Song Review-: Robyn - 'Dancing on my Own'

Robyn has worked a long time to be able to craft a song this cheesy, dumb and affective. She took something personal and played it to a pop world that runs counter to the leather and lace ethic of “Just Dance” and “Rockstar 101”. She's just Robyn and she's just telling us how it is. Robyn has said that the dancehall is “the new church. It's where people go to experience something bigger than themselves.” Robyn applies this motif to “Cry When You Get Older” in a way that lesser artists would preach instead of perform. Robyn presents images of the “other dream I'm on top of the world ahead of the game.” A theme that hits close to home for the often-cheated artist who formed her own label to avoid the effect of corporate producers. She references the “incomprehensible boredom” of suburban life and sings directly to its inhabitants. Robyn and co-writer Klas Åhlund crafted a song that doesn't stop at discussing the melancholia of our times, it offers a solution. “Love hurts when you do it right/ You can cry when you get older.” This message created a song custom made for the times in our life when we experience something bigger than ourselves.

Robyn's emotional range has been utilized to great effect to tell the stories of other songs but she's never gotten the last word in. Some man is always tying another girl's laces or dancing with his new friend or she's just hurting “With Every Heartbeat”. Robyn's always the loser. Her albums may open on a vehement statement of personal awesomeness but by album's end the cracks have begun to show through her consistent pop sensibilities. Robyn may be dropping danceable beats and emoting over hook-laden backtrack but “Cry When You Get Older” is the odd track, written in a way that hasn't been in vogue for years. This song runs counter to the commonly held belief in music that self awareness and irony mitigate an artist's ability to convey an idea earnestly. Robyn earnestly believes in what she sings and it sets her performance above any other this year. Robyn's vocal style is unique in the lengths she goes to let her defenses down to embody the music. Where other acts rely on theatricality and technology to portray themselves in the music Robyn simply sings and proves herself the strongest diva in the crowd (sorry Antony).

Robyn has described herself as the outsider always looking in and many of her songs reflect that ethic. “Dance When You Get Older” transcends the limitations of the Robyn character to impart a simple catharsis both for herself and the listener. After years of being almost-a-pop-star and almost-independent Robyn finally doesn't have to act or fluff her own feathers. Somewhere along the way Robyn figured a few things out and decided to just tell it straight. This year's best song is a new call to the dancefloor. The song is compassionate and unpretentious; it's appealing after many listens and it's unafraid to be uncool. “Cry When You Get Older” is a reminder of the power that art has to not just comment on its surroundings but to also improve them.