Metascore
89

Universal acclaim - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. Oct 26, 2018
    100
    Real emotion never gets old. Honey is moving in more senses than one, a hypnotically groovy dance floor opus, set to the beat of Robyn’s tender heart.
  2. Oct 25, 2018
    100
    Whether the album ends up exerting the kind of influence over the Top 40 that her earlier releases did seems questionable--it feels almost too opaque and inward-looking for mass appeal. As evidence of a unique artist pursuing a personal vision in a world filled with the commonplace, however, Honey is perfect.
  3. Oct 29, 2018
    90
    Robyn's Honey is the lead contender for best pop album of 2018.
  4. Oct 29, 2018
    90
    It’s about clean lines, geometric beauty and clear sincerity. But it also has depth, richness and luxurious colour. It can be taken as superficially perfect pop music, or you can listen a little deeper and hear just how intricately woven her heartbreak anthems really are. She is an artist in the truest sense. And Honey is her latest masterpiece.
  5. Oct 26, 2018
    90
    Honey is a near-flawless dance pop album. It doesn’t need political or cultural commentary to assert relevancy; in Robyn’s deep understanding of human emotion and what moves us, Honey feels dire all the same. Release through dance has long been a tactic wielded by humankind, but rarely has it felt this inclusive, kind and positively radiant.
  6. Oct 26, 2018
    90
    Robyn continues to make the trends instead of following them, and with Honey, she enters her forties with some of her most emotionally satisfying and musically innovative music.
  7. Oct 25, 2018
    90
    Like a great DJ set, songs morph into one another thematically and structurally, most notably in the album’s central triptych. ... The music works its magic, and like a perfect night a clubbing, the uplift is ultimately irresistible.
  8. Oct 29, 2018
    88
    Though the album is less immediate than “Body Talk,” the choruses not as insistent, it exudes a hypnotic pull nonetheless: this is a gentler brand of body music about absence and need.
  9. Oct 25, 2018
    85
    Robyn presents them in a way that makes her resolutions feel both instinctive and deeply traveled; melodies and emotions resolve simultaneously, slowly, and imperfectly, without editorialized conclusions.
  10. Nov 1, 2018
    84
    Throughout Honey, the pure, raw emotion that has always defined Robyn's music is still there. Now, she's just dancing to a different beat.
  11. Oct 29, 2018
    83
    It’s sad and sweet and lovely and brutal.
  12. Oct 29, 2018
    80
    At nine lean but often seemingly formless tracks, Honey feels raw and incomplete, like a work in progress--and maybe that’s the point.
  13. Oct 29, 2018
    80
    Rather than try to top her peerless pop peaks, Robyn has instead uncovered a new warmth, and the effect, on the lofty, dark techno of Human Being and the trippy tempo dips of Baby Forgive Me--redolent of lost small hours and fleeting epiphanies during dancefloor marathons--is sweet indeed.
  14. Oct 26, 2018
    80
    Honey, sparkling yet subtly realized and constantly in motion, follows Robyn from the precipice of heartbreak into the club and onto the beach, and eventually toward something resembling redemption.
  15. Oct 26, 2018
    80
    Melancholy remains the primary colour in Robyn’s work, though it continues to sparkle.
  16. Oct 26, 2018
    80
    [Missing U's] Thudding kick drum pounds away underneath defiant lyrics of heartache, and it’s as affecting as she’s ever been. It’s the rest of the record, though, that really excels, pointing the way forward for an artist changing her tune.
  17. Q Magazine
    Oct 25, 2018
    80
    A deconstruction of heartbreak pulling out all the emotional cogs and catches with the precision of a watchmaker. [Dec 2018, p.110]
  18. Oct 25, 2018
    80
    Repeated listens reveal a deeply nuanced record that deals with grief and confusion the only way Robyn knows how--by dancing like nobody's looking.
  19. 80
    Nine songs that glow and pulse with bittersweet sensuality.
  20. 80
    Though the pain she’s exploring here is less immediate and stinging than the thwack of being screwed over, it’s explored just as expertly.
  21. 75
    On first listen, the absence of a nihilistic mantra to grasp onto may disappoint fans, but the deceptively simple pleasures of Honey open up with each listen. Robyn is trusting her instincts; finding care and wonder in the spaces she once went for punishment.
  22. Oct 25, 2018
    70
    Honey is a fine record, a consistent record and a thoroughly enjoyable record. But it is not a great record, and in comparison with the standard she has set for herself previously, this is a mild (though fleeting) disappointment. That said, there is still a clear and beating heart here and the sheer humanity of Robyn’s musical soul remains one of the most beautiful things in contemporary music.
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 227 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 8 out of 227
  1. Oct 26, 2018
    10
    Robyn's Honey is the most interesting pop music I've heard in years. The direction she went in with this new album is incredible. This isRobyn's Honey is the most interesting pop music I've heard in years. The direction she went in with this new album is incredible. This is definitely her best! Full Review »
  2. Oct 31, 2018
    6
    If it only were as amazing as the critics say it is... don't get me wrong this IS a good album, but in the standards of Robyn it falls a bitIf it only were as amazing as the critics say it is... don't get me wrong this IS a good album, but in the standards of Robyn it falls a bit short due to its middle section which veers a bit too much into the soft pop side of things, and considering that this is a short album it actually counts for a lot of the albums own runtime which sucks. I had to listen to the whole album a few times just to differentiate those tracks. I still think the Body Talk albums are far more better and futuristic, they are more fun and also sounded harder... And considering that it took 8 years to create this ( Robyn has released lots of side collaborations and EPs during this time so she hasn't been fully away) it just feels as if it should've been a bit better I don't know. Also Baby Forgive Me is not a good track, I think it takes away from the wonder of the strong album start, it's so clunky.
    However I can appreciate that it's very experimental in nature, especially tracks Between The Lines, Beach 2k20, Human Being. Also the singles Missing U and Honey are pure Robyn dance floor bliss... And I'm looking forward to the string of remixes that this album will create. Hopefully it won't take as long to create a new album, but in the meantime I can appreciate this one for trying and for actually being a very brave album as well, I really enjoy some of the parts and even the more "mellow" and "sensual" sound that it tries to convey. All in all its a good album but not as great as Body Talk (vol. I-III) in my opinion.
    Full Review »
  3. Feb 5, 2019
    7
    Honey is adventurous. Robyn's effort to be experimental, is commendable. Despite the existence of Body Talk's pop core, becoming a transitionHoney is adventurous. Robyn's effort to be experimental, is commendable. Despite the existence of Body Talk's pop core, becoming a transition of those two bodies of work. There's a lot of fillers midway through, which was too moody and constant. Nevertheless, it reminds us who Robyn is in the past 8 years. Full Review »