'Heartbroken' Robyn cancels shows

Swedish pop star Robyn on Friday canceled upcoming shows, saying it was too painful to perform songs written with late producer Christian Falk.

"Even though it's been a year since Christian passed, I'm heartbroken and performing them feels too heavy still," Robyn said in a statement.

The canceled concerts consisted of two shows in Brazil and the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco.

Falk, a fellow Swede whose production credits included songs by Robyn as well as the 1994 anti-racism anthem "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, died last year of cancer at age 52.

Falk had also joined Robyn in a side project of retro disco under the band name La Bagatelle Magique.

Following Falk's death, Robyn and the group's other remaining member, keyboardist Markus Jagerstedt, completed a "mini-album" which was released last month.

Robyn and Jagerstedt recently performed the music at a festival in Stockholm but she said in her statement: "It was much harder singing these songs on stage than I thought."

Robyn said that the surviving members were working on a video for La Bagatelle Magique but otherwise she planned a "clean break" to work on new material.

The 36-year-old singer, whose real name is Robin Miriam Carlsson, had her start as a singer while still a teenager but later fell out with her label and went independent.

She has achieved international success with a string of songs such as "With Every Heartbeat" and "Dancing On My Own," which bring an occasional R&B edge to quintessentially Swedish dance pop.
Source: AFP