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
Giving You Back
Robyn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Robyn/K. Fambro/D. Boynton
Produced by K-Fam
VERSE 1
In another time, another life
Would have taken time out
To make sure you'd be fine
I could feel you coming, I knew you would
And it hurts me so to let you go
I want you to live but I'm not all I wanna' give
But I never imagined you'd be so good
Right now nothing can be right,
All I can do is keep believing
Right now nothing can be wrong
That life goes on and on
CHORUS
I'm giving you back, to the stars
I'm giving you back, to where you came from
I'm giving you back, to the ocean
But I'm not forgetting who you areVERSE 2
With you in me I was beautiful
Two months of joy, before the impossible
Every second I long for the day
When the time is right, when there's no wrong
When you come back, come back to stay
I'll be there for you and I'll be strong
I'm still open if you still want me
And I promise I'll be all I can be
Right now nothing can be right
All I can do is keep believing
That life goes on and on
Right now nothing can be wrong,
CHORUS
BRIDGE
You made me see a lot clearer
Heaven is not that far
one day I hope to be closer
To be as pure as I know that,
I know that you are
The lyrics of Robyn's song "Giving You Back" are a poignant expression of grief, loss, and love. In the song, the singer reflects on a past relationship that ended prematurely, causing her great pain. She says that in another time and another life, she would have taken the time to make the relationship work. She describes how she could feel the other person coming and knew that they would be good. She wants the other person to live their life to the fullest but is sad that she can't give them all that she wants to give. In the chorus, she says that she is giving the other person back to the stars, the ocean, and to where they came from but that she will never forget who they are.
The second verse of the song is particularly poignant as the singer reflects on how she felt when she was with the other person. She describes how she felt beautiful and how the joy she experienced was short-lived. She longs for the day when the other person will come back to stay and promises to be there for them, to be strong, and to give them all she can be. The singer is still open to a reconciliation, but right now, all she can do is keep believing that life goes on.
Line by Line Meaning
In another time, another life
In a different scenario where things were different
Would have taken time out
I would have taken things slower
In another situation I would have made you mine,
In a different situation I would have committed to you
To make sure you'd be fine
To ensure that you were okay
I could feel you coming, I knew you would
I had a feeling that you were going to come into my life
And it hurts me so to let you go
I am pained to let you go
I want you to live but I'm not all I wanna' give
I want you to live, but I cannot give you everything
But I never imagined you'd be so good
I never expected you to be so great
Right now nothing can be right,
Currently, nothing seems to be going well
All I can do is keep believing
All I can do is hold onto hope
Right now nothing can be wrong
Currently, nothing can be considered wrong
That life goes on and on
Life continues
I'm giving you back, to the stars
I am returning you back to where you came from, to the heavens above
I'm giving you back, to where you came from
I am giving you back to your origins
I'm giving you back, to the ocean
I am giving you back to the sea
But I'm not forgetting who you are
But I am not forgetting who I know you to be
With you in me I was beautiful
With you in my life, I felt beautiful
Two months of joy, before the impossible
Two months of happiness, before it all fell apart
Every second I long for the day
Every moment I yearn for the day
When the time is right, when there's no wrong
When the circumstances are favorable
When you come back, come back to stay
When you return, I hope you return for good
I'll be there for you and I'll be strong
I will support you and be resilient
I'm still open if you still want me
If you still want me, I am open to it
And I promise I'll be all I can be
I promise I will try my best
You made me see a lot clearer
You helped me to see things in a better light
Heaven is not that far
Heaven is not that distant
one day I hope to be closer
I hope to be closer to heaven
To be as pure as I know that, I know that you are
To be as pure as I know you are
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DONNIE BOYNTON, RICKIE KENNETH FAMBRO, ROBIN MIRIAM CARLSSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
knowingthefacts
I love this song, even those I never had an abortion, this song still touches me
Casimiro Perez
Just discovered this song 4 months i love this girl her songs are timeless keep doing what you're doing ROBYN
Arturo Velasquez
Love how Robyn finds a way to make her own feelings universal. The interpretation is far beyond anything any other artist has done. Love her for the style at which she is able to impact us all.
WldGrnAngel
When my kitty passed away, he was barely a year old, I dedicated this song to him. I miss him so much, he was my "love at first sight" baby.
demoy1193
After learning the reason she wrote this and "Universal Woman" it gives them so much more character and dept. I fall deeper in love with Robyn everyday.
BLAKPEARL69
When the time is right. Robyn will be a mom. She will be a great one. Love her.
troy hansen
very cool song good job robyn
Jon-Erik Garcia
i love u so much robyn, this song is so sad/loving/beautiful.
Marko Nelson
touching song
Anna-Tania Transylove
welcome to paradise...beautiful song