Robyn and Yelle Swap Pop Rocks
What are a pair of diminutive popstrels who aren’t Kylie Minogue supposed to do as the pioneering priestesses of a new indie pop movement in order to keep their names from sinking underneath the maddening weight of the Boyles and Lamberts of this good galaxy? They could hawk Toblerones. But gut instinct tells me that they’ve grown accustomed to street cred and sell-out shows at Webster Hall and wouldn’t compromise that for all the delicious nougat-filled Swiss chocolate in the world. A-ha! Maybe they can exchange snappy ditties.
The skinny: Yelle’s handed over her hit single “A cause des Garçons” to Robyn for her to sing in English (as “Because of Boys,” naturally). In fairness, Robyn’s returned the favor by giving Yelle carte blanche to refashion “Who’s That Girl” into “Qui est Cette Fille.”
The collection, complete with the originals, is available on iTunes for under $4. And sure, it’s slightly underwhelming, and yes, Robyn does basically overlay the English interpretation of “Garçons” onto the melodic hook of “Cobrastyle”, but the entire thing works. Besides, there are worse do-overs you could probably buy for $4. Like four copies of this.