Robyn Talks with David Remnick

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For the past twenty-five years, since she was a young teen-ager, the singer Robyn has been on the cutting edge of pop music. Her sound is sparse and complex, influenced by electro and dance music while preserving the catchiness of pop. After a brief stint with Max Martin early in her career, Robyn has avoided the big hit-making producers who put their stamp on an artist. Instead she’s produced, written, and performed all her own work, becoming a kind of oxymoron: an indie pop star. “Body Talk,” Robyn’s previous album, came out in 2010, and, for many of the years that followed, Robyn has been out of the public eye. Following a breakup and a close friend’s death, she slipped into a depression serious enough that she had trouble getting out of bed and leaving her house. She eventually started recording again and recently released an album called “Honey.” (The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino wrote,“the force of her conviction continues to hold together what often seems impossible, musically or otherwise: maximum sadness, felt as the bedrock of absolute joy.”) Robyn, who lives in her native Sweden, spoke with David Remnick about the many years of difficulties that went into making “Honey.” Plus, the pop-music critic Amanda Petrusich picks three favorites for 2018, and the fight director B. H. Barry gives a lesson in brutal mayhem with music.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of the New Yorker and WNYC Studios.
0:13.1	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. For the past 25 years, starting when she was all of 14 years old,
0:21.1	the singer Robin has been on the cutting edge of pop music.
0:24.9	Her sound is sparse, complex, ahead of the trends,
0:28.9	and she always seems like she's writing from a few years into the future.
0:44.1	For most of those 25 years making music, Robin has avoided the big hit-making producers who somehow put their own stamp on an artist. Instead, she's become almost an oxymoron, an indie pop star.
0:50.9	And while she's respected, even frankly adored by so many critics, she's also genuinely
0:57.0	popular with the top 10 singles and multiple Grammy nominations to prove it. Robin was born Robin
1:03.7	Carlson in Sweden, where she still lives. And her last album, Body Talk, came out in 2010.
1:09.7	But for most of the intervening years, Robin has
1:11.8	been pretty much out of public view. Following a breakup and a close friend's death, she slipped
1:17.4	into a depression serious enough that she had trouble getting out of bed sometimes or
1:21.9	leaving the house. She eventually started recording again and recently released an album called Honey.
1:28.5	The New Yorker's Giotolentino said of it,
1:31.4	The Force of Her Conviction continues to hold together what often seems impossible,
1:36.9	musically or otherwise.
1:38.4	Maximum sadness felt as the bedrock of absolute joy.
1:43.6	Robin talked with me from her office in Sweden last week.
1:47.9	Robin, this is your first album in eight years.
1:51.3	Is it strange to be back in the limelight after all that time?
1:54.5	You're touring, and it's been a long time for touring too.
1:57.5	What's it like being back out in the hot lights?
	...

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