Robyn’s famous and fabulous fans show their love

Get your copy of THE FACE’s Spring issue here.

As a musician, Robyn is revered and adored like few others. Over the course of her 30-year career, the Swedish star has become a fierce beacon of independent, deeply creative pop, thanks to the undying popularity of hits like Dancing On My Own, With Every Heartbeat and Call Your Girlfriend. Her forthcoming album, Sexistential, is one of this year’s best.

While working on Robyn’s FACE cover story, I spoke to some of her talented admirers about what the love about her.

“I have been a fan of Robyn’s since I can remember. As a songwriter and performer, she’s undeniable. She captures these moments of intense pain and transformation and uses the energy to create pure joy. It is such an honour to have her join me on tour. All of a sudden, lots of my friends feel like travelling to Amsterdam to see me play. I wonder why…”

“One of my first drag performances that I ever did was an acoustic version of Dancing On My Own. That was my first time singing in drag, back when I was 15. I truly believe there are some people who are put on this earth as a sort of siren. And speaking in regards to the masses and how long her career has spanned, it almost feels like she’s got this hypnotic siren’s call that’s undeniable. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like Robyn.

She has such a unique voice – there’s something calming about it. I think once Robyn comes to the end of her time on this earth, she will be considered one of The Divas.”

“I knew some of Robyn’s songs from a while back, but I have to say it was the Call Your Girlfriend video that totally won me over. The song is driving and an earworm, but it’s her dancing and attitude in the video that got me. It seems so simple – it’s just her in an empty rehearsal studio or stage, bare bones lighting – and about 20 seconds in, she starts to move and never stops and you can’t stop watching. No sets, no other dancers, no locations – it’s all just her moving to the song in a way that connects to the lyrics. Having performed with her at the SNL 50^th event, I realise some of what she did was planned, and much was improvised on the spot. Brilliant.”

“I was eight-years-old and remember hearing Konichiwa Bitches out in the world, feeling like there was a before time and there was an after time. BR and AR. Eventually I got the CD and was hyper fixated on the sound of the jeans ripping… I then fell in love with With Every Heartbeat and it was game over from there.

She’s got one of the most direct points of view, hands down. And she always has no fear in expressing the vulnerable parts while simultaneously standing in her very singular strength. I remember when I met her I felt like the person standing across from me was the living and breathing embodiment of that exact quality… soft, but then fucking killer.”

“[When we soundchecked at Lollapalooza] I remember her walking out on stage, wearing a massive sun hat and a hoodie on and she instantly made me well up. I tried to hide it. I couldn’t pinch myself hard enough to believe it, but I tried. It just all felt too impossible to be real. We were standing on this giant stage during the festival soundcheck which meant that in front of us was a massive empty field and the Chicago skyline. And then, like a fever dream, she started singing. I turned around to my band, who I’ve been playing with since day one. Two years prior, at my first Lolla we covered Dancing On My Own without Robyn on a tiny stage.

A few hours [after soundcheck] we did it for real. Never have I ever gotten chills like that on stage. Her cherry red lace up heels. Her hair. I watched her dance and it was the happiest show of my life.”

“I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. She’s always resonated with the clubgoer and being somebody who works in nightclubs, sorrow and heartbreak on a dance beat is always something that resonates with me. She does an amazing job at creating these sentimental and meaningful experiences; everyone has a different experience with her music, but it always takes them back to a particular moment in their life.

In times we’re living in right now, people want to feel validated and seen and heard, and she resonates with so many people – she creates a space for them to feel that way. Queer people are accustomed to heartbreak in some capacity, whether it’s from relationships, being disenfranchised, familial. So she really resonates with queer people. And she may not be queer, but she’s always been a queer icon, with her style alone and the content of her music. Faggots want to dance. And faggots love serious women!”

“I’ll just go ahead and join the cacophony of artists saying that their music wouldn’t exist as it does today without Robyn. MUNA is so indebted to her – for our sound, for the combination of melancholia and euphoria, even, frankly, for my early haircut.

Most of all, though, Robyn taught me about self-actualisation. I remember reading an interview about her starting her own label. She said she spent a lot of time thinking about how the public saw her vs. how she saw herself, and made a really conscious effort to take control of her own image and narrative.

Reading about that before MUNA started really empowered us to be out as exactly who we are from the jump – queer, political, powerful rockstars.”