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- It's a bit too easy to describe the record industry as the big bad wolf and the artists as victims. I've never felt as a victim of anything - it was more about the fact that the music had to fit into this 'system' with the media, a certain level of conformity, and I didn't feel comfortable with that.

Robyn is talking about the 90's.
Sweden's foremost pop pixie managed to re-invent her own wheel with this year's Body Talk trilogy. Not in order to soothe a public still gaga for, uhm, Gaga, but to create more freedom for herself, having spent the first half of her 16-year career confined to the relatively strict boundaries of being a pop act on a major label.

But after successfully distancing herself from her teeny-pop past with 2007s eponymous album and the monster single With Every Heartbeat (her only UK #1 to date), Body Talk is Robyn without compromise, without boundaries. In Scandinavia, this transformation has catapulted her into the arenas, while appearances on Jay Leno and David Letterman have propelled her comeback in the US.

- I've always enjoyed the songs I've made, always been part of the production and felt comfortable with the music. I just didn't get a chance to explore the creative realms outside this structure that my music had to fit into. I never set out to revolt against anything.

- [But]I have an issue with the fact that female artists are more likely to be put into groups than male artists, and have to answer questions about what they think about other women in music, whereas men don't. And right now there's so many exciting female artists out there, who don't necessarily have much in common with each other.

So do you feel a bit stigmatized?
- I believe the media might think so. I mean, if I get the question 'Is it hard being a woman in music' all the time, then obviously it will start to affect me...which is why it's important to me to stay neutral, and not victimise myself.

You've said that when you were younger you didn't understand the concept of school. Did you feel like an outsider?
- I think that feeling of not fitting in, not being understood or loved, is one of the most basic emotions for human beings. But since I spent so much time on tour, it didn't seem right to me to be in one place every day. And that probably made me feel a bit like an outsider...but I didn't find it hard, I enjoyed not fitting in.

Do you still consider yourself an outsider?
- I'm a white woman in the western world, so I don't really feel I'm an outsider, but I've always been fascinated by outsider culture. I mean, the most important thing for me is to make my music without justifying why I do it - for me to define myself without it being regarded as a counter-reaction - which seems to be common if you're a woman or homosexual.

How do you feel about people saying you bring a certain level of both feminism and sexiness to your live shows?
- It's a nice compliment! There's an aspect to the live shows that's very unique, and which you don't get in videos, TV-shows or whatever: It's a sexiness brought on by the audience right then and there.

- I've always loved being on stage, but it takes a long time to master the art of stage presence, you need at least 300 gigs behind you for it to feel natural. On this tour, the live shows have been extremely important to me, since live isn't something immediately associated with pop music. I mean, during your average pop concert, you've got explosions, dancers etc, things I've never identified myself with. But with us it's just a band and myself, trying to get people to dance. And the ability to do that is something that has grown on me that last few years.

Flick through Robyn's recent musical CV and you will find a myriad of well-timed collaborations. Her frequent partnership with Röyksopp reached its pinnacle last year with arguably the duo's finest moment The Girl And The Robot, or her guest-appearance on I Blame Coco's debut single, the undeniably dance-floor-friendly Caesar. She even teamed up with old songwriting partner Max Martin for one of the standout tracks on the last installment of the Body Talk series. It's been a long time coming, but it may seem like she is finally finding her creative self.

- When I started my own record company, it was because I wanted more freedom to explore what I wanted, so I could begin to see things a whole new way. For example, why release 15 songs every third year when people now consume music completely differently than before?

- The counter-reaction to the manner we traditionally listened to music - that a whole generation has stopped paying for music - is a result of the record industry towards the end of the 90s, that decided to market a certain type of music so f***ing hard to a certain group of people, who in the end weren't able to create a personal bond to artists. And that devalued music. So because of that I've done something that feels authentic again; something that takes into consideration what's actually happening, and not what the industry has decided is going to happen.

Robyn's new album Body Talk is out now.

Check out QTheMusic's Top 5 Robyn tracks right here.

Dancing on her own: Robyn live gallery

Text and photo: Brand Barstein

11:00 AM | 07/12/2010