Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson aka Robyn (born June 12, 1979) is a Swedish singer and songwriter, living in Stockholm. She is best known in the US for her singles "Do You Know What It Takes and "Show Me Love", and is widely known in Sweden.
Biography
Robyn's parents are actors, and she was herself involved in the acting business at the age of 9, having a extra role in Kronbruden at the Swedish theatre Dramaten. She was discovered by the Swedish singer Meja when singing with Legacy of Sound about her parents' divorce. She left gymnasium after only three days to focus on her passion, music.
Career
In 1991 and at the age of 12, Robyn recorded the title song for the Swedish television show Lilla Sportspegeln, named Du kan alltid bli nummer ett ("you can always be number one"). This song was never released, and can therefore not really be considered a part of her professional career as a singer. She also performed her first self-written song at this age in another TV show called Söndagsöppet.
Robyn was rediscovered by Swedish signer Meja in the early nineties. Meja and her band Legacy of Sound visited Robyn's school and were involved with a musical workshop. Robyn's performances captivated the "All About The Money" singer; so much so that Meja contacted her management and a meeting was arranged with Robyn and her parents. Following the completion of her middle school education, Robyn signed to Ricochet Records Sweden, a subsidiary of BMG. She collaborated with producers Max Martin and Denniz Pop who provided the singer with a gritty yet popular sound. Writing duties were assisted by Ulf Lindstrom and Johan Ekhe, who also helped to produce the album, and they stayed on board with Robyn until after her "Don't Stop The Music" opus in 2003.
Her debut single You've Got That Something was released in Sweden in 1995. Later the same year, her Swedish breakthrough came with the single Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect), it was slightly less successful in the USA in its 1997 release. These singles became part of the album Robyn Is Here.
Robyn had her US breakthrough in 1997 when the singles Show Me Love and Do You Know (What It Takes) were released. These singles ended up on the Billboard top 10. She followed those two singles with the slightly less successful Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect), which was the lead-off single for the 1995 Swedish release. It was ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100 at the time since it was not released as a retail single in the U.S., but did reach #32 on the Hot 100's Airplay chart. The album offered the standard version and a remix causing the album to be re-released with this remix on it.
As Robyn was growing in popularity across the globe, especially in the United States, she was lined up as the support act for the 1998 Backstreet Boys tour. However, Robyn was diagnosed with exhaustion and she quickly returned to Sweden to recuperate with her family.
Her following album My Truth was released in May 17, 1999 in Sweden, and in the coming months elsewhere in the continent. The single "Electric" was a huge smash across Europe, and propelled "My Truth" to the #2 chart position in Sweden. "My Truth" was a hugely autobiographical release for Robyn, and included the tracks "Universal Woman" and "Giving You Back" which emotively explained her secret abortion. The album did achieve synonymous acclaim, and critics remarked on Robyn's almost seamless evolution as an artist.
Robyn's record company, RCA, originally intended to release "My Truth" America, but reconsidered as they didn't feel the market would be receptive to her new sound. Following discussion between RCA Sweden and their American counterpart, there were moves for My Truth to be partially re-recorded with a more US-friendly sound. Robyn was uncomfortable with the prospect and valued her artistic credibility above her record company's advice, and so "My Truth" was not released in the United States.
In 2000, Povel Ramel gave her the Karamelodiktstipendiet; a scholarship for her musical achievements where most of the reward lies in the prestige and honour, and not financial incentives.
In 2001, Robyn contributed the song Say You'll Walk The Distance (written by Jörgen Elofsson) to the soundtrack for the film On The Line.
In November 2002, she changed labels (from RCA to JIVE) and released the album Don't Stop The Music in Sweden. This album was also promised a US release after a few minor changes were made to it. These changes were never made and it has yet to see an American release. The title track was later covered by Swedish girl group Play, and single "Keep This Fire Burning" was also released as a single for British soul singer Beverley Knight, and became a top five airplay hit in the United Kingdom.
In May 2004, the CD Robyn's Best was released by BMG in America. It is essentially a shortened version of her first album and contains no other material from her latter albums. It is widely considered to be a poor attempt by her past record label to pass the album off as a greatest hits album, ahead of her subsequent independency from the BMG mantle.
