#releasehoneydamnit indeed! — and FINALLY, Robyn has – in a way. Following a play as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record on BBC Radio One, the nearly-mythical title track from her forthcoming album, out on October 26th via Konichiwa/Interscope Records, can be heard NOW.
“And now, after…four years spent working on her masterpiece — the glowing, transcendent song “Honey” — a new Robyn is ready to return.” — New York Times
The song “Honey” has been the linchpin to making the album of the same name. In late 2016, Lena Dunham contacted Robyn and asked if she would consider creating a song specifically for the show’s final season. Already working on new music, she agreed, and sent some ideas to Dunham. She picked a song, and the first incarnation of “Honey” was introduced to the world.
Listen to Honey here:
New York Times Pop Music Editor Caryn Ganz recently spoke with Robyn about the song “Honey”:
Fans seized on the song immediately and started demanding that Robyn finish it: Variations on #ReleaseHoneyDamnit became a running online plea and gag. Robyn saw the messages. But she was far from done with “Honey.” The track became a white whale for her: She just couldn’t put it down.
Though she’s written many songs that stand at the crossroads of pop and club music, Robyn knew where she wanted “Honey” to be planted. “It’s not produced or written as a normal pop song,” she said. “It is totally based on this idea of club music.” Both genres come with their own mode of listening, she argued. “When you’re listening to club music, there’s no reward,” she said. “The reward isn’t, ‘Oh, here’s the chorus, here’s the lyric that makes sense.’ You have to enjoy what it is. You have to enjoy that there’s no conclusion.”
“Club music taught me so much about myself,” she added. “Having patience, or appreciating a different type of way of taking in life.”
The song’s woozy cocoon enveloped us, its heartbeat thumping in our hair, our nails, our feet. Sounds strutted across the room, some joining the blend, some ghosting as quickly as they arrived. “No, you’re not gonna get what you need,” her voice sang from the speakers. “But baby, I have what you want. Come get your honey.” It was overwhelming, gauzy and beautiful. It was its own reward.
The track listing for Honey is also available; it is:
- Missing U
- Human Being
- Because It’s In The Music
- Baby Forgive Me
- Send To Robin Immediately
- Honey
- Between The Lines
- Beach 2K20
- Ever Again
Across five studio albums and a career spanning twenty-three years, Robyn has accumulated four UK top ten singles, five Grammy nominations, hundreds of millions of streams, and created some of the most memorable songs of the past two decades, including “Dancing On My Own,” “Call Your Girlfriend,” “Hang With Me” and the #1 “With Every Heartbeat.”
