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  • Rediscovering Robyn

    Has an artist that you liked ever fallen off the face of the Earth? I’m not talking literally, of course. I’m talking unexplained absences. It’s even more confusing when the artist actually has a hit and then disappears. I mean, I can understand if it’s a situation where you’re the only fan of a particular singer, but why would an artist who sells a shit-ton of records just vanish into thin air?
    Case in point: Robyn. Just before BSB and Britney hit the scene, Robyn scored big with a refreshingly poppy sound, honed by Swedish writers and producers like Max Martin. Robyn also had the benefit of actually being Swedish, so she was getting some of that homegrown. She also had a voice heavily influenced by soul singers (I seem to remember her touting Faith Evans as an influence), so she got love from the R&B crowd as well. Released in the summer of 1997, Robyn’s debut album, “Robyn Is Here”, sold a million copies and spun off three Top 40 pop hits, with the biggest one being “Show Me Love”…
    …which bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain song called “…Baby One More Time” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_bsniYwSaWg) . The way I see it (and to protect the innocent, I’ll say that this isn’t necessarily the truth), the suits up at Britney & Robyn’s respective labels (who share a distribution company) figured why deal with Robyn when they could find a more pliable, American, and traditionally “sexy” star to promote? After only one album (and a successful one at that…I’m still scratching my head…), Robyn was doomed to a footnote in American pop music culture.
    BUT WAIT…Robyn didn’t exactly fall off the face of the Earth, she just fell off the face of America. The talented Swede has released several more albums in Europe, and they have been commercially and critically well-received. Sensing the time might be right for a comeback (after ELEVEN years), Interscope Records has signed Robyn and released “The Rakamonie EP” in the States in late January. This 5-song collection proves that Robyn has moved far beyond boilerplate Swedish dance/pop, featuring everything from songs that position her as a Missy Elliott/M.I.A hybrid to heartbreaking piano ballads to an uproarious cover of Prince’s “Jack U Off”. In a world where Gwen Stefani, Fergie and Nelly Furtado are among the top pop stars alone (and fading ones like Britney and Janet Jackson are desperately adapting their styles to fit in with the aforementioned three), Robyn provides a sound that doesn’t sound out of place among any of those artists while still managing to forge her own little unique lane.
    So, head to your local record store (or go online) and check out “The Rakamonie EP”. It only cost me 6 bucks and was well worth the money spent.
    For those of you who want another taste, check these clips out:

  • Friday Throwback – Let’s Chill

    I didn’t really get into Guy when their first album dropped. It wasn’t until I Wanna Get With You did I really notice them. It just happened to be that I was listening to a lot more stuff the year their second album came out. And then, there was this song.

    • What’s up with the glasses and flat top look?
    • I don’t remember there being a ballerina in this video.
    • Teddy Riley playing the piano in a bathrobe is just unintentionally funny.
    • Is there any reason why the color of the video changes?
    • Is it a dream or reality? Cause if it’s a fantasy, please don’t wake me.
    • Holy cow. That was a gutter ball from the word go.
    • I don’t get the singing on stools deal, but oh well, this was the early 90s.

    Paging Aaron Hall. Paging Aaron Hall. Come back to R&B music man. We need you.

  • Chart Recap: The January Dregs

    January has typically been no-man’s land when it comes to the music business. That’s never made much sense to me. I mean, wouldn’t you feel a bit more compulsion to release new music when there are folks running around with gift certificates and gift cards? It’s not like there’s not a precedent for music taking off at the beginning of a year. Way back in 1999, a young girl named Britney Spears released her first album right at the beginning of January, and that album went on to sell some 14 million copies. Not bad, huh?
    Hmmm..whatever happened to her, anyway??
    Moving right along, here we are in the first week of February, and the past couple of weeks of charts have looked like a hot mess. Not only are sales already behind those in 2007 by something like 10%, but there has not been one major release by a new artist through the whole month. While the chart figures have not reached the level of futility reached last year by the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack, they have come close, with only Radiohead’s 1/1 release marching over the 100,000 scanned mark over the course of January. Alicia Keys and the “Juno” soundtrack have traded places at the top with sales figures between 62,000 and 70,000. Numbers which, back in the heyday of the music industry, would have barely placed in the Top Ten.
    Thankfully, the triumverate of Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow and Lenny Kravitz should give a healthy(er) glow to the first week of charts, with sales kicks also expected later in the month from Valentine’s Day and the Grammy awards.