It's been described as the "ultimate sad banger". With its multiple cover versions and the number of films and TV shows it's popped up in, the song is considered a classic with outlets like Rolling Stone , NME and Stereogum all ranking it as the best song of the last decade. By , Robyn had transformed from mids major label pop star into a fiercely independent artist with her own record label, Konichiwa Records.
With Every Heartbeat had also given her a UK number one single in Dancing On My Own was her first new music in years and the lead single from the first of her three Body Talk albums, which she released over six months.
With an idea of a chorus in her mind, Robyn started working with Swedish producer Patrik Berger, who she'd collaborated with on her previous album. At the beginning, Patrik remembers the song having an acoustic vibe. The chorus came first and "everything else fell into place and it felt like it was writing itself".
Patrik admits they were "super picky" about every aspect of the song and he recently found a notebook with hundreds of lyrics that were written and scrapped along the way. His favourite lyric is "I know where you're at, I bet she's around " which he feels represents the "self-destructive part of you, when we know we shouldn't go there.
It's like scratching a wound. Robyn also remembers Patrik spending a lot of time on the individual components of the song: the drums, the bass and the pounding staccato it starts with.
I remember sending the demo to the record label and telling them I thought we had a good single. Robyn says she's proud of Dancing On My Own because it features elements of "many different worlds" she loves including: "Prince songs, 80s rock ballads and queer electronica".
The song was a hit. It went on to top year-end critics' polls , Robyn performed it on TV shows around the world and it was nominated for a Grammy. Then came the first of Robyn's two defining moments in the life of her song.
We'll get to the second later. Robyn says the use of the song was "genius" while Lena Dunham tells Newsbeat it was "magical". In the episode, Lena's character Hannah finds out her ex-boyfriend is gay. She's sat in her flat and Dancing On My Own starts up on her laptop. Her best friend Marnie Alison Williams comes home and they dance in Hannah's bedroom to the track, which then plays over the end credits.
Off camera she says the whole crew was dancing and people were crying. So that's funny. But its most famous cover is by Calum Scott, who gave the song a second lease of life.
In , the British singer auditioned for Britain's Got Talent with a stripped-back version of the track, the video of which has now been viewed million times. What can I offer them? I seriously feel like Bowie was an astronaut who went into space and experienced things and brought back these Its airing caused clamorous excitement — was the Robyn comeback finally afoot? Am I just being silly, thinking I can do something special here? And I got there, I think.
Robyn will be touring next year, although certainly not to the extent of the three-year trek she undertook in support of Body Talk. But certainly the creativity of this daughter of experimental Swedish theatre folk is, once more, firing on all cylinders. Me just being able to enjoy myself again. ES Money. The Escapist. The Reveller. The Optimist. ES Best. And she should know. For the first ten years of her career, managers and record executives tried to mould her into a slightly sexed-down Scandi Christina Aguilera.
I would have loved it if somebody had just encouraged me to do something wrong! When she first signed with a major label, she imagined that working as a pop star would be something like the career her parents had. They were part of a travelling theatre group, and Robyn and her brother were raised on the road, driving around Sweden in a Volkswagen minibus outfitted with airplane seats.
But life as a major-label pop star was nothing like being in a family theatre troupe. In , she was making music for a fourth album with Jive Records. He helped Robyn buy herself out of her deal, though, and get back the rights to her music. She used her savings from her blockbuster debut album, Robyn Is Here — almost all the money she had — to start her own label. Synth-pop flourishes punctuated with reggae and dancehall influences weave their way around futuristically feminist lyrics. Robyn wanted to release Body Talk in three parts because she thought it would allow her to break up the touring schedule with time for creating new music.
She recalls how a few years ago, she and Robyn were walking through a hotel after a Swedish music awards show when a group of journalists ran up to Robyn seeking more quotes.
Konichiwa is still run by a tiny team working with a small group of creative collaborators — choreographers, designers, directors, producers and managers. OK, why not! She imagines that trying new things is much harder at bigger record labels.
At cm tall, Robyn gains extra elevation from her basketball shoes, which are customised with 6 cm soles. Robyn has seen the alternative up close. She toured Europe with Madonna in and North America with Katy Perry in and had plenty of opportunity to observe the scale of their support teams and the complexity of their business operations. In , gossip blogger Perez Hilton implied that there was tension between Robyn and Madonna on tour.
It would be sad to try to copy her model. We finish our avocado on toast and decide to walk to a Spanish wine bar around the corner from the restaurant. As we settle at a table out front, each with a glass of white wine, Robyn lights a cigarette. She gives him her last one. I want it this way. But her love of technology, the high-concept costumes and the choreography, the crystalline album tracks — it all comes at a cost.
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