Across my career doing the rounds at all the big international fashion weeks (and many of the smaller ones too), I’ve been in the room with a lot of megastars who’ve left me starstruck – from Debbie Harry at Gucci, Kyle MacLachlan at Prada, Busta Rhymes at Louis Vuitton, and Wu-Tang Clan at Tommy Hilfiger, to Damon Albarn and Ab Fab duo Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders just last week at Burberry. But the person who took the crown in terms of sending me into a tailspin – at least on the inside – is Robyn, who showed up to Jonathan Anderson’s SS24 Loewe show.
It’s a universally accepted fact that the Swedish musician is an international treasure who must be protected at all costs. Who hasn’t had a complete breakdown to “With Every Heartbeat”, or felt the surge of bittersweet euphoria running through their veins as sad banger “Dancing On My Own” kicks in? There are few musicians that have been able to invoke the smörgåsbord of emotions that Robyn has across the course of her three-decade-long career.
Sadly, it’s been a while since we’ve had new music from Robyn, with 2018’s Honey her last outing beyond a couple of guest appearances on tracks by Jamie xx and Charli xcx. At least, that is until today, when Robyn gave us a sneak preview of material she’s been working on as part of Acne Studios’ SS26 runway show, for which founder Jonny Johansson roped her in to create the soundtrack (the two have long been friends, with Johansson citing the musician as something of a muse for the house).
Robyn’s music has always looked to the future, and she’s long demonstrated an obsession with robots – take “Fembot”, for example, in which she explores the ideas of entering her 30s and wondering whether or not to have kids – and for Acne, she remixes and refreshes “Robotboy”. This time, she’s joined on the track by longtime collaborator and fellow friend of the house yung lean.
“When Jonatan (yung lean) sings “Robotboy, it’s like he is singing to himself, serenading an old version of himself” – Robyn
Robyn calls lean – real name Jonatan Leandoer Håstad –”a kindred spirit” and explains that “the song feels like it was made for him, not me.” “When Jonatan sings “Robotboy, it’s like he is singing to himself, serenading an old version of himself” she says. “Whereas when I sing it, it’s like I’m singing to a brother or a lover. I was excited to hear his version.”
The musician didn’t have the opportunity to see the collection ahead of putting together the soundtrack but says there was a synergy there regardless. “There was an unexpected dialogue between the music and the clothes that I just didn’t see coming,” she says. “I hadn’t seen them, and Acne hadn’t heard the music beforehand, but they both question and celebrate the typical idea of female identity. It was fun and interesting to hear my lyrics in this context.”
But the most important question: when, exactly, is the new album coming? Robin is pretty tight-lipped for now. “I can’t even tell you what anything is called yet, but I’ve used sounds and some lyrics to build a new collage which is very personal and real.” Hold tight for more news on that, and revisit our 2018 Robyn guest edit here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.dazeddigital.com ’
