Robyn is back. Her first single in seven years, “Dopamine,” is out now, along with a performance video directed by Marili Andre. Watch it below.
Robyn explained the chemical inspirations behind “Dopamine” in a press release. “Everyone has a phone where they see their heart rate, and we’re learning how to decode our emotions through the hormones and chemical substances in our bodies,” she said. “It’s almost like we don’t even accept that we’re human anymore, like we’re trying to shoot ourselves out of it and explain every single thing—which I think is great, but that’s also why the world is shit, this idea that you can figure out and win life or something. The doubleness of ‘Dopamine’ is having an emotion that is super real, super strong, intense, enjoyable or painful, and at the same time knowing that this is just a biological process in my body—and then not to choose religion or science. To just accept that they’re there together and to be able to go in between.”
Teased for the past several weeks, Robyn’s comeback reunites her with longtime collaborator Klas Åhlund, whose work with the Swedish pop star includes four songs on her last album, 2018’s Honey. Åhlund was the first to tease the new music, saying on the podcast Nordmark Pod, in September, “Just finished a new Robyn album that’s coming out. Super exciting! Very proud of it.”
Since Honey, Robyn has featured on songs by SG Lewis, Sigur Rós’ Jónsi, Smile, Neneh Cherry, and Jamie xx, as well as on the Yung Lean–assisted remix of Charli XCX’s “360” from Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat.
