Robyn: Brixton Academy, London
Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 2 November 2012
LENA DUNHAM KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING when she deployed Robyn Carlsson's peerless 'Dancing on My Own' during an emotionally conflicted sequence in Girls. Like the smartest disco songwriters, or her fellow Swedes ABBA, Robyn makes dance-pop with the perfect ratio of bitter to sweet. But in today's pop landscape she stands alone. Even though she's had a No 1 single (2007's 'With Every Heartbeat') and can fill the Academy, she's not exactly famous; her popularity still feels word-of-mouth. It's a niche but a decently proportioned one, and it suits her. Once a dissatisfied teen-pop starlet, she now operates exactly how she wants.
Total word count of piece: 311
