I’ll be the first to admit to a touch of snobbery and dash of elitism when it comes to that expansive arena of sound we refer to as music. I mean hey, that’s what makes me good at my job, right? Due to this, I might express a tendency to lift my nose and sneer when the phrase “pop music” enters my orbital. There is something so fundamentally distasteful to me about a manufactured sexpot with an overproduced record and underwhelming talent, which, let’s face it, is often what you get when you listen to pop. Because of all this, you can imagine my ever increasing delight at discovering a pop star who is, for lack of better words, downright fucking awesome.
While I might not have fully recognized it right away, what with my first exposure to Robyn taking the form of her first single “Show Me Love” that appeared on a Sabrina the Teenage Witch compilation CD someone gave me in the 6th grade (I know, the shame), Robyn rules. She is the opposite of everything that I loathe about pop music. She is unique, smart, and independent – a modern woman who is in control of her own sexuality, her own talent, and her own decisions. While her body of work and the evolution of her career as an artist has clearly demonstrated this, there’s nothing like seeing this power for yourself, which is exactly what I did at Terminal 5 last Wednesday.
As Robyn appeared through the darkness and smoke in her printed spandex leggings, white leather jacket, and 6-inch Jean Paul Gaultier stiletto heels, there was not a silent voice in the house (except maybe for the security guard standing next to me who did not seem amused). She appropriately opened with “Fembot”, setting the tone for the night, which seemed to be, as all of Robyn’s work, representative of a unique blend of technology and humanity. Reflective in her personal style, the content of her lyrics, and the manner by which her sound is created, the union of these futuristic and technology based aspects with her human emotion and almost animalistic sexuality and womanhood creates something that is truly groundbreaking. She is not only pushing electronic music further into the mainstream, but is also redefining our understanding of the role of the female pop star as a renegade – a pioneer of feminine independence and general “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that we can only hope is the future of pop music.
With 8 sets of keyboards, two full drum kits, a mid-set shoe change, mid-track banana eating, and various interludes of nothing but some seriously next level dance moves, Robyn and her four-person band worked their way through eleven tracks, only to return for six more during the encore. Highlights included “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do”, “With Every Heartbeat”, “Konichiwa Bitches”, and “Hang With Me”, each of which she banged out like it was the last performance of her career. As the night wrapped up, and bows were taken and thank yous said, we all held our breath in anticipation of the final song, which in many ways is the most important of the entire performance as it determines how you will remember your experience. Robyn did not disappoint, as the opening bars to fellow Swedes ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” floated out over our heads. A few acapella lines were melded into the opening of a stripped down and almost acoustic “Show Me Love”, and I was right back in the 6th grade, experiencing a heartache I did not yet understand as a middle schooler, but felt through Robyn’s voice.
Check out the full photo gallery HERE, and the full set list below after the jump…
