Robyn: Robyn

It's actually been four years since Robyn, Sweden's former teenage "pop tart", released this astonishing comeback album in Europe. However, it didn't get a U.S. release until this year. Fortunately for Robyn and for the States, it still sounds ahead of its time. She has clearly matured beyond the teen pop stereotype and into the role of auteur. Robyn is constructed on a bedrock of impeccable electro and dance pop, but the whole affair is handled with much greater intelligence than is typical of these genres. Her winking, smirking bravado and semi-coherent appropriations of American slang are a perversely astute deconstruction of the clichés of celebrity. It's no wonder why Robyn has crusty old music snobs scratching their heads and reevaluating preconceptions of musical credibility.