in Review

Robyn – Honey

Much like Cat Power, Robyn was an artist I’d long neglected listening to much before this year, and I’m quite glad I made this correction. Of course, my newfound appreciation for Robyn has coincided with my more recent openness to straight-up pop artists, perhaps because the tastes of music critics have pushed me in this direction. But whatever the case, Robyn is the rare kind of pop star who seems to have gotten better with age, though despite some amazing moments, I’m not sure that Honey quite matches her last release, the unstoppable Body Talk.

That said, it seems a bit odd to compare the two, considering Body Talk came out eight years ago. Which begs the question… how much has Robyn changed since then? Well, I would say the brash cockiness of her previous albums has diminished considerably. Instead, we get a quieter, more pulsating sound, which is accentuated by a more introverted approach to pop songwriting. Granted, it’s an element that seemed to be there in Robyn’s occasionally melancholy brand of pop before, it’s just now it seems to be the driving force.

I’m not sure if this has to do with pop music’s current moroseness catching up with Robyn, since I don’t spend a ton of time listening to pop music. But it does seem like Robyn has this unique stature that other pop stars don’t seem to have. Almost like the pop star version of a comic’s comic. A pop star that has critical cred, but isn’t huge on the scale that pop stars are expected to be. Which is fine, considering some of the songs on here are absolute bangers. Bangers that will almost certainly stick around longer than whatever’s actually burning up the pop charts right now.

Favorite Tracks:Missing U“, “Because It’s In The Music“, “Honey