Robyn & Röyksopp Team Up on "Do It Again"

Rejoice! The great Robyn drought is finally over. On Monday morning, "Do It Again," the title track from Robyn's forthcoming mini-album with Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp, premiered online. I can't even tell you how excited I am just to hear Robyn's voice again! It's been way too long. And while it's great to have a bright, shiny piece of scandipop music from her, "Do It Again"s replay value to be a little lacking. "Do It Again" may quench desperate fans' thirst briefly, but I certainly hope that Robyn and Röyksopp have some stronger material waiting for us on the mini-album.

Robyn gets a little naughty on "Do It Again," singing about a forbidden love that she knows she probably shouldn't be messing around with, but she just can't seem to help herself.

One more time, let's do it again

Blow my mind, do it again

And when it arrives, the moment before

The anticipation, you know it's like mmm, mmm, mmm

Wait for it, wait for the build-up and then let's

Do it again

I was waiting for the bouncy electronic production beneath Robyn's voice to build to a stuttering climax before the chorus hit (I mean, c'mon, the orgasm references are all over the first verse), but it never did. It feels a bit like a missed opportunity. But the chorus is where the song's biggest problems are:

We do what we want, and as soon as it's done

We just do it again

Let's do it all, and when we come down

We just do it again

Don't care what they say, it hurts so good

I don't wanna stop, I know I should

I guess I'm just not used to Robyn dropping so many tired clichés all at once. "We do what we want"? "Don't care what they say"? "It hurts so good"? This is not the Robyn that I'm used to hearing. These lyrics are so terribly vague and generic. Needless to say, "Do It Again" doesn't exactly pack the emotional punch of songs like "Dancing On My Own" or "Call Your Girlfriend." If we can't rely on Robyn to deliver music that tells memorable stories with powerful, unique imagery, what's to distinguish her from the hundreds of other artists out there who are also making catchy dance-pop? Food for thought.

I know, I'm being hard on Robyn. Perhaps my expectations were set just a little too high. I do like "Do It Again," it's just not exactly what I was hoping for. Fortunately, the preview we got to hear of the song "Monument" a couple weeks ago sounds extremely promising. I'm definitely still looking forward to the joint Robyn/Röyksopp mini-album.

"Do It Again," the song, is available on iTunes now. Do It Again, the mini-album, is due out on May 26, just before Robyn and Röyksopp embark on their summer tour together in June. I'm still waiting for a song that makes me wanna dance like this:

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