Robyn

"You cannot stop this. You cannot escape it and you cannot turn it off. So, I'd appreciate your kind consideration in this matter, Sir or Mam, would you please turn it the FUCK UP.
I present to you: the queen of queen bees, phoenix from the ashes risen. World record holder with a score of 2 GAZILLION in Tetris, two time recipient of the Nobel prize for Super-Foxiest female EVER, and wartime consigliore to the Costa Nostra.
She's the founder and CEO of Konichiwa Records. The most decorated professional on the streets, with a perfect track record since kindergarten when she used to whup schoolboy ass.
In this world of tension, pressure and pain, she's known for her wisdom, compassion and relentless determination in the quest to GET PAID.
- audio communique from Konichiwa Records Headquarters.
She is Robyn. The most killingest pop star on the planet. A pint-sized atom bomb dosed to the tits on electric and dispensing wisdom in three-minute modernist pop bulletins on the post-adolescent condition. 'Robyn' is also a collection of ultra-concise pop moments – that rarest of things, a classic pop album. It's a sad-eyed, super-strong battery of nuclear-powered pop. It's the best weapon she's got.

Robyn may now be the kickingest label CEO around, but she was out on a limb here. A lifetime's earnings had been ploughed into a dream. The conflict of liberation and anxiety about the project, as well as galvanizing Robyn, seemed to polarise her character. One half of 'Robyn' was all hip-thrusting-fuck-you-cool, but in the gentle suite of ballads that wind everything down there is a smaller, sadder Robyn.
"I'm a Gemini maybe that's what it is!" she exclaims. "Because I am this very outgoing person people think that I'm always sure what I'm gonna do, which I'm not! I always question myself! The perfect example is 'Konichiwa Bitches'. That song was made because I was so scared! I was like ARGH what am I DOING? I had to like bang my chest and go RAR! I'm the shit! I'm the best girl in the world!"
'Konichiwa Bitches' is Robyn's signature tune. Over pixellated hip-pop beats, Robyn unloads like a manga Missy Elliott. Its biggest inspiration was Bugs Bunny, and the way he'd totally front on Yosemite Sam with big-ass ACME boxing gloves.Robyn describes it as "a concentrate of attitude. It's like a baby ninja! Like really dangerous but really small and cute! It's like a child with a huge machine gun." It kicks yr face. It's Robyn.

'Robyn', in some ways, is emblematic of a move towards a more autonomous pop industry, with artists working creatively in egalitarian partnerships rather than at the behest of a major corporation.
"I think it's the future," Robyn enthuses. "I don't think you're gonna have big record companies in five years. Even three. They have not adapted to this new world where people download music or don't buy stuff that they don't like.
"I think record companies felt like they were immortal. The industry was like WAAAGH," Robyn beats her tiny chest. "Y'know, we're The Shit. We can do whatever we want. We have all this money, and you just have to do whatever we tell you to do and you can't own it."
Really though, what 'Robyn' represents is the story of one ass-kicking little blonde woman who blasted through the industry bullshit and made a startling, profound, honest pop music all of her own.
It is music with one message.
Be your own star.