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So the Swedish kook-pop princess/Idolator patron saint Robyn is finally going to have a proper release of her album in the States, only three years after she initially self-released it after breaking free from Jive’s early-millennium teenpop clutches. This is very exciting news, not the least because she’s actually going to be playing shows within the country’s decadent coastal enclaves over the next couple of weeks. But yesterday, i observed a somewhat troubling development regarding how Robyn the artist and Robyn the album might be marketed on this side of the world, and it involved her playing second freaking fiddle to Snoop Freakin’ Dogg:
Ugh. Ugh. It’s not the song, which I thought was fine on first listen, but the fact that a remix–released just as the Rakamonie EP is hitting stores–in which Robyn is effectively reduced to “cute background singer” seems to be the first foot being put forward here. And for an artist with such a singularly awesome persona and vision, this is not good–I mean, people, c’mon, this is Robyn, not Ashanti. Her songs have stood on their own in other countries; can’t that happen here? Or is Universal so scared that Robyn’s outre persona and twisty interpretations of the “pop music” concept might turn off American audiences that they feel she has to be paired up–and effectively neutered–by an established male star?
Snoop + Robyn [Discobelle]
Sorry but I can’t see Robyn make a big splash in the US. She’s not cute enough and too quirky to return to success in America. Which is a crying shame.
Welcome to Interscope Marketing! Put two artists together that don’t belong together so fans of BOTH genres ignore them!
Isn’t this basically the Lil Mama strategy all over again? I mean, I’d say that it worked on the Avril Lavigne track, because that successfully set up “Lip Gloss”; but then Lil Mama’s album got pulled. So basically, I don’t see how a strategy like this can be employed to set up an album; a single, maybe.
Weren’t we all expecting the Robyn re-launch to get botched, anyway? [/cynical]
@westartedthis: even if she does make it, will anyone in this country see her as more than a Pink or Gwen Stefani ripoff – based on her look alone (which is like, 99% of what anyone on the internet bases ANYTHING on)?
fixed
wasn’t it Morrissey who said, “America is not the internet”?
she’s not doing “pop” she’s “interpreting the pop concept.”
which could have also possibly been said about missy elliot/timberland so so long ago (in pop time).
one of the things that makes this interesting from a marketing perspective:
the general pop consumer does not/can not/will not get the
*wink wink * subtlety or the post- whatever whatever.
but they will still know these are great tracks.
tand the super-savvy this is so three years ago or
even those with keen perspective but not as hypemachined will pick up on the irony, but still know these are great tracks.
who would have ever thought punk would’ve broke (avril)
or that harajuku nonsense would (gwen)?
Sorry but I can’t see GNARLS BARKLEY make a big splash in the US. She’s not cute enough and too quirky to return to success in America
she is one ipod commercial away.
@cstmr srvc: wait, what?
Isn’t the bigger tragedy here that Snoop is still recording??
They should just release “Konichiwa Bitches” as the first single. That would kill.
@cstmr srvc: still not sure. An iPod commercial helped Feist but her album had debuted in the Top 20 and was already selling on its own. An iPod commercial didn’t help CSS, all they had was the hype of the indie community, period.
With Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Fergie, Keyshia Cole, Colbie Caillat, Sara Bareilles and the upcoming releases from Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Madonna and (ugh!) Leona Lewis, there will be no room for Robyn. Of course, I’d love to be proven wrong and to see that her quirky pop can sell, but I don’t think it’ll happen.
As for Gnarls Barkley, they had “Crazy”. As much as I think “Robyn” is a terrific album, she doesn’t have a hit of such magnitude on it. And starting the promotion with an EP and a guest spot on a remix isn’t really the best way for Interscope to try and get her back into the spotlight.
I get this. Sort of. Robyn’s always been very influenced by hip-hop in her own peculiarly Swedish way, and the hipsters seem to have eaten this up. I guess they figured that there was no way to market Robyn to a real pop audience and decided to go for the more “taste-making” audience, not that I put any stock in whether Stereogum or Pitchfork like this or not. “Sensual Seduction” seems to have caught the hipsters as well, so I can see how this idea might have been birthed, even if it’s not really a good way.
Popjustice forum members seem to like it well enough, and they have the most discerning collective ear for pop that I’ve ever heard, so who knows? And Cherrytree has a great track record (Feist is now a Global Superstar or whatever because of their marketing decisions)… so I’m not going to say “no” to this automatically.
With regard to the song, it’s stupid fun. I like it for the novelty, but I like all things Robyn regardless.
@Plague: Is VYP ever coming out? I really like all the singles I’ve heard and I do loves me some Lil Mama. I want to hold a copy of that CD in my dry, ugly hands.
Er, that @ is supposed to be directed at dennisobell.
i sometimes think you guys are more cruel to the artists you love than the ones you hate. what would you have them do? place a prominent display in every store as a convenient dust-collector? no one in this country has given a shit about Robyn since 1998. and even then she was just “that one girl with that one song” – the beta test version of Britney. she’s going to have to make slow inroads through guerrilla campaigns just like this one if she stands any chance at all. not to mention the parade of slow-on-the-uptake news outlets “outing” her as a former teenie-bopper.
even if she does make it, will anyone in this country see her as more than a Pink or Gwen Stefani ripoff – based on her look alone (which is like, 99% of what anyone in american pop bases ANYTHING on)? there’s a very subtle irony about what Robyn’s doing that i just don’t think will play in america. you said it yourself – she’s not doing “pop” she’s “interpreting the pop concept.” americans can smell “art” from a mile away and they have never liked it.
This reminds me of when f’ing Gwen Stefani was shoe horned into Moby’s South-Side single. I really enjoyed the album version, but when that head licking video came out I found myself explaining to everyone “that’s not how the album version is. The album version is sort of sad and sardonic…with Gwen in there it’s just marketing”.
Of course as I write this I realize that Gwen is really the poster child for sell out “cross-over” artist. I mean her albums are little more than a “special guest” filled cash grab.