Being a mom is no easy feat. Being a single mom and a musician is even tougher. Yet prodigies like Robyn, who have been in this industry since the early ’90s, don’t know when to quit. Or simply choose not to.
Most notably for her hit single “Dancing on My Own” (2010), Robyn has always held a quiet and underrated space in the world of pop and electronic music. Known, but still pretty unknown.
Her moment came with her seventh studio album, “Body Talk” (2010), which was met with critical acclaim and landed her three Grammy nominations.
After her highly praised eighth studio album. “Honey” (2018), the singer would find herself on an eight-year hiatus, navigating motherhood, relationships and creative collaborations.
When Robyn decided to return to working with her longtime collaborator Klas Ahlund, the two set out on making a record reminiscent of Body Talk. The album process would begin in the early pandemic, while both producers were navigating parenthood.
“Dopamine,” the record’s lead single, was pulled straight from the archives of Robyn and Ahlund’s previous works. They had been working on the song for over a decade before finally adding it to “Sexistential”.
The song is a bright electronic synth pop track, delivering a melancholy and heartfelt vibe as she sings, “I know it’s just dopamine, but it feels so real to me.”
“Sexistential” is a nine-track album, almost thirty minutes long, with only four singles released. It was released worldwide on March 27. The main genre is electronic synth-pop, where Robyn’s soprano register shines both through vocoders and unfiltered mixing.
The album serves as a sexual reawakening for middle-aged women — specifically, mothers like her. Robyn stated it as, “it’s feeling sensual and attracted to things that I enjoy, and not letting anything take over that.”
The title track of the same name was finished only a couple of months before the album’s release. She raps in the track, singing, “F*ck a Plan B, baby, it’s no big deal, I’m already 10 weeks in maternity, F*ck a single mom, I’m not judgmental, in my sweatpants and some juicy h**tai. F*ck a therapist, it’s not mental, I need philosophy, this s**t is existential.”
She is essentially rapping about trying to get laid while pregnant, which may seem rather silly, and to her, it is. In hindsight, the humor comes from the fact that she will never really know who the father of her only child is.
Track 4, “Sucker for Love,” also embodies the central ideas of feeling and romance. She sings, “You think I’m soft, like that’s a flaw somehow, you’ve got me figured out and I, I’m not that tough, who wants to be that way? I’m just a sucker for love.”
Robyn isn’t solely focused on the fun and thrill of sexual encounters, but rather, the romance and tension she finds within these moments. The upbeat Game Boy-like production adds to the reckless nature of its lyrics.
“Talk to Me,” which features a choreography-styled music video, showcases her as her old self: a bright and energetic popstar ready to deliver a hit. Her elongated winged eyeliner and all-black look deliver a quiet sense of confidence as she writhes and moves around the floor.
The accompanying back-up dancers and uptempo beats bring her back to the dance floor as if she never left, and revitalize the meaning of a popstar completely: it doesn’t matter how old you are, as long as you’ve got guts and the courage to be authentically you, you’re all set.
The ninth and final track, “Into the Sun,” closes out the album with the same bpm as the rest of the tracks, continuing the upbeat electronic theme, now with a more solemn tone in her voice.
The track is an ode to Robyn’s longtime position in the music industry, and reminds her listeners that if this is her last crusade, she’ll go out with a bang. She sings, “No, I’m not ready to willingly give up my faith, did you really think I wouldn’t go all the way?”
“Sexistential” proves to listeners, singers and mothers alike that anyone, really, anyone, can shine the way Robyn does on this record. She is free, sure of her position as a single mom, and couldn’t care less what you think of her provocative nature.
Mark her words, “This s**t is existential.”
