Robyn's parents are actors, and she herself was involved in acting at the age of 9, with an extra role in Kronbruden at the Swedish theatre Dramaten. In 1991, at the age of 12, Robyn recorded the theme song named "Du kan alltid bli nummer ett" ("You can always be number one") for the Swedish television show Lilla Sportspegeln. In the same year she performed this song on television show Söndagsöppet. Robyn was rediscovered by Swedish pop singer Meja in the early 90s. Meja and her band Legacy of Sound visited Robyn's school and were involved with a musical workshop.
Following the completion of her middle school education, Robyn signed to Ricochet Records Sweden, a subsidiary of BMG. She collaborated with producers Max Martin and Denniz Pop. Writing duties were assisted by Ulf Lindstrom and Johan Ekhe, who also helped to produce the album, and they stayed on board with Robyn until 2003.
Robyn started her career in the pop music industry at the age of 16. She signed a record deal with RCA Records in 1994 to release her debut single "You've Got That Somethin'" in Sweden, followed by her breakthrough single "Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect)". In October 1996 she released her debut album Robyn Is Here. Robyn's US breakthrough came in 1997, when the dance-pop singles "Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What It Takes)" reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her second album My Truth was released in May 1999 in Sweden, with subsequent releases elsewhere in Europe. The single "Electric" was a hit across Europe, and propelled My Truth to second position in Sweden. Despite her success in the US market with her debut album, My Truth did not receive an international release.
In 1999, Robyn contributed to Christian Falk's debut solo album Quel Bordel, appearing on the tracks "Remember" and "Celebration". In 2000, she appeared on the track "Intro/Fristil" on Petter's self-titled album. In 2001, Robyn contributed the song "Say You'll Walk the Distance" to the soundtrack for the film On the Line.
In November 2002, Robyn swapped labels at BMG (from RCA to Jive Records) and released her third album Don't Stop The Music in Sweden. She issued the singles "Keep This Fire Burning" and "Don't Stop The Music" in Scandinavia and mainland Europe. The lead single "Keep This Fire Burning" was covered by British soul singer Beverley Knight.
The decade-long relationship between Robyn and BMG ceased in 2004. When they reacted negatively to "Who's That Girl", which showcased a new electropop sound, Robyn decided to release music on her own. In early 2005, she announced she would be leaving Jive Records to start her own record label, Konichiwa Records. In May 2004, Robyn's Best was released in America. It is essentially a condensed version of her debut album, containing no material from her later releases. In 2006, following her departure from BMG, the compilation Det Bästa Med Robyn (The Best of Robyn) was released in Sweden.
Robyn released the single "Be Mine!" in March 2005, followed a month later by her fourth studio album Robyn. This album became her first number one album upon its release in Sweden. Collaborators of this album include names like Klas Åhlund from Teddybears, the Swedish duo The Knife and former Cheiron producer Alexander Kronlund. Sampling influences from electronic, rap and R&B music, Robyn received rave reviews, and gained the singer three Swedish Grammy Awards in 2006 for "Årets Album" (Best Album), "Årets Kompositör" (Best Writer, alongside Klas Åhlund) and "Årets Pop Kvinnlig" (Best Pop Female). Robyn released three more singles from the eponymous album: "Who's That Girl", "Handle Me" and "Crash and Burn Girl".
In 2006 she featured on the Basement Jaxx track "Hey You", taken from their album Crazy Itch Radio. The year also marked the release of Christian Falk's second album People Say, on which Robyn contributed the tracks "Dream On" and "C.C.C.". In December 2006, she released The Rakamonie EP in the UK.
In March 2007, Robyn released the single "Konichiwa Bitches" in the UK, followed by the revised edition of the album Robyn in April 2007. This version contains slightly altered versions of two of the original songs and two new tracks: "With Every Heartbeat" (a collaboration with Kleerup) and "Cobrastyle" (a cover of a 2006 single by Swedish rockers Teddybears). The second single from this revised album was "With Every Heartbeat", issued in late July 2007 and reaching number one on the UK singles chart. Follow-up singles "Handle Me", "Be Mine!", "Who's That Girl" and "Dream On" were top thirty hits. Also in 2007, Robyn contributed vocals to Fleshquartet's single "This One's For You", from their album Voices of Eden.
The Rakamonie EP was released in January 2008 in the US under Cherrytree Records, a subsidiary of Interscope, and the US edition of her self-titled album was released in April 2008. "With Every Heartbeat (with Kleerup)", "Handle Me" and "Cobrastyle" were top ten club hits, and the former received airplay at US pop and dance radio stations. She was also featured on "Sexual Eruption (Fyre Department remix)" by Snoop Dogg.
Robyn completed a short US tour to promote the album Robyn, and was the supporting act for Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour at select European dates in 2008. In January 2009, Robyn won a Swedish Grammis Award for Best Live Act 2008. In 2009 she featured on the single "The Girl and the Robot" from the album Junior by Norwegian electronic band Röyksopp.
In 2010 Robyn announced she planned to release three albums in the same year. To promote the first part, she released the songs "Fembot", "Dancehall Queen" (produced by Diplo) and "None of Dem" (featuring Röyksopp) to digital outlets as promotional singles on 13 April 2010. Klas Åhlund was the main producer of all Body Talk albums.
