ROBYN
FEBRUARY 5, 2008
HIGHLINE BALLROOM, NYC
WORDS: CAMERON COOK
IMAGES: ABBEY BRADEN

“It’s almost 10 years to the day that I came to America for my first record!” Robyn is onstage at the Highline Ballroom, and she’s ecstatic. Brushing her platinum blond combdown from her eyes and smiling like a newly-admitted mental patient, she continues: “And this is the first time I have ever played live in this country! So thank you so much for coming!” It’s kind of weird, that someone so trained in being a pop star could have never played a live show in NYC, but alas, it is true, and as any person in attendance last night will account, we have all waited a long, long time.

A couple of years ago it would have seemed unfathomable that Robyn, the pint-sized pop starlet from Sweden who ear-wormed her way into our hearts with her international hit “Show Me Love” a decade ago, would have the biggest comeback of last year, top the charts in the UK (with her heartstring-tugging anthem “With Every Heartbeat”) and reinvent herself as a saucy electro diva. We mean, weirder things have happened, but the brilliant awesomness of “Konichiwa Bitches” came straight out of left field. What sets Robyn apart from the rest of the pack in this instance, is that fact that she had that mega-arena, Jumbo-tron, international jet set training—she’s not here to be “indie” or “ironic” or what have you, she is here to use her skills as a pop star to blow your mind clean out of your ass. For real.

Robyn began the show with a practically aerobicized version of "Cobrastyle", and while kind of relying heavily on some extreme Pro-tool action, the song whipped the already "OMG-I-AM-FREAKING-OUT" crowd into a frothy frenzy unseen since you took your sister to see the Backstreet Boys back in the day. The guy behind us kept screaming “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God” over and over again, and we’re pretty sure we saw a couple of people openly weep into Robyn’s sneakers. Then she kicked the tears back into their eyeballs and licked out the residue. And then everybody cried some more.

The highlight of the night was definitely “Handle Me”, the sexy, obligatory in-your-face independent woman anthem . The energy between Robyn and the crowd (who rapturously sang every single word the entire time) was palpable, and every time we all screamed “You’re a narcissistic, psycho-freakin’, boot-lickin’ Nazi creep/And you can’t handle me” it felt like a surge of pure pop force was going to blow the roof clean off of the venue.

More treats were in store for Robyn fanatics: “With Every Heartbeat” closed her first set, and when she came back for the encore, she performed a minimal, stripped-down electro version of, wait for it, “Show Me Love”, which basically brought ‘SUP’s musical appreciation full circle from when we were teenagers and the first thing we did each morning was crank the local FM radio station. Sigh, those were the days.

Anyway, for a show that was essentially 10 years in the making, Robyn didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Sadly, it’s not entirely clear whether her particular brand of stylish, jovial electro pop will ever be truly popular or appreciated in these United States, but let’s just pray that it’s not another decade before we get to jump around like crazy people to her live show. Sayonara, bitches.

VIDEO

Robyn - "With Every Heartbeat (Live at the Highline Ballroom)"

Robyn - "Konichiwa Bitches (Live at the Highline Ballroom)"