My Truth
My Truth is the second studio album by Swedish singer Robyn. It was released on 17 May 1999 by BMG Sweden. Robyn collaborated with the producers Lindström & Ekhé, Christian Falk, Ken Fambro, Billy Mann, Thomas Rusiak, and Masters at Work, with guest vocals from rapper Petter and singers Cindy and Titiyo. A pop, R&B, and soul record, My Truth is an autobiographical album for which Robyn co-wrote all fourteen songs. Some of its lyrics reflect on the singer's fall 1998 abortion, which became controversial when RCA Records began planning a North American release. When Robyn refused to change the album after the label's request, plans to release My Truth outside Sweden were cancelled.
Swedish music critics generally praised My Truth, commending Robyn's growth as a songwriter and vocalist, although the production of some tracks received criticism. At the 2000 Grammis, it was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Best Female Pop/Rock award. Overseas critics were divided in their opinions of the record; they found it more mature than the singer's debut album, Robyn Is Here, but noted that it lacked catchy hooks. My Truth peaked at number two on the Swedish albums chart and was certified platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association. Four singles were released from the album: "Electric", "Play", "My Only Reason", and "Main Thing". "Electric", the lead single, peaked at number six on the Swedish singles chart and was certified gold, while the remainder of the singles saw little commercial success.
Background
Robyn's debut studio album Robyn Is Here was released in Sweden in 1995, and was followed by a North American release two years later. The album sold 1.5 million copies worldwide, according to BMG Sweden, and yielded the top-ten singles "Do You Know " and "Show Me Love", both co-produced by Max Martin. Robyn Is Here proved successful in the United States, where it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of one million copies. She spent nearly 12 months on tour in North America and returned to Sweden in 1998. She told Billboard, "I returned from my year in the U.S. I was so extremely tired of everything, including myself and my music."While touring in the US, Robyn had a "nervous breakdown" during a live performance in Chicago, which ended with her manager pinning her down in her dressing room. She viewed the incident as a sign of wanting to change her career and image; she felt that the image her label had created of a stereotypical "young, blonde spunky girl" did not properly represent her. Burned out, the singer took several months off after returning to Sweden. Encouraged to become "her own" after the Chicago incident, Robyn began working on a second studio effort to be titled My Truth. She did not want to repeat herself with "another Robyn record", opting to follow her intuition and experiment instead. She declined to work with Martin again, enlisting Ulf Lindström, Johan Ekhé, Christian Falk, Billy Mann, Cherno Jah, Masters at Work, Ken Fambro, and Internal Dread as producers; she had collaborated with Lindström, Ekhé, and Falk on Robyn Is Here.
Writing and production
Robyn co-wrote all of My Truth fourteen tracks. Although the singer returned to Sweden from North America in the summer of 1998, she returned to the US several times to work on the album. Several songwriters gave Robyn completed songs to record, but she considered it important to contribute to the writing process and said that most of the songs on My Truth originated with her. The album was written in four months. Robyn collaborated with a variety of producers, saying that she played around with the album's concept and was willing to experiment with different musical styles. Tired of the R&B of Robyn Is Here, the singer decided to explore house and rock music. About the album's title, she told Nerikes Allehanda that its songs expressed what was important to her and reflected her "truth" at the time.Although the singer wanted My Truth to be positive in spirit, she acknowledged that "some sadness expressed": "Every song is about something I've been through that I think is important to talk about. I have tried to turn these experiences into inspiring songs about my life." Robyn had an abortion in the fall of 1998, which she publicly disclosed several months later in an issue of Café. She wrote "Giving You Back" in February 1999, to help her cope with the abortion; when the album was completed, the singer called it one of the best songs she had written to date. Robyn began using songwriting as a coping mechanism during the production of Robyn Is Here, when she wrote "In My Heart" about her parents' divorce. She decided to have the abortion after much soul-searching. In a May 1999 Aftonbladet interview, the singer said that she would not wish an abortion on anyone because of the pain it caused her. Following the interview, Robyn experienced a backlash by some who felt that she impeded female liberation with her comments. In an August 1999 interview, the singer said that she wanted to draw attention to the abortion debate rather than her personal life. Although she supported abortion rights, Robyn acknowledged that the decision is a serious matter and should be treated as such.
