The effortlessly amazing Robyn has uploaded the remix package of ‘Hang With Me’ for all and sundry to listen to. We were just going to plonk it on here and allow you to make your own minds up, but then we listened to it. And OH MY WORD, we can’t not say anything about the phenomenal Avicii remix! We believe it might just be the definition of a ”club banger”. We imagine that it would ”all go off”, would it on occasion be played at a night time dancing and drinking establishment. We imagine it would ”all go off” even further, might it be played at a morning time dancing and drugging establishment. Wow, it’s hot!
The Starsmith remix is very good too. The Pumped By Hot City mix is an interesting piece of audio, bordering on brilliant, and we find ourselves quite enjoying it. The Kaiserdisco remix isn’t our thing at all unfortunately.
It’s time for the second installment of Robyn’s ‘Body Talk’ album release trilogy!
And here is our track by track review of it;
In My Eyes
One of the better tracks across the two albums. Total eighties electro pop, but with the emphasis on the pop. The chorus is adorable. And it’s got a great little melodious part at the end of the second and third choruses that begins with ”and though I bet you think it’s better on the inside…..”. And we love the inspirational lyrics of guidance that she gives. Especially the spoken word bits in the last few seconds. Robyn goes POP!
Include Me Out
After the first listen to the album, this was our favourite. The beat sequences in it are AMAZING! Like Diplo crossed with early Ciara. The verses are rapped. But the chorus is another big pop number, wow. With added amazing beats, too. In fact the chorus to this might even be the poppiest thing she’s done since her pre-independent days. After sleeping on it and giving it a few more listens, we’re not sure if it’s still our favourite. But it’s definitely an 8/10 moment for us. At least.
Hang With Me
You all know what this sounds like now. In fact a lot of people are calling it pop perfection, better than ‘Dancing On My Own’. We don’t agree that it’s that brilliant, but it is VERY good and we like it a lot. We’re still wondering if we’d have been able to enjoy this song a lot more had we not heard the acoustic version on Pt1 first.
Love Kills
Oh the intro to this is phenomenal! Robyn goes clubbing! And straight away come the hard hitting lyrics, warning you to get a stronger heart because love, and generally the world and life itself, are shit! We love how this follows ‘Hang With Me’. It’s as if Robyn has remembered herself after a temporary drop of her guard, and put it back up again stronger than ever! It’s dark, it’s cynical, but we’re surprised to discover that on an album containing rare pop moments from Robyn, it’s one of our favourites.
We Dance To The Beat
Hmmm…..we don’t really GET this. It’s pretty we guess. And imagine it would be quite nice to have on in the background. And the lyrics are good. And we like the synth spaz-out in the middle eight. And the dreamy bit near the end. But it’s just alright really. Not one of her stronger moments at all.
Criminal Intent
File this alongside ‘We Dance To The Beat’.
U Should Know Better
This is better! Impossible not to move your head along to the beat. It’s a bit of an electro rave out. If ‘Include Me Out’ sounded like Diplo crossed with Ciara, this is Diplo crossed with La Roux. And we love the Robyn and Snoop tag team vocals. Plus the lyrics. And the outro.
Indestructible
It’s string laden ballad time! Beautiful music with heartwrenching lyrics from our heroine. It’s Robyn letting her guard down again, but maintaining a hint of her trademark cool, by insisting that she’s going to be indestructible when it comes to love. It’s a great song as it is, but as with ‘Hang With Me’, there is an uptempo version waiting in the wings for the next album.
So the big question is – is it better than Pt1? No, it’s not. But it is a much more cohesive album. Whereas Pt1 felt like a disjointed EP that is part of a broader trilogy, Pt2 actually feels like a full standalone album. And for those reasons, it’s a much easier record to listen to. But it’s not as good. We’re giving it a 7.5/10. The two bad moments on it are inoffensive enough to not drag the overall mark down any lower. And the really great moments aren’t ‘Dancing On My Own’/'With Every Heartbeat’/'The Girl & The Robot’ brilliant enough to lift it any higher. But we do really like it.
