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Lucas Klaus

Professor Scot

English 1201

20 June 2021

Two Separate Artists Dancing on Their Own: An Analysis

Robyn’s original rendition of “Dancing on my Own” was a massive success; ranking

number three in the annual critics’ poll of the best music of 2010. It was a song about heartbreak

with a pop like melody that makes you want to jump on the dance floor as soon as you hear it.

Calum Scott’s version of “Dancing on my Own” took Robyn’s version and tried his own riff on

it. This new take would launch Scott’s career with the song going certified platinum and selling

over 600,000 copies. Overall Calum Scott’s cover of “Dancing on my Own” by Robyn brings

new emotion to the song that was much more difficult to hear and understand in Robyn’s 2010

version. Scott’s version uses a slower stripped track, as well as more emotion in his voice to

make listeners pay attention to the powerful lyrics. In turn this evokes more pathos within the

listeners compared to Robyn’s faster, more pop-like 2010 version. Due to all these differences, I

believe that Scott’s version more specifically targets a younger audience who is more prone to

heartbreak as they might feel they can more easily relate to his version.

In both versions, “Dancing on my Own” is about a heartbroken lover who sees that their

ex has moved on while they haven’t yet. This makes the singer feel unnoticed and like they were

never a part of their lovers’ life. This is most obvious in the lyrics both versions share shown

here:

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh oh oh

And I'm right over here, why can't you see me? Oh oh oh
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And I'm giving it my all

But I'm not the guy you're taking home, oooh

I keep dancing on my own

The difference between versions comes almost entirely within the delivery and music videos.

The delivery of Scott’s version of “Dancing on my Own” is slower and much more full of

emotion than that of Robyn’s. You can see this in the composition of the instruments used in

each version, as well as the bpm of each song. Scott’s version is played at a bpm (beats per

minute) of 112, while Robyn’s is played at 125 bpm. Though it seems like a small difference at

first, slower songs tend to evoke negative emotions while faster songs tend to evoke happier

emotions. Both versions are middle of the road when it comes to their bpm, but the slight slow

down allows the listeners to pay more attention and relate more to the lyrics instead of getting

lost in the beat. As far as instrumentals go, Robyn’s version has a whole score of synthesizers

that create an electric beat that is very tempting to dance to, while Scott’s version sports only a

single piano that might have you lying in bed overthinking late at night.

Robyn’s music video, while still certainly emotional, does not quite capture the meaning

of the lyrics with the video. Scenes such as a dance floor, and Robyn dancing “On her own” are

the most common, yet all these scenes are still high energy and almost look like she’s dancing

out of spite rather than sadness. Yes, she is dancing on her own, but she doesn’t seem too upset

about it. Scott’s version, however, takes a much more abstract and delicate approach to the song.

The entire video is set in one room where Scott along with others are all dressed in white as to

look ambiguous and unidentifiable. A story then begins to unfold. A woman, presumably Scott’s

former lover is attempting to find her lover within the crowd of ambiguous people. When she

finds him, it isn’t Scott, but someone else. All of this takes place in front of Scott making him
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feel like he’s blending into the background even more. The pain and heartbreak are reflected

through his voice and body language clearly, making the video very relatable.

Both songs and videos rely heavily on the use of pathos to get their message across. This

is seen in both videos when the singers are put on their own, unnoticed by their former lovers

while they enjoy another’s company. This image evokes immense sadness in both cases and

certainly appeals to one’s emotion. In addition, both songs’ lyrics evoke pathos when talking

about “Dancing on their own” and how they’re “giving it all, but they aren’t the guy they’re

taking home” evoking the image of trying your absolute best for someone, but still not being

enough to make them happy. Both song’s audience are those going through heartbreak, which is

a broad audience, though Scott’s version becomes slightly more niche because I think it’s also in

a style more suitable for younger people and came out more recently. I know many young people

myself who feel they can relate heavily to his version but not necessarily Robyn’s.

In conclusion, though both versions of the song “Dancing on my Own” use the same

words, the different instruments used within the songs and the different scenes and tempo of each

song’s respective video make the songs evoke much different emotions; slight sadness and a

want to dance for Robyn, and extreme sadness and helplessness in Scott’s. This results in a

slightly younger general audience in for Scott’s song as it is more recent and in a style more

young people are attracted to than 80’s style synth.

Works Cited

“Calum Scott - Dancing On My Own (Official Video).” Performance by Calum Scott, YouTube,
YouTube, 14 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31tGyBJhRY.

Robyn, director. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (Official Video). YouTube, YouTube, 28 May
2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcNo07Xp8aQ.

Liu, Ying, et al. “Effects of Musical Tempo on Musicians' and Non-Musicians' Emotional
Experience When Listening to Music.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 15 Oct. 2018,
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02118/full.