Honey (Robyn album)

Honey is the eighth studio album by Swedish singer Robyn, and her first since Body Talk (2010).[4] It was released on 26 October 2018 through Konichiwa, Island Records and Interscope Records.[4] It features the singles "Missing U", "Honey" (a version of which originally featured in the final season of the HBO series Girls in 2017),[5] "Ever Again", "Beach 2k20", and "Baby Forgive Me". The song "Send to Robin Immediately" also served as part of the promotional campaign for the singer's clothing line collaboration with Björn Borg.[6][7]

Honey
Studio album by Robyn
Released	26 October 2018
Studio	Apmamman, Stockholm Shelter, Paris Pigalle, Paris Strongrooms, London Futur De l'Audiovisuel, Paris Konichiwa, Stockholm 123, Peckham Tophat, Stockholm Houses in Los Angeles and Ibiza
Genre	Electropop[1] post-disco[2] dance-pop[3]
Length	40:23
Label	Konichiwa Island Interscope
Producer	Joseph Mount Klas Åhlund Mr. Tophat Adam Bainbridge Robyn
Robyn chronology
Love Is Free (2015) Honey (2018)
Robyn studio album chronology
Body Talk (2010) Honey (2018)
Singles from Honey
"Missing U" Released: 1 August 2018 "Honey" Released: 26 September 2018 "Between the Lines" Released: 12 April 2019 "Ever Again" Released: 17 June 2019 "Beach 2k20" Released: 4 September 2019 "Baby Forgive Me" Released: 6 November 2019

The album features collaborations with Joseph Mount of Metronomy, Klas Åhlund, Adam Bainbridge, Mr. Tophat, and Zhala.[4] It has been called a "significant departure from the hooky, sparkling electro-pop" of the Body Talk series of albums.[8]

Background, writing and recording

Reeling from a breakup with longtime collaborator Max Vitali in 2014, Robyn spiraled into a depression that severely deepened upon the death of close friend Christian Falk to cancer for which she cancelled her associated tour. Following an intensive therapy regimen of at least four meetings per week for years that also unpacked everything from an abortion at 18, her parents' divorce, lost childhood then exhaustion in the pursuit of pop stardom in a predatory industry and called-off engagement to Olof Inger, her therapist eventually cut her off, expressing that the excessive appointments were becoming counterproductive. Turning to music, she went clubbing globally for inspiration on a new project. Lost for months, she finally found her spark again after hearing DJ Koze's track 'XTC' for the first time at a club in Los Angeles, describing it as a "revelation".[9] Inspired again, she first reached out to Joseph Mount of Metronomy and they eventually kept collaborating beyond their expected one-off session.[8] Mount said he had to adjust to Robyn's "emotional transparency" while writing, understanding over time that it is "integral to what she does".[8]

Robyn has stated that the album, recorded in part at studios in Stockholm, London, Paris, New York and Ibiza, features "much more production work on my end".[10] She also said the album represents "this sweet place, like a very soft ecstasy. [...] I danced a lot when I was making it. I found a sensuality and a softness that I don't think I was able to use in the same way before. Everything just became softer."[4] Robyn initially began working on the record alone, which she said allowed her to be more sensual.[11] The album was named for its "glowing, transcendent" title track, which The New York Times has called Robyn's "masterpiece".[8]

Robyn created the demo for "Missing U" in the summer 2014 on her laptop along with a LinnDrum machine and a software synth.[2] She noted that the lyrics for the song took 2 years to complete, before finishing them with producers Joseph Mount and Klas Åhlund.[2]

Music

Robyn became more involved in the production of Honey than she had been on her previous albums, including making beats herself.[8] This resulted in sounds including what The New York Times called "outré future pop" on the track "Human Being", "sensual throb" on "Baby Forgive Me" and "playful '90s house" on "Between the Lines".[8] The song "Send to Robin Immediately" samples the 1989 house track "French Kiss" by Lil Louis, which was the idea of English musician Adam Bainbridge, better known as Kindness.[8] Pitchfork writer Jason King notes the album is a "breathless, existential post-disco record".[2]

Promotion

Robyn announced she was working on a new album in February 2018 and teased new music throughout the year; she even appeared at one of the regular Robyn-themed dance events hosted at the Brooklyn Bowl, where she played "Honey" in full for the first time.[12] At the Red Bull Music Festival in New York in May 2018, Robyn stated: "With this album I've gone more back into the softer I get, the more it happens, and the more colors and dynamic a song gets. And for me, that meant shutting down for awhile and being sparse with my impressions and sensitive to what I needed."[10]

The album was officially announced by Robyn in a video message posted to her social media accounts in September 2018. She explained, "It's a personal album, and there are so many things that happened throughout making it that it's really hard for me to explain in one go. I think the best way is for you to listen to it."[11] On 24 September, Robyn revealed the track listing.[13] The full version of "Honey" was premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 on 26 September,[14] and was made available as a two-track single online the same day[15] along with the album becoming available to pre-order.[16]

On 20 June 2020, Robyn released four limited edition 12" vinyls, which featured remixes of songs from the album. The four editions of vinyls included "Honey", "Ever Again", "Baby Forgive Me" and "Between The Lines / Beach2k20". They were issued as part of the Love Record Stores Day 2020 event and 500 copies of each vinyl were manufactured.[17]

Commercial performance

Honey debuted in at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Nov. 10), earning 15,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music, with 11,000 from traditional album sales.[18]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.3/10[19]
Metacritic	89/100[20]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[21]
The Daily Telegraph	[22]
The Guardian	[23]
The Independent	[24]
The Irish Times	[1]
NME	[25]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[26]
Q	[27]
Rolling Stone	[28]
The Times	[29]