And oh my, it’s quite the electro-tantric delight isn’t it?! A succession of delicious electro blips beats and build ups – culminating in a dazzling middle three minutes. Our favourite part is the militant drum beat from around the 4:10 mark. And the abrupt 90′s gameboy ending. Starsmith + Robyn should ‘Hang With Each Other’ more often!
It’s for her new single ‘Hang With Me’ (scandipop ‘Hang With Me’ update – this version is growing on us more by the day, however, we still prefer the acoustic version. Although that could change any day now. And probably will). It follows Robyn around her recent promo tour of the UK and gives us an insight into her days on the road and nights on the stage. What we love most about it though is that it shows a side of Robyn that we haven’t seen in a while. A picture of an adorable girl who’s obviously a lot of fun to be around. The image of the musician that takes herself very seriously and speaks and types with a faux hip hop accent is nowhere to be seen. It’s simply Robyn.
1. IN MY EYES
2. INCLUDE ME OUT
3. HANG WITH ME
4. LOVE KILLS
5. WE DANCE TO THE BEAT
6. CRIMINAL INTENT
7. U SHOULD KNOW BETTER feat. SNOOP DOGG
8. INDESTRUCTIBLE (acoustic version)
The dust has barely had time to settle since the arrival of Body Talk Pt 1, the first installment of Robyn’s ambitious three-part album release plan for this year. Lead single Dancing On My Own, the heartbreaking heir to With Every Heartbeat, went top ten in the UK, while everyone from Pitchfork to the BBC, the Guardian to Stereogum, bestowed effusive praise (and numerous stars) on the album. It’s fair to say many are waiting eagerly for part two, and they wont be disappointed.
Body Talk Pt 2 offers the clearest example yet of Robyn’s pop prowess; 8 songs that crystallize her preoccupation with hypnotic repetition, propulsive beats and infectious hooks, and lyrics which display the kind of unabashed emotional vulnerability that only comes with true self-confidence. Body Talk 2 is further proof that Robyn’s understanding and love of pop music is as intrinsic as it is accomplished.
Robyn has worked with the hottest people around on Body Talk PT 2; Klas Åhlund, Kleerup, Savage Skulls, Diplo, and Snoop Dogg are all on board.
Robyn turned in another legendary performance this week. An on primetime US television at that! She appeared on David Letterman’s show singing ‘Dancing On My Own’. And if you’ve seen her perform it before, you know how much of a treat that is. It’s one of our absolute favourite songs of the year, and seeing it live makes it even more special. After watching the Letterman performance, we went on over the US iTunes top 100 chart this morning, expecting to see it flying. But it’s actually still not on there yet – perhaps it isn’t available yet. Or perhaps not enough people cared. We dread to think it’s the latter! I mean look at his;
In a week of good stuff for Robyn fans, her new single got its first play on radio. It’s the original version of ‘Hang With Me’, the acoustic version of which appeared on her last album. And therein lies a problem. We already fell in love with the acoustic version a few months back. So hearing the single version, just feels a bit wrong really. In our mind, it sounds like a remix. And it would be fine if it was being treated as a remix, but it’s actually the lead version. The single. The track they’re gonna play on radio, and make a video for. It’s still a great song of course, the gorgeous lyrics, the amazing chorus, and the beautiful verses are still there. But it just sounds a bit….too noisy. Thankfully we seem to be in the minority in this, as online feedback has been very positive. And we will of course bear with it. But for now we have our preferences, that’s all. Here it is;
And finally, this week saw an incredible blog post about Robyn over at the dontstopthepop blog. They’ve compiled their favourite pre-independence Robyn songs into a 3 Disc hypothetical Greatest Hits collection, including a remix disc! Amazing. You can read the great insight into her earlier career and sound here.
The great Robyn has announced that there will be no more singles from ‘Body Talk pt1’. Instead, ‘Body Talk pt2’ shall be launched on September 6th along with its lead single, which will be a more upbeat version of ‘Hang With Me’ from pt1. And yes it does seem odd to be launching your new album with a version of a track from your last album…….However, last month we spoke to someone who’d heard all of the songs from both albums, and he did say that by far the best song out of all of them, was in fact this uptempo version of ‘Hang With Me’ – the original version if you will, as it was an acoustic version of the song that appeared on album one.
