Robyn

HAHAHA genuine xp!!!

when i was listening to the fantasia album today, part of me was obviously thinking about how it's a really great r&b album, and then part of me was thinking about how woefully underappreciated it'll be compared to robyn and janelle monáe, who are both at least within the same ballpark, and that is just WRONG and NOT FAIR.

the myth that heartbreak is a natural thing to feel on the dancefloor)

expand on that

it just seems a lot of people are v much in love with the idea of ~subverting~ the good-times vibe of club life and dancefloors with tears, heartbreak &c - uncomfortably close to ye olde indie maxim that the only true and real emotions are sad ones, and also bs.

i would much rather hear songs from people dancing their asses off and getting their boy/girl in the middle of the dancefloor than the wallflowers being awkward and harshing the buzz tbh.

i'm on the other side of that fence. obv every song has a time and a place, but i haven't heard too many songs about feeling sad on the dancefloor and tbh, i could hear more. dancefloors are very emotional places for people.

and just the idea of going out -- searching, in the midst of all these people, for something or someone. that is a very complicated issue, and it's not always just fun.

I just listened to only love can break your heart and it kinda hit that spot

I remember a Neil Tennant quote from when I was younger talking about celebrating your depression on the dancefloor, and that's always stuck with me. Of course I was an angsty pre-teen who probably did buy into 'the only meaningful music is sad music' with my Pumpkins t-shirt but still. I love to dance to silly songs and joyous songs and sad songs, and I take exception to the notion that the purpose is for one thing and one thing only.

Although my experience on the dancefloor has always been a complicated one.

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.

I mean this:

She has described her quasi-emcee "voice" as "kick-ass," but it reads more like pipsqueak—her Nordic tongue doesn't spit so much as gleek... [insert several unilluminating examples] ... Glance at a picture of this five-foot-three, blue-eyed, blonde-haired thumbnail sketch of Scandinavia, and ask yourself: Are you scared yet?

I mean this is just extraordinarily -- I dunno, conservative. 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???

I guess we have to disagree about whether she's living "inside the song". Some of her songs are not even made to live inside of, they're all surface. But others.. "Dream On" is probably my favorite thing she's done and Lex I have a hard time believing you wouldn't sweat your ass off to that late in a set somewhere.

I mean, it's clear from her released work that Robyn herself subscribes to mirrorball heartbreak.

Although my experience on the dancefloor has always been a complicated one.

― a cankle of rads (Gukbe), Friday, September 10, 2010 1:33 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm x100, and my experience going out has always been a complicated one.

I guess we have to disagree about whether she's living "inside the song". Some of her songs are not even made to live inside of, they're all surface. But others.. "Dream On" is probably my favorite thing she's done and Lex I have a hard time believing you wouldn't sweat your ass off to that late in a set somewhere.

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, September 10, 2010 1:35 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

i still would like to hear why her voice conveys to you all the things that it does

btw that's a really good way to put it -- "...whether or not she's living inside the song."

surm OTM, lots of different scenarios can play out on the dancefloor. plus it's not as if liking the one type of song precludes liking the other? both can be done well, obv (lots of stuff on those "crying on the dancefloor" ILM list threads that i'm too lazy to link to right now)

this is me if someone played robyn at a party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn3bvWd5_RY

I did bring up Rihanna for a reason, Tr

I mean this:

_She has described her quasi-emcee "voice" as "kick-ass," but it reads more like pipsqueak—her Nordic tongue doesn't spit so much as gleek... [insert several unilluminating examples] ... Glance at a picture of this five-foot-three, blue-eyed, blonde-haired thumbnail sketch of Scandinavia, and ask yourself: Are you scared yet?_

I mean this is just extraordinarily -- I dunno, conservative. 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???

This is a massive reach, Tracer. The passage points out that Robyn is describing herself as a bad-ass but the audio (chirpy, high-pitched cutseyness) and the visual (short smiley girl) don't match the attitude displayed.

Robyn's big problem us the same as Rihanna's; she uses her voice the same way on almost every song, making it difficult to ascertain the emotion she's attempting to portray aside from the instances where her particular singing style lines up with the song's emotional center. That is really her biggest problem and the main thing keeping her in her loved-by-indie niche.

people can definitely enjoy all forms of dance songs, i was just responding to lex's 'people harshing the buzz' comment.

xposts

me, surm & lex will be drinking pinot

i love u jordan so much

for real tho i like "dancing on my own" a lot but robyn's more uptempo tracks have always come off to me as thin sonically & cloying emotionally

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

I'm drinking pinot now!

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.