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February 2011

Swedish pop singer Robyn makes immensely enjoyable dance pop. Conventional wisdom says she should be huge. But the fact she's not might make her even cooler.

Robyn has been kicking around the fringes of pop music for some time. In the late '90s, while a teenager, she scored two Top 10 singles, "Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What it Takes)." But afterward she pretty much disappeared, another forgotten pop singer along the lines of Gina G or Skye Sweetnam.

What audiences didn't know was that she had returned to her homeland and reinvented herself. After a falling out with her label, she began releasing music on her own Konichiwa Records, and 2005's self-titled "Robyn" showcased a sassy new singer, equal parts bubbly and brainy.

The album was finally released in the U.S. in 2008 in association with Cherrytree Records, which also housed boutique dance acts Lady Gaga and La Roux.

"Robyn" wasn't a hit, but blogger-types and indie rock fans championed the singer for her edgy impulses. She became a "cool" pop singer; and fans who wouldn't be caught dead with Katy Perry or Britney Spears on their iPods made her something of an indie darling. She was their dancing queen.

Last year, Robyn, 31, released her ambitious Body Talk series, a three-part collection of irresistible dance pop spread out over two EPs and one full-length album.

Body Talk was a hit with critics. It ranked No. 13 on the Village Voice's 2010 Pazz N Jop poll, a compendium of music critics' best-of lists, and lead single "Dancing on My Own" ranked No. 3. But audiences skipped it.

In all, Body Talk has sold around 75,000 copies in North America, less than last week's No. 1 album shifted in one sales frame.

In a sense, the mainstream's ambivalence helps fuel passions about her.

Fans see Robyn as an underdog, a should-be pop phenom, and the lack of widespread success helps build her myth. Of course, this is no different than any number of grass-roots acts; but in the pop realm, a case like Robyn's is practically unheard of.

And it makes her accessible. Last summer, she played at Pontiac's Crofoot Ballroom to a small but passionate audience of converts, and put on a show that would put Britney to shame. Minus any production flair or backup dancers, Robyn simply performed her heart out and danced up a storm, putting on one of the best shows this reporter saw all year.

She also wowed audiences at last summer's Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, an indier-than-thou music fest that caters to the most persnickety of music fans. If Robyn was selling boatloads of records, she probably wouldn't have been booked at the fest, but she won over the crowd with music that was wholly uncharacteristic of the bands that populated the rest of the lineup. According to many reports, she stole the fest.

And there are signs she may be getting bigger.

Robyn — who had a blink-and-you-missed-it performance at last year's MTV Video Music Awards — was just booked as one of the supporting acts on Katy Perry's summer tour, which will put her in U.S. arenas for the first time.

In April she'll appear at Indio, Calif.'s Coachella Festival, where she's one of the bigger names on the first day's bill. And she's up for a Grammy at next week's ceremony.

Whether or not she finally becomes a star remains to be seen. But even if traditional success eludes her, to many she's already the biggest pop star in the land.

Five must-have tracks from Sweden's pop darling:

"Show Me Love" (from "Robyn Is Here") Robyn's first hit, with production from Swedish pop maestro Max Martin, showcasing the teen pop bounce he'd later perfect with Britney Spears.

"Cobrastyle" (from "Robyn") A cover of the Teddybears' single where Robyn showed her renewed dedication to off-kilter pop.

"Robotboy" (from "Robyn") This tale of android love feeds into Robyn's cyborg fetish (later explored on "Fembot").

"Dancing On My Own" (from "Body Talk") A devastating dancefloor weepie about getting passed up for someone else.

"Hang With Me" (from "Body Talk") Included on "Body Talk" in both acoustic and synth-pop versions, this is a heartfelt ode to finding one's equal.

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Here in englnd robyn is pretty popular, not a household name but quite famous. Back in 2008 her songs and videos were played loads, and i heard her on the radio not long ago