Robyn’s been doing lots and lots of live performance promoting her new album, most notably a large show at the Heaven venue in London last Thursday. But here are some top notch HQ performances from the Capital Radio Rimmel Room. She sings acoustic versions of ‘Dancing On My Own’ (top 10 in the UK this week, well done Robyn!), ‘With Every Heartbeat’, and the aforementioned next single ‘Hang With Me’.
So – the Robyn album due for release on June 15th has leaked! Earlier in the week, her hoards of online fans were delighted to find that the eight track album was available to download in its full HQ entirity. Opinions are varied and divided. Some are disappointingly underwhelmed by the whole thing, whilst others herald it as a masterpiece – a continuation of her fine form.
Here’s what we think, track by track;
Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do
Like on her last album, the self titled ‘Robyn’, Robyn opens this album with what perhaps sounds like the least commercial song on the record. But it proves to be a great intro to what’s to come over the next 30 minutes. It tells you that she’s progressing from the sound of the last album, but staying very faithful to the music. This track is big on beats, small on melody, but oh what beats they are. Ascending, descending, stuttering, and distracting you from what might otherwise be an irritating repetition of lyrics.
7/10
Fembots
More of the same, beat wise – but this one adds in a melody as addictive as its backing track. This song makes you want to dance like a loon – like a malfunctioning fembot, if you will! It’s definitely the catchiest song on here, and probably the most joyful too. Here’s an amazing performance of ‘Fembot’ from Swedish television earlier in the month;
9/10
Dancing On My Own
The album’s official first single, and rightfully so. This is without a doubt one of the best things she’s ever done, bettered only by ‘With Every Heartbeat’ and ‘The Girl & The Robot’. The lyrics are heart wrenching. We could type an example, but it’s hard to pick out a favourite, and it would only do an injustice to the rest. The pulsating electro synth backing track is the perfect accompaniment to the tone of the song. The highlight of the whole thing is the middle eight. A piano melody, a particularly fragile vocal delivery, and then the beat comes back like an intrusive wake up call. The fade out is beautiful too.
10/10
Cry When You Get Older
Another beauty. Sonically and lyrically, it’s been crafted absolutely perfectly. It’s not the most instant of the songs on here, and might get lost amongst the rest on first listen. But it doesn’t take long for it to stand out on its own as a great track, and is a wonderful addition to the album.
7.5/10
Dance Hall Queen
Electro dance hall reggae lite! And it works so much better than you would think. It’s really difficult to put in words what we think of it, and what we think it sounds like. We just know that we really like it!
7.5/10
None Of Dem
This is the Royksopp produced number. Like the album opener, this is one of the album’s darker, less commercial moments. But it also stands out as one of the best. The first few minutes are particularly dark. Then just when you think the song has finished, it comes back with a faster temper, sounding bigger than ever. Then the last minute is a bpm electro rave out, without vocals. The lyrics are delightfully disturbing too!
8/10
Hang With Me (acoustic version)
The proper version of this is being held back until ‘Body Talk pt2′. But we love this version of it anyway. The lyrics are the best on the whole record, which is quite an achievement on this album! And it’s backed with a piano, and some strings – only serving to accentuate the beauty of the melody and the lyrics. This woman is seriously a genius!
9/10
Jag Vet En Dejlig Rosa
Here, Robyn covers an old Scandinavian classic, and sings in Swedish. It’s a simple ballad, with only a piano appearing at intervals as a backing. We’ve already mentioned the word beauty to describe this album quite a lot, but this song sums up the purest of beauty that exists on it. It’s short, sweet, and a fitting closure. And it’s so nice to hear Robyn sing in her native tongue.
10/10
Wow. We honestly didn’t realise how much we missed Robyn until we heard this. If she ever stops making music, it’ll be an immense loss.
Annikafiore goes through her Alcazar wardrobe in her blog at http://www.annikafiore.com Nice to hear she has fond memories of her time with them. - posted on 10/09/2010 14:08:28
It’s a remix of the new Robyn single ‘Hang With Me’.