The majority of My Truth was recorded at different studios in Stockholm, including Cosmos Studios and Polar Studios. Recording sessions also took place at Doppler Studios in Atlanta. Robyn asked her manager to enlist a house producer for the project after "falling in love" with New York culture in 1997. The following year, she began working with Little Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez of Masters at Work. Although Robyn initially found it difficult to sing at a house tempo, she called it "liberating" when she became accustomed to it. After two weeks in the studio, "Main Thing" and "Good Thang" were completed. The former was chosen for the album, and the latter would be released as the B-side of a single. She joined Swedish rapper Petter for "Det gör ont ibland", a Swedish-language duet, after they visited a friend's country home. According to Petter, the song came together quickly despite their different musical styles. It was produced by rapper Thomas Rusiak, with Robyn as co-producer and additional production by Lindström & Ekhé. She recorded "Healthy Love", another duet, with Cindy Heinold for the album. Photographer Eric Broms provided the artwork for My Truth, which sees Robyn wearing a feather headpiece designed by Sebastian Wahl.
Music and lyrics
Described as an autobiographical album, My Truth is a pop, R&B and soul record. About its mature tone, Robyn said that she had grown up since releasing her debut album and had gained life experiences which she wanted to express. She described the album's musical styles as more intense than those on Robyn Is Here, but retaining a mainstream appeal. She said, "This album is different from my first... All the songs on this album are different from each other and show different sides of me." John Lucas of AllMusic called the album "hardly a radical departure" from Robyn Is Here, but more mature with "intelligent and introspective" lyrics and greater focus on its lyrical content. Vulture Larry Fitzmaurice declared it "part continuation of Robyn Is Here R&B-pop palette and part stylistic divergence into more subtle, chillout-inflected territory"."Det gör ont ibland", with Petter, is a hidden track on the first track's pregap. Robyn described the duet as the "most hip hop" song she had recorded to date. Aftonbladet Per Bjurman described "Play" as world music-tinged, and Lucas called it "as playful a song as 's ever recorded". It is followed by the R&B song "My Only Reason", whose lyrics describe a bad relationship. Next is "Underneath the Heart", a piano-guitar-and-string ballad whose lyrics describe the desire to help someone else feel better, which was compared by critics to the catalogue of American singer Toni Braxton. The fourth track, "Electric", is an electronic funk song with reggae elements; it uses positive and negative energy as metaphors for the close relationship between love and hate. The extended album version includes a 90-second intro. The title track has a "convinced relativism", according to Robert Christgau, and Robyn wrote the song in 1997 about feeling misunderstood. The sixth song, "Main Thing", explores the deep house, disco and funk genres. Robyn wrote the song about an ex-boyfriend in February 1999, while she was working with Masters at Work in New York.
The lyrics of the ragga-infused "Healthy Love", featuring Cindy, describe feeling vulnerable in a new relationship due to bad experiences in previous ones. "Monday Morning", an acoustic pop song, was designated by Bjurman as a "singer-songwriter visa". The lyrics describe feeling down after a fun weekend with lines such as "Will you still love me on Monday morning?" The ninth track, "Giving You Back", is a piano ballad which addresses Robyn's abortion: "I'm giving you back to where you came from but I'm not forgetting who you are". David Schmader of The Stranger wrote that the song has a directness "unprecedented in pop", and compared its piano elements to those in Braxton's work. The following track, "88 Days", has a pop and R&B sound and includes backing vocals from Titiyo. Robyn and Mann co-wrote it during winter, when spring was about 88 days away and they longed for sunshine. According to Lucas, its lyrics also refer to the singer's abortion. "Long Gone" is a ballad with string and guitar instrumentation, the last lines of which were taken from dialogue in the film Contact. The penultimate track, "Not on the Inside", is an acoustic pop song. Robyn stated that the song is about individuals who "don't have a good grip on their lives... but pretend they do". The thirteenth and final track, the drum and bass-influenced "Universal Woman", was written in ten minutes in a London hotel room. She singer said that the song is about girl power; women can be regarded as "strong", even if they "sacrifice" everything for love.