Indestructible (Robyn song)

"Indestructible" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn, taken from her seventh studio album Body Talk (2010).

It shows scenes of couples having sex, and cutscenes of Robyn wearing a special designed dress featuring tubes with colored liquid.

[14] The song utilizes ascending keyboard bubbles, disco claps, drum machines and whistles as backing.

[11][15] The string sounds from the acoustic version of the song are accompanied by four-to-the-floor beats and an electronic arrangement,[16] as well as "relentless" bass and pulsing synthesized chords.

[12] Molly Lambert of Pitchfork noted the "human quality" of Robyn's voice on the track, writing that it is "cloaked in waves of arpeggiated synth".

"[14] Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music noted that Robyn sings "tough and knowing" and "pessimistically optimistic" lines, but manages to make it sound romantic for the listener.

[10] Emma Gaedekke of Billboard commented on the lyrical content, saying, "Robyn's heartfelt vocal turn prevents the backing music from overwhelming her story of a love connection found at the tail-end of heartbreak.

[17] Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music and compared it to "heartbreak songs" by ABBA, but noted its modern synthpop as opposed to 1970s disco.

McAlpine noted that the song about dancing and being "terrified/upset" at the same time, and wrote that Robyn has created a "devastating happysad feeling".

McAlpine awarded the song five out five stars, and gave it "special points" for its "faux-classical synth solo" in the middle.

[12] Molly Lambert of Pitchfork wrote a positive review of the song, saying that the drum machines on the track contrast well with the qualities of her voice.

"[11] Paul Davey of Drowned in Sound wrote that the song "sits comfortably alongside" previous singles "Hang with Me" and "Dancing on My Own".

[14] Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone gave it three and a half out of five stars, and wrote that "[Robyn] sings an uncommonly elegant Europop melody".

[13] Evan Sawdey of PopMatters compared the song negatively to the acoustic version, believing it was a bad choice to "swap out strings for synths".

[15] On the issue dated 17 September 2010 of the Sverigetopplistan chart, the acoustic version of "Indestructible" debuted and peaked at number fifty-four due to strong digital downloads.

[19] The original version of the song debuted at number nine on the issue dated 12 November 2010, becoming Robyn's ninth top ten hit in the country.

[22] On 20 October 2011 the song was certified gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for sales of 15,000 digital units in Denmark.

[26] In Germany, the song debuted at number fifty-six,[27] immediately becoming Robyn's highest-charting single in the country since "With Every Heartbeat" in 2007.

[29] For the video, Australian artist Lucy McRae, who makes "body architecture", designed a special "tube dress" for Robyn to wear.

[4] The dress for the video was made up of plastic pipes that were periodically filled with colored fluids and wrapped around Robyn's body.

She said that the video "[is] very much about [...] giving almost a physical experience of what it feels like to be on a dance floor or fall in love, whether it's blood or endorphins or other body fluids."

"[33] Amber Katz of MTV Buzzworthy said that Robyn looks "cherubic and futuristic [in the video], as if she belongs on the set of “Caprica”."

The performance opened with the Swedish folk song "Jag vet en dejlig rosa" and her previous single "Dancing on My Own".

A woman with platinum blonde hair is standing alone in front of a wall, wearing a dress with plastic tubes, filled with red and blue liquid, wrapped around her body.
Robyn wearing the "tube dress" in the music video for "Indestructible"