"It was an outlet for not having to live up to anything but my own expectations," says Robyn of the collaborative project.
Her ornate pop stylings first collided with Röyksopp's shimmering electronica on the latter’s 2009 single "The Girl and the Robot," the remix of which was nominated for a Grammy. The three linked up again on "None of Dem," from Robyn's breakout 2010 project "Body Talk," which landed Robyn a spot opening for Katy Perry on her 2011 arena tour and spawned the critically beloved club single "Dancing on My Own," the backdrop for a memorable party scene from HBO's "Girls."
When Robyn finished touring behind "Body Talk," she found herself floating over to Norway to work with her new friends Berge and Brundtland, looking to avoid the pressure that comes with following up a hit album.
"I started going over there in the summer of 2013, and we started working with no real agenda," says Robyn. "It was an outlet for not having to live up to anything but my own expectations."
The songs on "Do It Again" -- the moody sprawl of "Monument," the soupy electro-punk of "Sayit," the cozy textures of the 10-minute instrumental "Inside the Idle Hour Club" -- were written and produced collaboratively, with all three musicians "taking part in every aspect of music-making," says Berge. The five songs don't sound like they would fit on either a Robyn album or Röyksopp album; once the trio figured that out, says Robyn, the mini-album began to take shape.
For their part, Röyksopp's two members were more than obliged to shake up their creative process a dozen years into their careers and four years after their 2010 LP "Senior." "Sometimes I think that we are getting older, and maybe we are not that interesting," says Brundtland, 39, without a hint of insincerity. "Adding something new to what we're doing is just refreshing. It's different, in the way that it should be."
"Do It Again's" tittle track peaked at No. 16 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and "Monument" is being featured in a new television ad for Volvo that stars Robyn — the singer's first time letting her music soundtrack a commercial. "It's not a commercial about a car -- it's a commercial about a way of thinking," says Robyn, noting that she was attracted to the Swedish company's environmental record and new, low-emission Drive E engines. Per Carleö, marketing manager of Volvo Cars Sweden, adds, "[Robyn] takes that unique Swedish-ness and brings it out into the world, and we think we're doing the same thing at Volvo."