Do you remember when in 2015 a guy named Calum Scott auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent singing a song called “Dancing On My Own”? Well great if you did remember him but like he’s not the focus here. The song he performed on that show is.
“Dancing On My Own” is a song by Swedish singer Robyn that encapsulates the feeling of heartbreak of seeing your ex with another person with a synth dance-pop instrumental. The song seems like such a basic pop song made for mainstream radio, yet it’s so much more than that. The song starts with the feeling of heartbreak but trying to fight against being alone. However, the song ends with the love of oneself. It pairs the dance-pop beat with the lyrics “So far away, but still so near/The lights go on, the music dies” or “It’s a big black sky over my town”. It’s genius in my opinion.
Now its impact on pop culture is not talked about enough. This song deserves way more recognition than it gets. It was released in 2010 amid the recession. Now I may not remember the 2008 recession that well since I was 5 and cared more about my Club Penguin membership in 2010. However, weirdly with the recession came recession pop, a subgenre of pop music that consisted of upbeat dance songs about having fun. This song broke from the norm of a glitzy night at the club with a somber bittersweet night. Robyn legit created a sad banger for the club. We’ve seen such sad bangers reproduced or emulated repeatedly by the present-day likes of Lorde, Charli xcx, or Chappell Roan.
Even when it was released it wasn’t talked about enough. When it was released, it didn’t even make it on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #13 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100, which isn’t even the main chart. The fact that people remember the cover of this song by Calum Scott more than the original version released by Robyn is INSANE.
Now you’re probably wondering how I discovered and fell in love with this beautiful song. I was first introduced to this song on the HBO original series “Girls” by Lena Dunham in the episode “All Adventurous Women Do”. The song served as the closing song before the credits where the main character Hannah is about to spiral on Twitter but instead simply posts the words all adventurous women do. She ends just randomly dancing in her room where her roommate Marnie finds her and joins her before the credits roll. Now Lena Dunham may be entirely a problematic figure, but like she ate with this scene. She perfectly represented the indecisiveness of doing something self-destructive one second and the other just being happy in the moment.
In my honest opinion, this song encapsulates the feeling of being a main character, especially in your college years and 20s, a time of what I like to call emotional whiplash. This song to me is emotional whiplash with a beat you could get down to but with lyrics that make you just want to cry. The second verse just echoes a feeling: ”I’m just gonna dance all night/I’m all messed up/I’m so outta line/Stilettos on broken bottles/I’m spinnin’ around in circles.” It’s striving for a feeling that is unknown but a youthful feeling that college kids continuously look for on a night out even if it ends up bringing them pain. I can imagine this song playing in a coming-of-age movie when the main character is leaving a house party or walking by themself in the city after hours (please don’t do this in the city in the middle of the night).
A night out is always thought to be a positive experience where it’s the best night of your life. Yet Robyn shows us the other perspective of going out to a club where that scavenger hunt for a high can prompt heartbreak or a breakdown. “Dancing On My Own” is such a one-of-a-kind song, one that’s beauty cannot be replicated.