Last month, we got our first early rumblings that there might be a new Robyn album on the way. On a Swedish-language podcast, her longtime collaborator Klas Åhlund said, "Just finished a new Robyn album that’s coming out. Super exciting! Very proud of it." That's not much to go on, but it's been seven years since Robyn released Honey, her last album, so any news about a new Robyn album is very welcome. And now we get to hear at least some idea of how that music might sound, since Robyn soundtracked Acne Studios' recent runway show at Paris Fashion Week, collaging together some of her unreleased music, as well as some re-recorded versions of her older music.
As Dazed Digital reports, Acne Studios held its SS26 womenswear runway show yesterday at Collège des Bernardins in Paris. Robyn is friends with Acne founder Jonny Johansson, and Robyn and her longtime collaborator Patrik Berger arranged the score. Based on what I'm hearing in the video, the music sounds clubby and physical, but it's also catchy and sometimes very pop. The music in the 12-minute video that Acne posted isn't all entirely new. There is, for instance, a radically reworked version of "Should Have Known," a track from her 2005 self-titled album. Around the four-minute mark, however, we get some new lyrics, icily intoned: "Fuck a app, I need me some IRL/ Fuck a single mom, I’m not judgmental/ Fuck a Plan B baby, it’s no big deal." She also seems to say, "Give me a boner." Watch the fashion show video below.
Robyn tells Dazed that her new music is still in the very early stages: "I can’t even tell you what anything is called yet, but I’ve used sounds and some lyrics to build a new collage which is very personal and real." She says pretty much the same thing in an on-camera WWD interview, but she adds, "It's been seven years. I'm happy to get going again."
It's not in the video, but the show reportedly also included a re-recorded version of "Robotboy," another 2005 Robyn track, that now features the Swedish rapper Yung Lean. Last year, Robyn and Lean appeared together on Charli XCX's "360" remix. She tells Dazed, "The song feels like it was made for him, not me... When Jonatan sings 'Robotboy,' it’s like he is singing to himself, serenading an old version of himself. Whereas when I sing it, it’s like I’m singing to a brother or a lover. I was excited to hear his version." She also says her favorite lyric ever is on Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend."
