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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE pop album of 2005, November 27, 2005
I became a Robyn fan when Do You Know (What It Takes) came out in the U.S. back in 1997, and four albums later I am more of a Robyn fan than ever.
This record possesses a maturity, variety in styles, hooky arrangements, and writing strength (as well as sincere vocals) that is tough to find in new music. From the introduction which builds up Robyn's talents and marks the start of a new era in Robyn's career (after three successful albums on RCA/BMG she decided to start her own label) and launches perfectly into the spirited Who's That Girl, you know you're in for a treat.
The tempo drops a bit for Handle Me, a slick track about Robyn being a tough gal and not taking any nonsense from a guy. It then segways into the delicate but assertive Robotboy before the glorious Be Mine, a delicious mix of beats and strings set to a perfect vocal from Robyn. An interlude is the perfect lead-in to the feisty Crash & Burn Girl where Robyn tries to reason with a girl who fails to recognize she is the cause of her own problems.
Another quick interlude of Robyn mixing it up in the studio leads into the guilty pleasure that is Konichiwa Bitches (could this be a slight teaser reference to Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls?), where Robyn takes the lyrics to a new level of adult-themed fun and also does a fantastic job on her first rap song! The fun calms a bit for the addictive guitar ballad Bum Like You where Robyn proclaims "my new favourite thing to do is wasting my time on a bum like you" as she professes her love and support for a man despite his faults and shortcomings.
This leads nicely into the haunting Eclipse, probably Robyn's finest downtempo moment (tied with the piano version of Be Mine which features on the Be Mine CD-single). Lyrically, this is Robyn's deepest song on the album, and her voice sounds like she is fighting back the tears throughout the song. From the opening line "there's an eclipse in your eye, where I used to shine" you will be captivated by this song.
Then it's onto the triumphant "Should Have Known" which is a fantastic reworking of a track from her last album. If you have ever been heartbroken and wanted to slap yourself for not reading the signs, this song will become your anthem. If nothing else, buy this album for the breakdown bit at the end of this track...it's well worth a listen. The album concludes with the atomspheric and emotional Anytime You Like where Robyn battles the need for attention and love from her man and pleads with him to tell her what's on his mind...another song where it sounds like she is holding back from crying as she sings.
Robyn is no cookie-cutter popster, she is an original artist who's been writing songs since age 11 as her way of coping with the good and bad in life. How fitting that this, her fourth album, is self-titled, because it seems to be the finest embodiment of Robyn's artistic ability to date.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great!, November 4, 2006
Alright, so I'll be honest with everyone. I didn't know Robyn was still putting albums out until I found her self-titled album, but even then...it was expensive! I didn't buy the actual CD (shhh) but the version I own is completely legal. Anyway, the point is that I haven't heard the albums inbetween her first smash album and this one. You can imagine how extremely shocked I was to hear, firstly, how different this album is, and then how similar it is.
There is a hard, almost crystalline structure to this album. Robyn, here, is a glitzy, hard-a**ed celebrity who doesn't want any food in her jacuzzi and fills her jeans to bursting. The beats are unforgiving and jagged, the lyrics are sharp and jagged. That is what hit me first about this album. Then you find the soft underbelly, whether it be in the "sing out loud" chorus of "Who's That Girl", or the alluring guitar that backs up the chorus of "Handle Me". Then there's Robyn's voice, which is both hard and soft. This chick can sing, and the sad part is that we've known that for years now.
Robyn starts off with a jarring introduction to the platinum-haired singer, not only with her being a demanding diva, but the scary "thunder, lightning, and hells bells" accompanied by a quick-talking dark sinister voice, hyping her up for the world. This drops into "Who's That Girl", Robyn's take on the way her man sees her, I believe. She noticed that other girls are always pretty, while she's only sometimes pretty. She doesn't like the rules of the relationship, and she asks her man who the girl is that he wants her to be, because she definitely isn't that girl. This is followed by my favorite song on the album, "Handle Me". In this song, she talks about how this guy is obviously attractive, well put together, got everything going for him, but he can't handle her. She's too much for him, no matter how cool she thinks he is. This song is fantastic, but they censor out the word "Nazi" for some reason. After hearing the whole album ("Should Have Known" for example) you'll understand how this is a tad weird.
I'm not a fan of the slower songs on the album. Not because they are bad, but because the subject matter is a little strange. Like "Robotboy". Good music, weird lyrics. I just can't get into it. "Be Mine", "Crash and Burn Girl", "Konichiwa B****es", "Bum Like You", and "Should Have Known" are all exemplary tracks as well.
I think this album is good, and I look forward to more from her in the future.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best cd's i've heard this year!, December 25, 2005
Robyn has always been an awesome artist. I loooove this cd, and a friend of mines put me on to it. I didn't even know it exsisted until' she was like "You ever heard of Robyn? She has a new cd out!" Man every single track on her is great! You can play the whole cd through. "Handle Me" is my favorite song though. It's hot!
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