Before this year, we hadn’t heard from Swedish popstress Robyn in nearly five years. She promised three full albums before 2010 was out and while I was excited by the news, I don’t think I was alone in thinking that we’d be lucky to see more than one.

But posted above is the first single from Body Talk Pt. 2, the follow up to, well, Body Talk Pt. 1 which was released just last month. If you think “Hang With Me” sounds familiar, you aren’t hearing things; the track appeared in a slowed down and more intimate form on Pt. 1. It works even better as an electro-pop track: certain phrases like “don’t fall headlessly, wrecklessly in love with me” just sound better over bubbly synths instead of sweeping strings.

That being said, “Hang With Me” continues Robyn’s  streak of empathetic, perfect pop. I think that the reason that she resonates so well with certain demographics and not as well with others (her sales aren’t very strong in the US)  is that, despite singing about tried and true topics like lost or unrequited love, Robyn’s lyrics often portray that from an angle that’s slightly off center from the rest of Top 40 radio. In songs like “Be Mine!” and “Dancing On My Own” she isn’t wronged like a Taylor Swift and she isn’t angry where a Beyonce would be. She is simply in mourning. She’s getting herself through it and out of it. On “Hang With Me” she’s handling someone else’s no-so-mutual feelings for her in the most platonic way possible. It’s not the kind of attitude we’re used to from pop music: vulnerability pulled off through a lens of absolute confidence and assurance. Completely refreshing. Must be that haircut.  

Body Talk Pt. 2 is out September 7 and the tracklist and awesome cover art are below:

Body Talk Pt. 2:

01 In My Eyes
02 Include Me Out
03 Hang With Me
04 Love Kills
05 We Dance to the Beat
06 Criminal Intent
07 U Should Know Better [ft. Snoop Dogg]
08 Indestructible (acoustic version)