Programming note: It’s 2010s week! I’m spotlighting some of my favorite records released between 2010 and 2019. Like previous decade-themed newsletter posts, I’ve selected albums that cover multiple genres and deliberately avoided the well-worn titles that top all “best of” lists for this decade. In other words, no blonde, To Pimp a Butterfly, and so on.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s 2010s music pick is an idiosyncratic pop whirlwind featuring some of the decade’s best floor-fillers.
Genre: Pop, Dance
Label: Interscope
Release Date: November 22, 2010
Vibe: 💓💓
Robyn’s now-famous Body Talk sessions and song rollout strategy were ahead of their time. Initially announced as 3 “mini-LPs” released in five months, the Swedish pop star called the frenetic pace a “practical solution” that allowed her to write, record, and tour simultaneously, an approach that predates widespread streaming adoption by several years. “It was about making it more fun for me,” she added.
“Fun” is the key word there, as it’s an apt description of the sensibility that runs through and, ultimately, holds Body Talk together. Even when she grapples with heartbreak on tracks like “Hang With Me,” it’s playful, bubbly, and, musically, almost joyous. When the arpeggios swell around her, you can’t help but think that it feels right despite warning you against giving in to heady crushes, especially with that Eurodance backdrop. That dynamic is one of many facets of Robyn’s complicated persona on this album, rushing in and out of love with plenty of snark and reckless abandon. “Fembots have feelings, too,” she proclaims on the eponymous hit single, a statement that gets more profound the deeper you follow her down this emotional rabbit hole.
Other highlights include “Call Your Girlfriend,” a quirky, knowing take on the well-worn love triangle pop storyline, and “Stars 4-Ever,” a sumptuous dance cut that features an irresistibly serpentine electric piano. Even Robyn’s detours into reggaeton, like “None of Dem” and the closer “Dancehall Queen,” are catchy as hell, in spite of the latter’s of-its-moment dubstep influences. Without a doubt, though, the best song here is still its biggest hit, the anthemic “Dancing On My Own.” She blends feelings of abject loneliness that come with watching your ex roll up to the same club—with another woman—with a popular notion that goes back to her disco forebearers: that giving yourself to the music and the dancefloor will be her salvation.
“Clubs are like the new church for people,” she told Pop Justice then. “It’s where you go to feel a part of something bigger than yourself.” This record sounds and still hits even bigger.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