It’s been 15 years since Robyn broke through as a confident 16-year-old starlet. Six years have passed since she started her own label, and five since her latest record. But this month, she unveils “Body talk pt.1”, the first of three albums she will release this year. Metro caught up with Robyn on her home turf in Stockholm.
“The idea of spending one and a half years in the studio and then three years on tour and wait another five years to make a new record felt pretty uninspiring and illogical. There isn’t a single person out there who listens to the same record for five years and very few who even listen to a whole record,” she says.
With record company Konichiwa Bitches, she is creating new rules for an industry that has already lost the battle against new technology — and she seems ready for the fight.
Do you look at these three albums as one?
I see them as one album, or as one period of time at least.
What kind of period is this in your life?
I’ve been out touring so much and I believe that’s what has influenced this album the most. The club culture has been dead important, not just musically but for the things I’ve chosen to write about. I believe people go out to get a sense of how they feel, that you need somewhere to let out a lot of emotions.
What are you like at a club?
I guess I’m pretty happy. I’m pretty laid-back and outgoing when I’m in a club, I like to dance. But I’m not social in the sense of talking to people. I mostly go out to feel the music.
What is it like commuting between Sweden, where you are the big pop star, and the U.S., where you are a small indie artist?
I feel a lot more relaxed back home. When I’m in the States I work a lot.
Sweden is where I come home. You’re very good at writing about heartbreak — why is that?
I don’t know. For me I guess it’s more about feeling left out and not belonging somewhere and not being understood.
Do you still feel like that?
I feel like that all the time. Doesn’t everybody?
It doesn’t have to mean that you feel like an outcast in society or that you feel unloved. But feeling completely in sync with life and the next minute not being in sync with anything is sort of the thing.
Why do you write music?
I don’t know. It isn’t so clear to me, it is more of a need. It’s not so thought through. I don’t have an agenda. I feel that I don’t care anymore if people listen or not. My agenda is to make something that feels genuine.
