybe i plain don't like her voice very much.

holy shit fembot is fucking great great great

surm she does lean kind of heavily on a coquettish little girl thing sometimes, which is probably my least favorite part of her schtick. Is that what you're reacting to maybe?

you know what i think it is: i think she's very playful -- which is a good thing, definitely. but i think i react more personally to a bit more soul in my pop. however, i'm sure a lot of ppl listen to Robyn precisely because she is as playful as she is, and no more heavy, which i can totally appreciate.

there's something about her delivery that's very physical, and not overly cerebral, which i think some ppl really appreciate (my boyfriend is like this - he's one of those people that reacts very physically to songs).

personally i dislike her voice because she always sounds so pert and pleased with herself - like surm i don't get much emotion there beyond an inane tee-hee-aren't-i-cute

jeez i'm just listening to "fembot" for the first time and this is one of the worst fucking songs i've ever heard no joke

hahaha it sounds like something written 10 yrs ago i think. like, wasn't it?

but "with every heartbeat" is still great, i think we all agree?

i'm giving kleerup a lot of credit for that

seriously if this was by any random new pop chick people would be rushing to post it on the I AM SO FUCKING APPALLED thread

the robot stuff was lame the first time around

anyone stuck on the robots-in-pop meme needs to eat a dick, seriously. SO BORING.

looking forward to sparring with you on SJ with this one then lex, cuz I think it's awesome.

Natalie Imbruglia's "Want" has made a lot of Robyn's affectations look redundant; that record does everything most of Robyn's stuff is supposed to do.

the title "fembots" - and the other title "dancehall queen" - pissed me off so much that the merest mention of robyn's name to me right now is liable to send me into a RAGE BLACKOUT

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, April 22, 2010 7:50 AM (1 week ago)

jeez i'm just listening to "fembot" for the first time and this is one of the worst fucking songs i've ever heard no joke

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Sunday, May 2, 2010 5:55 PM (2 hours ago)

It really sounds like you had already mind up about this song before you had heard it. Personally I love it and the rest of the album.

I'm a huge fan of her vocals especially on last years The Girl The Robot which had her sounding as powerful and vulnerable as she did on With Every Heartbeat and Be Mine.

Really like Robyn too.

Does anyone know if she intends to release an album this year, or just a bunch of singles?

She's putting out three mini albums throughout the year. Body Talk part 1 is the one being discussed which is out June 14th and has 8 tracks on it.

Fembot steals teh Pea's schtick and makes me actually like it.

Which is a monumental accomplishment IMO.

X-Post: Mini album as in download only then, I presume?

okay, there's nothing special about this song at all but it's nowhere near being one of the worst songs ever recorded

also I've now found two different versions of this on Youtube pitched a half-step apart and the higher key makes into a better song

it is kind of flagrantly cheap sounding, tbf

All this rage blackout/WORST SONG EVAH nonsense is fucking ridiculous. This album is fantastic and Dancing on My Own is the song of the year. That is all.

forks and i did end up sparring @ the singles jukebox over this! i called her the diplo of scandopop. really, smh at this woman and her exceedingly smug, boring quirks. and i am so over people recycling old-ass "crying at the discotheque" tropes for cheap emotional affect.

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2259 - fembot
http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2261 - dancing on my own

I'm loving this album a lot. But I can get with some of the hate, it's not quite as jaw-dropping as her previous stuff like Be Mine and Girl and The Robot etc. But it's still probably my favourite pop album I've heard all year after Janelle Monae.

I don't understand "cheap emotional effect" here. "Crying at the discotheque" isn't a tired old trope, it's one of the basic planks of pop. You might as well call any classic pop theme a tired old trope. Dancing on My Own does it so well - the monstrous, chugging synth line, the melancholy PSB-style glock melody, the a cappella breakdown, the detail in the lyrics. Your Robyn hate seems to come from a place that I don't understand - there's nothing in the music to justify it. You seem to be on a mission to defend black music from her when it doesn't need defending.

Re: Fembot, I'm very amused by the way Vigilant Citizen reads every predictable robot reference as code for the "transhumanist agenda" and mind control. I take the point that the imagery's pretty played out but I still love the tune.

I'm tired of all these LOVE songs, I tells ya!

Weirdly the Lex actually likes Robyn when she's doing sincerity (Who's That Girl, Be Mine, With Every Heartbeat), it seems to be the other side of her persona that enrages him. Not surprisingly really because her Konichiwa Bitches/dressing up as a bumblebee thing is lame and annoying.

Yeah, grudging cosign