Dear listeners,
I’m going backwards through time at the speed of light, bringing you a playlist of essential bangers by the Swedish pop star Robyn, starting with her latest album, “Sexistential.”
Also: I am not Lindsay! It’s editor Caryn, filling in on Robyn Week, an extended holiday we celebrate every eight years.
Yes, Robyn’s new album is her first since “Honey” in 2018, which arrived nearly a decade after her “Body Talk” series — the trilogy that delivered her best-known song, “Dancing on My Own,” the shimmering catharsis she’s performed with Gracie Abrams and David Byrne in the last year. (If you only know the Calum Scott Tiësto remix played at baseball games, I’m sorry for all of us.)
Before that, Robyn still had one of the most unconventional careers in contemporary pop. Discovered as a teen after writing a song about her parents’ divorce, she released her first album in Sweden in 1995, featuring collaborations with some of the country’s titans, including Max Martin. (It included “Show Me Love,” still a showstopper at her concerts and in “& Juliet” on Broadway.)
With no inclination to bend to the whims of the music business, at 24, Robyn founded her own label and gave herself a fresh start, beginning an enduring creative relationship with the writer and producer Klas Åhlund that centers her appreciation of all beat-centered genres, her quirky humor and her facility with lyrics about love, longing and perseverance.
After churning on the “Body Talk” LPs, she took her first extended pause and spent years climbing back from one of her darkest periods. She toured “Honey” around the world, leading to this gorgeous moment of unity on a New York City subway platform. In 2020, she planned to start its follow-up and begin I.V.F. treatments. When Covid hit, she carried on with her (amended) plans.
And on Friday we get the result, “Sexistential,” nine tracks that reflect Robyn as she is now, at 46: a single mom, a person navigating the world of dating apps and having a body as well as a body of work that means so much to so many people.
There are a lot of Robyn songs you should know (and some you probably know quite well), so here’s something else — nearly an hour of my favorite up-tempos across her entire catalog. For more on my bona fides, meet me in the bonus tracks.
Come through, it’ll be cool,
Caryn
Listen along while you read.
1. “Talk to Me”
A fresh reunion with Max Martin (whose credits include all of these indelible hits and Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl”) that will go down as one of Robyn’s greatest tracks. The verses blow by fast, leaning on a twitchy bass line, then explode into ecstasy.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique featuring Maluca: “Love Is Free”
In 2015, Robyn, the keyboardist Markus Jägerstedt and her mentor Christian Falk put out a five-track EP as La Bagatelle Magique that included this delight featuring the singer, rapper and general New York badass Maluca. (It also came with a fever dream of a video, directed by Ssion.)
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. “Between the Lines” (Louie Vega Remix)
The house D.J. and club legend Louie Vega pumped up this “Honey” track with a throwback vibe into a nearly nine-minute groove-a-thon.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Jamie xx featuring Robyn: “Life”
While we were in the latest Robyn drought, Jamie xx gave us “Life,” a blaring dance-floor fanfare from his 2024 solo album, “In Waves.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. “Love Kills”
The centerpiece of “Body Talk Pt. 2” bristles with a relentless synth and words of warning about a harsh world where everyone pays for “love crimes.” (Perhaps the authorities from “Criminal Intent” are on the scene.)
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. “Breakdown Intermission”
I hear glimmers of pretty much all of my favorite classic Britney Spears songs in this funky little track from Robyn’s third album, “Don’t Stop the Music,” which came out in Sweden in 2002.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Röyksopp featuring Robyn: “Monument (The Inevitable End Version)”
Robyn teamed with the Norwegian duo Röyksopp for a 2014 EP called “Do It Again” (its killer title track reminds me of one of my favorite later Britney Spears songs). The duo reworked its opener, “Monument,” into something a bit more brittle, caustic and grindy than the original.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. “Cobrastyle”
Robyn’s creative partner Klas Åhlund was a member of Teddybears, a Swedish band with punk roots in the early ’90s. Robyn covered their 2004 track “Cobrastyle” (which featured the Jamaican dancehall musician Mad Cobra), turning it into an irresistible, spunky boast. Charli XCX later borrowed it for her “Barbie” soundtrack contribution “Speed Drive.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. “Crash and Burn Girl”
The Robyn-Åhlund magic is all over her self-titled album on her label, Konichiwa Records (which is also where “Cobrastyle” landed). I’ve always loved this song’s kicky little descending riff and Robyn’s stuttering vocals.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
10. Robyn and Kleerup: “With Every Heartbeat”
The precursor to “Dancing on My Own.” This team-up with the producer and artist Kleerup was Robyn’s original glitter bomb wrapped in tears — an “I Feel Love”-style reverie that grows and glows, building both a safe space to dig into the pain of a heartbreak and an escape from it.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
11. “Get Myself Together”
Robyn doesn’t get enough credit as a premier pop motivator. This song from “Body Talk” spells it out: There’s a time to wallow, and then a time to keep it moving.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“11 Robyn Bangers for the Pop Star’s Long-Awaited Return” track list Track 1: “Talk to Me” Track 2: Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique featuring Maluca, “Love Is Free” Track 3: “Between the Lines” (Louie Vega Remix) Track 4: Jamie xx featuring Robyn, “Life” Track 5: “Love Kills” Track 6: “Breakdown Intermission” Track 7: Röyksopp featuring Robyn, “Monument (The Inevitable End Version)” Track 8: “Cobrastyle” Track 9: “Crash and Burn Girl” Track 10: Robyn and Kleerup, “With Every Heartbeat” Track 11: “Get Myself Together”
Bonus Tracks
I first profiled Robyn in 2010 for Spin, when she was mid-“Body Talk” and doing a very 2010 promotional activity (appearing on an episode of “Gossip Girl”). We reunited in 2018 for the first story about her return with “Honey,” which may have involved planning a vacation to Stockholm to convince her she should spend the next few months with me. (I also got to go to the Abba Museum, a big plus.)
It’s incredibly rare for a pop star to take such large chunks of time away from the public eye — and then share so much of herself in her music and interviews. To get the full story on how much her life has changed since I last checked in with her, I recommend Jia Tolentino’s New Yorker profile, Shaad D’Souza’s convo with her in The Face and Robyn’s answers to questions posed by The Cut.
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Have feedback? Ideas for a playlist? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].
Caryn Ganz is The Times’s pop music editor.
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