ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 22ND 2010


Robyn’s Body Talk series was pop music’s most ambitious undertaking of 2010. Individually, the three releases served to gently break the much-ignored Swede into the mainstream with equal thrust. It’s interesting that along with the release of this less-than-stellar-and-should-really-be-called-an-EP final installation came the release of simply Body Talk, a collection of the finest cuts from all three sets. The stage was likely set way before the year’s end: Robyn rides 2010 out on a high and is hailed by many as the new queen of contemporary pop music. On the other hand, simply releasing Pt. 3 without its more substantial counterpart is a plan that would’ve fallen flat, quickly forgotten about in today’s culture we deem popular, not because the music wasn’t up to scratch, but because there’s so little here in duration to be taken seriously by its own merit. Pt. 3 is neatly wrapped up despite its shortcomings, so it definitely completes its job of fulfilling the Body Talk project. We see the arrival of the fully fleshed version of Indestructible, another magnificent slice of electro-pop. It’s staggering to see what a brilliant songwriter Robyn has become when paired with the acoustic version on Pt. 2. A strong melody and emotional urgency have proven time and time again to be her strongest points. The music, meanwhile, feels like it could almost fall by the wayside.


As it stands, the music is continually brilliant too, so there’s still much to explore here. The highlight remains Call Your Girlfriend which sees Robyn place herself in the impossible and often tricky position of The Other Woman. Her sensitive approach to the situation is startling and truly inspired. No one else could pull this off, and heavyweights such as Katy Perry, Rihanna, Gaga, et al. have crafted images that are too provocative to inspire such understanding from their audience. Elsewhere, Time Machine and Stars 4-Ever feel a lot more resolute, aware of their position as farewell pieces in the Body Talk ethos intent on gently rounding off a year’s worth of creativity. The production is tighter than ever before and Robyn breezes through some of her strongest melodies, never dithering around for too long even when she knows she’s onto a winner. Get Myself Together sounds almost identical to Star 4-Ever, though it’s perhaps down to the way Robyn enunciates “together” on the former and “forever” on the latter. Regardless, it’s best to just let go and enjoy these gloriously sublime hooks.


Five tracks hardly makes for a worthy successor to the solid gold of the first two, especially for a project that was billed as “three full length albums” at the start of the year. Given Robyn’s stellar output, who’s betting there were at least two or three more gems she had been sitting on that could have been tacked onto the end? But as I mentioned earlier, the focus was never meant to be on this final installment, instead placing the singular Body Talk in the spotlight for new and unassuming listeners just in time for numerous end of year lists and accolades. It’s tricky knowing how much to praise Pt. 3 in light of this knowledge, given that these five songs are chopped up across all fifteen tracks on the overall record. Consequently, these five songs work best back to back. They prove a wonderful addition to the lineage of Body Talk and actually showcase the process of refinement Robyn has afforded her writing and recording methods. Standing alone, however, it’s difficult to grasp a sense of her accomplishments in a mere eighteen minutes.