Robyn Is Ready

The pop star hasnt put out a proper studio album in eight years. Heres why.

- Tasbeeh Herwees

It’s been eight years since Swedish pop star Robyn released her acclaimed Body Talk trilogy. Here’s what she’s done since then: learned how to dance the samba; took courses in production; launched Tekla, a tech festival for teenage girls in Stockholm; and recorded a mini-album, Love Is Free, with keyboardist Markus Jägerstedt and legendary Swedish producer Christian Falk.

And then, in 2014, a year prior to Love Is Free’s release, Falk died from pancreatic cancer. Robyn took some time to grieve the loss of her friend. She went through a rough breakup and re-evaluated some things in her life. She also tried therapy for the first time. All these experiences—every up, every down—comprise the sonic and lyrical DNA of her new album, Honey, out October 26. “I felt like I had a lot of respect for that process,” says the 39-year-old musician. “I think some of the things I wanted to write about kind of had to mature while I was maturing myself.”