In 2005, Robyn announced she would be leaving Jive Records and the BMG conglomerate to start her own record label. Konichiwa Records was created, with its mantra clearly focused on Robyn's music. Konichiwa (Misspelling of Japanese 'Konnichi wa' (こんにちは), which means "Hello") is a reference to the phrase "Konichiwa bitches!" by the comedian Dave Chappelle. The Konichiwa phrase would also go on to bear its name to a track on her fourth studio album. Robyn also revealed that her new album was about to be completed earlier than expected, and noted that she had collaborated Klas Âhlund from Teddybears STHLM, Swedish duo The Knife and former Cheiron producer Alexander Kronlund.
In 2005, Robyn released her new single Be Mine, and a month later her self-titled album Robyn. The album entered at #1 on the Swedish charts on May 5th, 2005, and was Robyn's first album to reach the pole position on debut. In 2005 was also gained recognition for the song Money For Nothing released by Swedish pop singer Darin Zanyar, his debut single. The track was co-written by Robyn and originally intended for inclusion on a previous album of her own. Singer Darin also later recorded his own version of Say You'll Walk The Distance, shortened to "Walk The Distance", originally recorded by the Swedish starlet.
Robyn has since released singles Handle Me and Crash and Burn Girl from her Robyn LP and the album has proved immensely popular across demographics in Sweden. Sampling influences from electronica, rap, R&B and new age, Robyn received rave reviews for the Swedish soul star. It gained her Swedish Grammis awards in 2006 for "Årets Album" (Best Album), "Årets Kompositör" (Best Writer, alongside Klas Âhlund) and "Årets Pop Kvinnlig" (Best Pop female). It has also garnered Robyn interest on the international music radar from fans across the globe.
Robyn has promised international fans that she will make her comeback overseas soon. Her album "Robyn" is set to be released in the United Kingdom and Germany in 2006, preceded by her single "Be Mine" and she will feature on the new Basement Jaxx album Crazy Itch Radio.
UNICEF ambassador
After the release of her second album in 1999, My Truth, she became a UNICEF ambassador and visited, among other countries, Kenya and Tanzania. During her two years of dedicating herself to this work, she intended to draw attention to UNICEF and their worldwide work for children in need of aid. She was happy to emphasize the need of taking responsibilities to help, and tried to make herself a good example for the young generation.
Discography
- Robyn is Here (1995, US release 1997) #57 US (Platinum); #8 SWE
- My Truth (1999) #2 SWE
- Don't Stop the Music (2002) #2 SWE
- Robyn's Best (2004)
- Robyn (2005) #1 SWE
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | US | UK | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "You've Got That Something" | Robyn is Here | - | 54 | 24 |
| 1995 | "Do You Really Want Me (Show Me Respect)" | Robyn is Here | 28* | 20 | 2 |
| 1996 | "Do You Know (What It Takes)" | Robyn is Here | 7 | 26 | 10 |
| 1997 | "Show Me Love" | Robyn is Here | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 1997 | "Don't Want You Back" | Robyn is Here | - | - | - |
| 1999 | "Electric" | My Truth | - | - | 6 |
| 1999 | "Play" | My Truth | - | - | 31 |
| 2000 | "My Only Reason" | My Truth | - | - | 53 |
| 2000 | "Main Thing" | My Truth | - | - | - |
| 2002 | "Keep This Fire Burning" | Don't Stop The Music | - | - | 3 |
| 2002 | "Don't Stop the Music" | Don't Stop The Music | - | - | 7 |
| 2003 | "By Your Side" | Don't Stop The Music (Japan) | - | - | - |
| 2005 | "Be Mine" | Robyn | - | - | 3 |
| 2005 | "Who's That Girl" | Robyn | - | - | 37 |
| 2006 | "Handle Me" | Robyn | - | - | - |
| 2006 | "Crash And Burn Girl" | Robyn | - | - | - |
- "Do You Really Want Me (Show Me Respect)" peaked at No.28 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay Chart, a commercial single was not released at the time.
External links