Robyn released Body Talk Pt. 1, on 14 June 2010 in the Nordic countries through EMI and on 15 June 2010 in the US through Interscope. This mini-album was preceded on 1 June 2010 by the lead single "Dancing On My Own". The song became Robyn's first number one hit in Sweden, and her fourth top ten hit in both the UK and the US, peaking at #8 on the UK Singles Chart and at #3 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Later The Guardian and Slant Magazine rated "Dancing On My Own" as the best song of 2010, and Pitchfork Media ranked it 4th in their Top 100 Tracks of 2010. On 30 August 2010, Robyn performed at Polar Music Prize 2010 a cover of "Hyperballad", with Björk being in the audience.
On 6 September 2010, Body Talk Pt. 2 was released in the UK. It was preceded on 5 September 2010 by the single "Hang With Me", a dance version of an acoustic song from Body Talk Pt. 1. This album also contains a duet with Snoop Dogg on "You Should Know Better (feat. Snoop Dogg)". On 12 September 2010 Robyn performed a remixed version of "Dancing On My Own" with deadmau5 at MTV Video Music Awards 2010.
Robyn released on 22 November 2010 (US and Scandinavia) the third and final part of the Body Talk series, entitled Body Talk. The album includes five songs from each previous Body Talk parts, along with five new songs. The new tracks have been made available separately as Body Talk Pt. 3 in the United States and Germany. The album was promoted mainly by the release of the single "Indestructible" on 1 November 2010. Body Talk received extremely favorable reviews from most music critics and featured on many year-end lists.
On 1st April 2011, Robyn issued the single "Call Your Girlfriend".
Official site: http://www.robyn.com
Don't Want You Back
Robyn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But even But even a man should understand his woman
I don't want you back, I don't want you back here with me
I don't wanna get back, get back to what we used to be
I just wanna be free, free to be what I wanna be
I just wanna be me, I just wanna be me and only me
This girl had so many things she couldn't show you so
Chorus
So it's time for me to show It's time to let you know
This is for real And this is what I feel
Chorus
I don't wanna see your face again
And I don't need to hear your lies
I don't even wanna hear your name
Oh boy, you better recognize
In “Don't Want You Back,” Robyn is clearly speaking to an ex-boyfriend and telling him that she does not want him back. She goes on to say that a man should understand his woman, even if he is just a man. She brings up the fact that she had many things she could not tell him, and even more that she could not show him. This line implies that the ex-boyfriend was not very receptive or understanding to Robyn’s needs or wants.
The chorus repeatedly stresses that Robyn does not want to get back with her ex-boyfriend and that she wants nothing more than to be free to be herself. She goes on to say that she wants to be treated with respect and will not tolerate any more lies or disrespect from her ex-boyfriend. The second verse is a declaration to her ex-boyfriend that she will no longer stand for his behavior or put up with him in her life. Robyn is clear in her message that she will not be going back to the way things were before, as she is ready to move on and be free.
Line by Line Meaning
I know what can I expect you're just a man
I understand that you're just a man and have certain limitations
But even a man should understand his woman
But as a partner, you should try to understand and empathize with my emotions and needs
I don't want you back, I don't want you back here with me
I don't want to reconcile our relationship and have you back in my life
I don't wanna get back, get back to what we used to be
I don't want to go back to our past and continue with the same toxic patterns
I just wanna be free, free to be what I wanna be
I just want the freedom to explore my own desires and needs
I just wanna be me, I just wanna be me and only me
I want to focus on my own identity and individuality without the pressure of being in a relationship
This girl had so many things she couldn't tell you
There were things about myself and my feelings that I couldn't express to you
This girl had so many things she couldn't show you so
There were parts of myself that I couldn't be open about or bring to our relationship
So it's time for me to show It's time to let you know
Now is the time for me to be open and honest with you about my feelings
This is for real And this is what I feel
My feelings towards you and our relationship are genuine and valid
I don't wanna see your face again
I don't want to be reminded of our past relationship and the hurt it caused me
And I don't need to hear your lies
I don't need or want to hear any false promises or excuses from you
I don't even wanna hear your name
I want to completely move on from any association with you, including your name
Oh boy, you better recognize
You need to acknowledge and respect my decision to move on and focus on my own needs
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHAN OSKAR ANDREAS EKHE, ROBIN MIRIAM CARLSSON, ULF PETER LINDSTROM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Crystal Glory
Yes Robyn is amazing! She was only 18 years old when she sang these songs. She's 100% Swedish
MillMills
Anybody else still listen to this song?
I sang her A cappella song “I Wish” in Junior High and my choir teacher was confused because there’s no music. But he loved the song ❤️❤️ Whenever I feel angry and just want sing my heart out, I sing “Don’t want you back” 🎶 🎤
Always will be a big fan of Robyn ❤️❤️❤️
Crystal Glory
This album was a hit back in "97
wanda jeffrey
such an amazing song and crazy vocals!!
TammiAlways100💰
This use to be my shit. Still is in 2017!! Where is she by the way??
TammiAlways100💰
***** Yes she is!! I totally agree
Charlene McHam
she should rerelease she kicks but just sum people haven't. heard her i think she kicks @$$zz