On review aggregator Metacritic, Honey has received a score of 89 out of 100 based on 22 reviews from critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[20] Stacey Anderson of Pitchfork rated the album 8.5 out of 10, giving it the distinction of "Best New Music", and called it an "enthralling record" that "carries the sheen of being created on purely individual terms, on a singular timeline". Anderson said that Honey "builds a bridge from its predecessor, the bionic Body Talk, into a place of new conviction and warmth", with Robyn presenting musical ideas "in a way that makes her resolutions feel both instinctive and deeply traveled; melodies and emotions resolve simultaneously, slowly, and imperfectly, without editorialized conclusions".[26] In her review for AllMusic, Heather Phares gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5, claiming "Robyn continues to make the trends instead of following them, and with Honey, she enters her forties with some of her most emotionally satisfying and musically innovative music."[21]

In a capsule review for Vice, Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honourable mention () and lamented "how I wish she was the pop sparkplug, club buddy, big sister, and strong lover of the glorious old Body Talk trilogy, but either she doesn't have the hooks anymore or she thinks she's beyond them"; "Missing U" and "Between the Lines" were cited as highlights.[30]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
BrooklynVegan	50 Best Albums of 2018	9	[31]
Clash	Clash Albums of the Year 2018	5	[32]
Consequence of Sound	Top 50 Albums of 2018	12	[33]
Dazed	The 20 Best Albums of 2018	2	[34]
Exclaim!	The Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums of 2018	2	[35]
musicOMH	musicOMH's Top 50 Albums of 2018	2	[36]
NME	Best Albums of the Year 2018	11	[37]
Noisey	The 100 Best Albums of 2018	6	[38]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2018	4	[39]
Pitchfork	The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s	71	[40]
Pretty Much Amazing	Albums of the Year	2	[41]
Rolling Stone	50 Best Albums of 2018	45	[42]
Slant	The 25 Best Albums of 2018	1	[43]
Time	The 10 Best Albums of 2018	6	[44]
The Guardian	The 50 Best Albums of 2018	2	[45]
The Line of Best Fit	The Best Albums of 2018	17	[46]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Missing U"	Robyn Joseph Mount Klas Åhlund	Mount Åhlund Robyn^[a]	4:57
2.	"Human Being" (featuring Zhala)	Robyn Mount	Mount	3:46
3.	"Because It's in the Music"	Robyn Mount Åhlund	Mount Åhlund	4:34
4.	"Baby Forgive Me"	Robyn Rudolf Nordström	Mount Mr. Tophat	4:16
5.	"Send to Robin Immediately"	Robyn Adam Bainbridge Marvin Burns	Bainbridge	3:59
6.	"Honey"	Robyn Åhlund Markus Jägerstedt	Mount Åhlund Robyn^[a]	4:53
7.	"Between the Lines"	Robyn Åhlund	Åhlund Robyn^[a]	4:05
8.	"Beach 2k20"	Robyn Nordström Mount Åhlund	Mr. Tophat	5:29
9.	"Ever Again"	Robyn Mount	Mount	4:24
Total length:				40:23

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer.
• Lyrics of "Missing U" partly inspired by "Arvet" by Bruno K Öijer.
• "Send to Robin Immediately" contains a sample of "French Kiss" by Lil Louis.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Honey.[47]

Musicians Robyn – vocals (all tracks); Sawer synthesiser programming (track 1); additional arranging (track 4); vocal arranging (all tracks) Joseph Mount – synthesiser programming (track 1); bass guitar (tracks 1, 3, 8); additional vocals (track 3); additional synthesiser programming (track 8); electric guitar (track 9); vocal arranging (tracks 1–4, 6, 8, 9) Klas Åhlund – additional programming (track 1); deleted flamenco solo (track 3); programming (track 7) Zhala – additional vocals (track 2) Mr. Tophat – drum programming, sad robot voice, additional arranging (track 4); vocal arranging (tracks 4, 8) Adam Bainbridge – additional vocals (track 5) Mathis Picard – keyboard (track 5) Sampha Sisay – bass synthesiser (track 5) Ulf Engström – bass guitar (track 9) Artwork David Lane – creative direction Heji Shin – photography Sophie Durham – set design Laura Jouan – type design David Jenewein – photo assistance Andreas Klassen – photo assistance Joshua Yates – set design assistance Molly Owen – set design assistance

Technical Joseph Mount – production (tracks 1–4, 6, 9); vocal recording (tracks 1–4, 6, 8, 9) Klas Åhlund – production (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7); vocal recording (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7) Robyn – co-production (tracks 1, 6, 7); vocal recording (all tracks) Zhala – additional vocals recording (track 2) Mr. Tophat – production, vocal recording (tracks 4, 8) Adam Bainbridge – production (track 5) David Jones – studio assistance (tracks 2, 4, 9) Ludvig Larsson – studio assistance (tracks 5, 8) NealHPogue – mixing (tracks 2–5, 7–9) Serban Ghenea – mixing (track 1) John Hanes – engineering for mix (track 1) Zdar – mixing (track 6) Antoine Poyeton – studio assistance (track 6) Louis Gallet – studio assistance (track 6) Mike Bozzi – mastering (tracks 2–5, 7–9) Randy Merrill – mastering (track 1) Mike Marsh – mastering (track 6)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2018) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[48] 20 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[49] 49 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[50] 10 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[51] 98 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[52] 33 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[53] 20 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[54] 55 Estonian Albums (IFPI)[55] 26 French Download Albums (SNEP)[56] 19 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[57] 65 Irish Albums (IRMA)[58] 38 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[59] 2 Scottish Albums (OCC)[60] 16 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[61] 48 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[62] 1 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[63] 46 UK Albums (OCC)[64] 21 US Billboard 200[65] 40 US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[66] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2018) Position Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[67] 85

See also

• List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2018
• List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden

References

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