Body Talk Pt. 1

Background

In an interview with Swedish magazine Bon, Robyn announced that she had plans to release three new albums in 2010. She said, "I got all these great songs so why not? [...] It's been 5 years since Robyn and I didn't want to wait with a release until they are all recorded, so I decided to start putting them out right away." Robyn told Popjustice journalist Peter Robinson, "It's been a long time since I actually made a record! And I was thinking of how to shorten that time down and Eric, my manager, came up with the idea of what if I just start releasing songs, then I can tour them, then I can make some more songs. We started working like that. I think once it starts it will make more sense – you can just keep releasing stuff without the long breaks." The release of Body Talk Pt. 1 was announced on 6 April 2010, alongside the cover art and track listing. Robyn said that "the songs that are on the first album are simply the first ones that were finished."

Production

Robyn began working on the album in July 2009 in Stockholm with Swedish producer Klas Åhlund, who also acts as the executive producer of the album.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Robyn talked about the main lyrical theme of the album: "The whole album is about being really lonely, but I think it's interesting to put that idea in a club where a lot of people are crammed into a small room." She particularly wrote the song "Dancing on My Own" with that in mind, and continued, "I've been touring so much the last three years and spent a lot of time in clubs just watching people, and it became impossible to not use that lyric—"dancing on my own"—because it's such a beautiful picture." Robyn told Billboard that Body Talk Pt. 1 is "a record about the dancefloor", and elaborated: "It's a really important place for my generation. It's the new church. It's where people go to experience something bigger than themselves." A number of songs on the record were inspired by Robyn's "juvenile" state of mind and her outsider perspective. She said, "I'm always going to be writing about those issues, it's what I'm fascinated by but I also think there's something about the state of mind you find yourself in a lot when you're younger, and you just want to get out of somewhere. You just want to do something. Feel things!" She continued that despite her age, "I'm always going to feel like this person on the outside looking in." Another theme prevalent on the album is "technology versus humanity".

Robyn collaborated with Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp at their studio in Oslo on the song "None of Dem". American producer Diplo produced the song "Dancehall Queen" with Åhlund, which came together during a discussion of Ace of Base: "We were just having fun with that kind of genre music. And the idea of making this song came out of that discussion. It was fun. We really connected on something where music that you might put in one box becomes something else, depending on how you look at it." On the decision to record a dancehall inspired song despite of Robyn's nationality she said, "In my world, there are people who have already pushed those boundaries [of crossing styles] forward enough for me to feel comfortable doing a song like "Dancehall Queen", so it's not a big deal to me." The last song on the album, "Jag vet en dejlig Rosa" is a recording of a traditional Swedish folk song, famously recorded by jazz singer Monica Zetterlund. Robyn said, "I always listened to her, and she made this classic jazz album in the 60s [Waltz for Debby] with Bill Evans, which was quite a spectacular thing in Sweden at that time. "Jag vet en dejlig Rosa" was one of the songs they did, and when [producer] Klas [Åhlund] and I were in the studio, he bought exactly the same microphone that she recorded that album on. So we got all excited and decided to record the song."

Critical reception

Body Talk, Pt. 1 received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 23 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Heather Phares of Allmusic stated, "Capturing the freedom and loneliness of independence, Body Talk, Pt. 1 is a concise set of songs on its own, and an impressive first third of the whole ambitious project." Marc Hogan of Pitchfork Media raved, "With Body Talk Pt. 1, [...] Robyn doesn't just walk the line between what she has called the 'commercial' and 'tastemaker' realms. She obliterates it. Immaculately produced, fantastically sung, and loaded with memorable choruses, this eight-song effort has plenty to please everyone from post-dubstep crate diggers to teen tweeters—often at the same time." The A.V. Club's Genevieve Koski opined that it is "an album about aligning your heartbeat with the pulse of strobe lights and basslines, embracing synthetic sounds as a conduit for genuine emotion. Robyn's icy, controlled vocals and cool synth textures are almost alienating in their precision, but there's a beating pulse underneath the dance-bot artifice that captures the celebratory catharsis that can be found on the dance floor." Michael Cragg wrote for musicOMH that with Body Talk Pt. 1, Robyn is "ready to finally take her place at pop's top table of greats."

The Guardian's Michael Hann commended Robyn for her "defiant independence of spirit and her versatility within the pop idiom". Spin magazine's Jessica Hopper believed that on Body Talk Pt. 1, Robyn "confidently chronicles the heartbreak ('Dancing on My Own') and pleasure ('Dancehall Queen') of epic disco nights like she's ready to rule." Will Hermes of Rolling Stone called the album "near-perfect" and concluded, "Capped with a Swedish folk gem, Body Talk shows a dancehall queen with more than just blonde ambition." Slant Magazine critic Sal Cinquemani commented that "[t]he bulk of the album is comprised of stiff beats and in-your-face bluster that attempt to portray Robyn as more impenetrable machine than flesh-and-blood sweetheart." He added that "it also comes fully loaded with more hooks than your average pop album's entire tracklist." In a review for PopMatters, Jer Fairall expressed particular appreciation for the track "Fembot", and stated that "Body Talk, Pt. 1 shows Robyn working with the same tools that have served pop divas quite well since at least as far back as Madonna, if not earlier." However, he also noted that "[n]ot all of Body Talk, Pt. 1 works", referring to "Dancehall Queen" as "the only real bomb". Luke Lewis of the NME called the album "impressive, but thin at eight tracks", while concluding, "Would it not have been better to hold back, and release just one, truly stunning record?" Matthew Horton of BBC Music felt that the album "triggers the sense Robyn's holding something back" and that it "houses so much filler", but nevertheless described "Fembot", "Dancing on My Own" and "Cry When You Get Older" as "scorchingly catchy, and laced with Robyn's familiar cordial of sparkling hook mixed with unutterable poignancy."

Singles

Robyn stated in an interview with Swedish magazine Nöjesguiden that she would release only one official single per Body Talk album. "Fembot", "Dancehall Queen" and "None of Dem" were released to digital outlets as promotional singles on 13 April 2010. "Fembot" and "None of Dem" were initially posted on Robyn's official website in March and April 2010, while "Dancehall Queen" had previously leaked under the title "No Hassle". Due to strong sales and frequent airplay, "Fembot" reached number three on the Swedish Singles Chart and number ten on the Norwegian Singles Chart. "Dancehall Queen" was the only other song of these three that charted, peaking at number fifty-six in Sweden for a single week. The official single, "Dancing on My Own", was released on 1 June 2010. It became Robyn's first number one hit in Sweden. It reached number three in the US on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and became her fourth UK top ten hit, peaking at number eight. It also charted in Denmark, Norway, Belgium (Flanders) and Germany.