Coming out of the disco scene, house music originated in the early 1980s as a form of solace and escape. In underground venues like the Warehouse in Chicago (where the name “house” originated) and New York’s Paradise Garage, queer, black partygoers could lose themselves within the hypnotic 4/4 beat and find acceptance on the dancefloor. Robyn often nods to this philosophy in her yearning alt-pop anthems, but her new album Honey homes in on more specific sonic references to house music. “Between the Lines” features bouncy house chords, “Send to Robin Immediately” samples the throbbing percussion of Lil Louis’ 1989 hit “French Kiss,” and the foundation of “Missing U” is a glittering synth arpeggio. “Once you get into this way of relating to dance music in a club that’s really about being in the space you’re in and feeling your emotion with the people that are there and just enjoying it together, the music changes,” she recently told Pitchfork. “Pop songs have their peaks, but with club music, it’s about the groove and liking where you’re at in that moment, riding a wave. Dancing changed my way of listening to music.”
By the end of the ’80s, house had found its way to the charts in the UK and Europe. It remained a comparatively niche genre in America until the early ’90s, when Madonna co-opted the sound and divas like Crystal Waters and CeCe Peniston broke through to the mainstream. But pop music moves fast when it comes to its underground undercurrents, and by the turn of the millennium, other dance-music genres (like techno and trip-hop) had surpassed house as a reference point. House has cycled back into pop music in the last five years, and Robyn is currently among the artists nudging a ’90s house sound back into wider favor. Inspired by the recent release of Honey, here is an incomplete history of how an underground genre became intertwined with the pop-song form. (This playlist is also available on Spotify and Apple Music.)
George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby” was one of the first disco records to use a Roland drum machine, a bedrock of the future house sound, as the driving force of its groove. The song has been referenced as an inspiration for both Honey and “Dancing Queen,” by Robyn’s Swedish pop predecessors ABBA.
Produced in part by disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder, “I Feel Love” is commonly credited as the song that paved the way for all sorts of electronic genres. But Donna Summer was also the prototype for the house divas that would emerge on the charts decades later, her airy vocals floating above the pulsing synth beat.
South Bronx girl group ESG (Emerald Sapphire & Gold) specialized in spare, catchy funk grooves ripe for sampling, making them a favorite among ’80s and ’90s hip-hop producers. But the punchy bass drum and dance breaks on “Moody” were also catnip for DJs, and remixes of the song were staples at the Warehouse and other house clubs.
After visiting dance venues like Danceteria during an extended trip to New York City, New Order fell in love with American dance music. That influence can be heard in their immortal hit "Blue Monday," which incorporated the minimal drum sequencing of house into an accessible synth-pop sound that would appeal to a more rock-inclined audience.
“Pump Up the Volume,” by the recording collective M|A|R|R|S (formed by members of A.R. Kane and Colourbox), is not technically a pop song, but its innovative use of vocal samples helped push the acid house genre to international success. The main hook is a sample of Eric B. & Rakim’s “I Know You Got Soul,” but the track also borrows from a wide pool of artists and genres, from James Brown and Afrika Bambaataa to the obscure Lebanese singer Dunya Yunis.
When Madonna shone a spotlight on queer ball culture with her 1990 hit “Vogue,” house finally hit the American mainstream. Not only does the song feature certain staples of house (sampled disco strings, a pounding beat), it also encapsulates the escapist philosophy of the genre: “I know a place where you can get away/It’s called a dancefloor, and here’s what it's for.”
Even if you don’t know the name of this song, chances are you’ve heard the iconic keyboard riff and “la da dee, la da da” hook, since sampled in countless dance tracks. Waters’ delivery is calm and somber, relaying the story of a busking homeless woman, while the glossy piano chords take the track into an upbeat direction. Robyn knows a thing or two about sad dance songs, and “Gypsy Woman” definitely falls into that particular canon.
On “Finally,” CeCe Peniston is exuberant, her fierce diva ad-libs and stacked R&B harmonies meshing perfectly with the club beat. The anthem was her first and biggest hit (No. 5 on the Hot 100), proving that song-oriented house tracks were having their moment. Its legacy lives on in the form of epic “Drag Race” lip sync showdowns.
“Show Me Love” exhibits all the great qualities of a house diva track: over-the-top vocal acrobatics, bubbly synth riffs, and that prominent four-on-the-floor rhythm. This is one of the most recognizable house-pop crossovers, but it was also one of the last of its era; soon enough, Swedes like Max Martin began crafting Eurodance-influenced hits for bubblegum teens like Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. (Confusingly, Robyn also had a hit called “Show Me Love” in 1997, which was also co-written/produced by Martin.)
English brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence, better known as Disclosure, helped bring house music back to the mainstream with their enormous hit “Latch.” Anchored by soaring house-diva vocals from up-and-comer Sam Smith, the song bridged the gap between the then-ubiquitous dubstep sound and soulful garage-house music.
Montreal producer Kaytranada blends funk, disco, R&B, Tropicália, and more into his tasteful dance music with pop-song structures. Enlisting Syd of the Internet for “You’re the One,” he offered a lowkey house bop incorporating that retro house bass on his standout LP 99.9%.
On the effortlessly catchy “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane),” Peggy Gou serves as the producer and the vocalist. In Korean, she switches between feathery singing and sultry spoken-word, continuously calling back to the hook and inevitably spurring listeners to sing along.
Azealia Banks has always had her ear to the club, opting for house, hi-NRG, and garage beats to rap over instead of the hip-hop sound du jour. On the Junior Sanchez-produced “Anna Wintour,” Banks shows off her versatility by merging both house pop and hip house (exactly what it sounds like: hip-hop + house) by cycling through dramatic house-diva choruses, scream-rap breakdowns, and precise wordplay.
Robyn’s take on house pop is not just trance-inducing—it’s oozing with sensuality. The pounding kick drum, which is loud and upfront in “Honey,” is side-chained to the pulsating synth, making the track itself sound like it’s breathing. The best house DJs possess the ability to make simple programmed beats into warm and inviting worlds. In Robyn’s hands, this approach has never sounded so tender.
