- Sweden's current queen of pop returns with her first solo track in years.
- Eight years after her last album, Body Talk, the Swedish pop star Robyn releases "Missing U," the first single from her forthcoming album. News of its arrival earlier this week sent her fervent fanbase into a spin, but it's not like Robyn had disappeared completely. Since 2010, she's released two EPs with Röyksopp, one with La Bagatelle Magique (comprising keyboardist Markus Jägerstedt and the late Swedish producer Christian Falk) and featured on a Mr. Tophat EP (the pair also recorded a mix for Beats in Space together).
There's an emotional heft to her solo work that was less apparent in these collaborations. "Missing U" sees Robyn return to what she does best, channelling angst and grief into euphoric dance-pop and expunging heartbreak through the body's most joyous form of expression. Her new track picks up where her most literal and memorable ode to catharsis via clubbing, "Dancing On My Own," left off. Sparkling synths open the tune, evoking a mirrorball. "Baby it's so real to me / Now that's it's over," she sings, leading into a synth line so bouncy and upbeat, you'd think she was the one doing the breaking up.
She wasn't—there's a hint in the track title—but this is Robyn's greatest trick, turning sadness into a thing of beauty and, ultimately, a triumph. As with "Dancing On My Own," the track is propelled towards a soaring, ecstatic chorus. There are blue notes for emphasis when Robyn sings "I miss you" later on, but that bouncing synth lingers in defiance, like a tapping toe fighting the urge to break into dance. Then there's her voice, airy and delicate, yet thick with feeling. "She embodies what it is to feel alive on a dance floor, all inside of her voice," gushed one fan in the short film released earlier this week.