Robyn

It is of my opinion that good pop music is very difficult to make However, I am fully aware that this is a minority viewpoint. If you were arguing against me you could throw Steps, Westlife, Mcfly, Atomic Kitten or any other unimaginative nonsense in my direction and you could possibly win the battle. Nonetheless, take Girls Aloud’s Biology, Siobhan Donaghy’s Medevac or Annie’s Me Plus One and see pop music shine at its full, glorious, shimmering best. Tonight, Robyn delivers tracks from her self-titled album with the gusto of someone who believes in damn good pop music. We are not alone.

	"Robyn is a rare creature. A pop star in her own mould who drives her own destiny. You genuinely get the impression that, from tonight’s performance, she is who she wants to be."

Arriving on-stage wearing a furry black jacket, The World’s Largest Chain Necklace™ and Blue Peter-esque homemade laser gun, she is as delightfully quirky as Amelie Poulin. She points the gun at the audience and the band burst into the retro-electro groove of Corbastyle. Heavier than the album version, and supported by two full drum kits, the track opens an energetic set from Sweden’s hottest export. Judging from her on-stage jaunty dance moves and jumpy persona, wherever Robyn is going after the show, it will certainly be a party.

'Who’s That Girl' provides the nights first hand aloft moment of the night as Robyn sings her self-doubts (‘The girls are pretty all the time, I’m just pretty some of the time’) over an 80’s heavy synth background. This is the song that forced Robyn to part ways with the record company who released her first three albums, not favouring her new trendy electro-pop sound. It clearly means a lot to her and she sings it with passion and flare. Similarly, 'Bum Like You' is delivered as if face-to-face with the ‘bum’ who takes advantage of her. Like Alanis Morissette’s 'Jagged Little Pill' period, there ain’t no fury like a woman scorned.

Robyn speaks little throughout the set but when she does, she lights up the room. One of the biggest cheers of the night comes from her revelation that it is her first time in Glasgow. She teases the audience and coos, ‘If you show me a good time, I’ll show you one’. Recent single 'Handle Me' and 'Konichiwa Bitches' are highlights. On the former she calls an ex-lover a ‘selfish, narcissistic psycho freaking, bootlicking Nazi pimp’ in what could be the best single lyric of the year. On the latter, Robyn’s rap influence feeds from a Kraftwerk alike beat. Magnificently, she acts out every line of the wildly imaginative song including references to space, paediatricians, fire stations, her breasts ("One left, one right that’s how I organize ‘em, you know I fill my cups no need to supersize ‘em'") and finally, ‘C U Next Tuesday, you is a punk’.

'Be Mine!', arguably her best song, provides the only slight disappointment of the night as she mistakes two lines from its chorus. Normally, this would be acceptable but here, it reveals that she is singing over a backing track of her own voice. She looks genuinely embarrassed but later shows it was only the difficult chorus that she sings over. To make up for her mistake, she puts in an extra 50% into her performance as she dances like a young child on an empty wedding dance floor. A (shock horror!) slight lip-synched performance?! Well, this is pop music after all.

The final song of the main set is, unsurprisingly, 'With Every Heartbeat' and is still as breathtaking as the first time everyone heard it. Every member of the audience knows – and yells back to Robyn – every single word. It may be her only Scottish date on this tour but tonight the final refrain of "And it hurts with ev-er-y heartbeat' is heard all the way from John O’Groats to Dumfries. The slow but steady strobe lights provide a moment of genuine awe and she tells her personal tale of heartbreak and destruction. It is a sad, poignant, climactic and yet oddly uplifting end to the set. You think that is the only Robyn song you know? Well, think again.

Returning for the encore, Robyn takes us on a blast from the past in the form of 'Show Me Love'. Tonight performed acoustically, it is a delight to see the joy in her face as numerous crowd members realise what song she is singing and thus realising that, oh yes, this Robyn is also that Robyn. Stripped down, her voice is genuinely beautiful and soaring, without being in-your-face as many American pop acts are today. Her final song, a cover of the Prince song from his greatest album 'Controversy', is 'Jack U Offf' and is as outrageously sexual as the title suggests. Not many gigs could finish on, "But I can take you to a restaurant, and if you’re not hungry, I’ll jack you off", but tonight is the perfect end to a near perfect gig.

Robyn is a rare creature. A pop star in her own mould who drives her own destiny. You genuinely get the impression that, from tonight’s performance, she is who she wants to be. Live, she is a fantastic singer with brilliantly produced tracks and clever wordplay. She deserves all the hype thrown at her and more and if there were more artists like her, the music industry would be a much better place. Pop – one; the rest of the world – nil.

FUTURE GIGS

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