There are few stars who are big enough to sell out arena shows and are also able to successfully create a sense of intimacy with their audience in that environment. Robyn, continuing on her Honey tour that began early this year, manages to do just that in a way that proves her indelible mark on the pop industry.
The set opens with a flowy, white curtain that billows over the crowd. Halfway through Be Mine!, Robyn pulls the curtain down and lets it fall to the stage, in an act that pulls the audience in even closer to her – even in a vast open room like the Barclays Center, these songs are for us and we are meant to dance like we are alone in our room with just Robyn in our ears.
What makes Robyn so unique and why audiences in the States and in Europe flock to her in droves (even dressing up in outfits she has worn in music videos or wigs based on her signature blonde cut) is that in the world of pop music, she is something that not many artists can truly claim – an original, one-of-a-kind performer who changed the genre and the game. And while there was a huge gap between Body Talk and Honey, Robyn’s contributions to pop music are summed up by Laura Snapes in her review in The Guardian: “Her absence has only underlined her importance.”
The Robyn of the Honey album cycle is not the Robyn of Body Talk. Shedding the fembot mask, she appears to her audience as much softer now, more composed and comfortable in her own skin. Her show looks almost improvised, with her and her male dancer appearing to dance however the music hits them in the moment, and appearing as though Robyn is earnestly amazed at how well this tour has sold and she is just allowing herself to have fun. Never for a moment does she lose the arena audience – she encourages us to dance away the heartbreak or the pain. For the choruses in Dancing On My Own, she steps away from the microphone and just listens to the crowd scream back her own lyrics at her – this encapsulates what the Honey tour is about for her.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the concert is that she sings back-to-back hits for two hours and still has material in her repertoire that she could have pulled from. Hopefully we won’t have to wait a decade for the next Robyn album after Honey – the world is better (and more danceable) when she’s on the scene.
