Robyn - Sexistential

Tracing Swedish pop sensation Robyn’s career is a surprisingly complex venture, with the prominence of her eight prior albums dependent on which country you ask, and how you see her international split compendium ‘Body Talk’. That - formally a series of three releases - remains for many her opus, introducing the world to the global powerhouse ‘Dancing On My Own’. With ‘Sexistential’ - officially her ninth - Robyn is undertaking the same exploration, completing two previous demos, reimagining 2002’s ‘Blow My Mind’, and analysing her journey from 2010’s commercial breakthrough via 2018’s ‘Honey’ to now. It’s the soundtrack of a woman embracing the duality of motherhood and overt sexuality.

The title track tells of Raya hookups on IVF, while her modernised early ‘00s hit unfolds as an ode to her now three-year-old son. Opener ‘Really Real’ speaks of a split reality that Robyn clearly feels, and huge standout ‘Dopamine’ addresses the value of finding personal happiness in an inconsistent world. It’s a snapshot of a specific time in life - one that lays the Berlin nightclubs of ‘Honey’ to rest, and returns to the Max Martin collaborative bangers that first turned the world onto Robyn.

That pop brilliance runs through ‘Dopamine’, the driving beat of ‘Talk To Me’, and the rousing chorus of ‘Into The Sun’. Elsewhere, Robyn turns up the bubblegum melody of ‘Sucker For Love’ and the bittersweet electronics of ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing’. At its bravest, the title track balances pop-rap with an unmistakable, early-noughties commercial dancefloor twist. ‘Sexistential’ certainly takes the essence of what has driven Robyn’s 30-plus year career, but with a fraction less of its complexity.