STRANGE FRUIT MAGAZINE

Home | jodie's fruits | hayley's fruits | tv fruit | movie fruit | music fruit | comedy fruit | fashion fruit | reading fruit | arty fruit | poetic fruit | radio fruit | shelved fruit | about strange fruit

ROBYN @ Club Academy Manchester

Sweden's Pop Queen on the brink of superstardom
By Hayley Charlesworth

robyn001.jpg
(C) Hayley Charlesworth

Swedish pop genre-bender Robyn first hit the big time way back in the 90s with some gloriously danceable pop. Then, she seemed to disappear. A few failed albums back home and then nothing much for a decade. But then, she came back.

 

For a year and a half, her self-titled come back album was a hidden gem of pop music, beloved by devoted Popjustice readers, ignored by the general public. Konichiwa Bitches, despite having one of the most perfect music videos ever made, failed to take off. Then With Every Heartbeat reached number one (the one and only thing we can thank Jo Whiley for), and suddenly her posters are plastered all over the London Underground.

 

One of the best things about Robyn is that she is bold, brash and utterly brilliant. Even with some fantastic material under her belt, Be Mine! being one of the best songs I’ve heard all year, she still knows how to spoil her audience. Not even halfway through her catalogue of songs, Robyn decided to cover (superbly) a Beverley Knight song, because although she was sure Beverley’s version was lovely, she “just thinks she sings it better”. A bold statement, but this is the woman who claimed on her album that she developed the cure for AIDS.

 

The good thing about a Robyn concert is how quickly the atmosphere can change. Set opener Cobrastyle had the crowds setting their systems to all-out lunatic dancing, whilst With Every Heartbeat saw girls clinging to each other with pure love, boys setting aside their reputations to grin madly at their mates. Recent single Handle Me was a pure anthem for the women in the audience (ironically, this was when a drunk teenager in the audience tried to accost me), whilst Crash and Burn Girl took the energy to new heights, with Robyn singing, dancing and playing the drums all at the same time.

 

The end of her tour, and on the brink of superstardom (Be Mine! is lined up to be the next single), this could be the last intimate gig Robyn plays in a long time. And besides, who couldn’t love a woman who ends her gigs with Prince's Jack You Off?

barrowmanratingsystem5.jpg

strangefruitmagazine@hotmail.co.uk