FML Music Spotlight: Robert Baxter X Sweatbaby

There is a particular kind of silence that happens after the club. Not the quiet of the walk home, but the pause that follows connection when the energy disappears back into screens, message bubbles, and unread replies. That emotional gap is where ICY (TAKE IT OFF) lives.

The new single from Naarm based pop artist Robert Baxter and Sydney producer Sweatbaby does not rush to explain itself. Instead, it lets feeling do the work. The track captures the tension between heat and distance, intimacy and detachment, movement and stillness. It is club music that allows space for vulnerability without asking the listener to stop dancing.

Following Baxter’s recent run of high-energy releases, including SKY CITY and I <3 GIRLS, ICY (TAKE IT OFF) turns the camera inward. It is still designed for dark rooms and loud systems, but the emotional centre is sharper. The song explores what it feels like to spark in real life and then cool off through digital distance, a familiar modern contradiction delivered with glittering restraint.

Produced alongside Sweatbaby, whose sound draws from UK garage, trance, techno and eurodance, the track balances heavy bass with emotional clarity. It feels lived in rather than engineered. That sense of immediacy makes sense. The song was written quickly, in person, and directly from the moment both artists were in.

With Baxter continuing to build one of the most visible and community-driven careers in Australia’s queer pop landscape, and Sweatbaby’s rapid rise across club and radio spaces, ICY (TAKE IT OFF) lands as a meeting point rather than a departure. It is not a pivot. It is a deepening.

FML spoke with Robert Baxter and Sweatbaby about heartbreak that still moves, crying on the dancefloor, breaking industry rules, and why this collaboration feels like the beginning of something bigger.

FML: ICY (TAKE IT OFF) feels more inward-looking than your recent club anthems. What emotional space were you in when writing this song?

RB: I was a bit heartbroken but hot about it. On the verge of starting a new relationship with someone who ticked a lot of boxes but just could not communicate and the texting was cold. While Sweatbaby was making the beat I just poured out these feelings into my notes app. “Baby it’s icy, not on my neck” became the central line. I was not overthinking it, just writing from an honest place. Hot people get sad. I love crying in the club songs.

FML: The track explores digital-age connection and disconnection. How do you personally navigate intimacy when so much happens through screens?

RB: I have figured out who I am, identity, body, mind, career, but I have not been able to find the right person. On the apps everyone feels so close and so far at the same time. If someone has the answers please slide into my DMs. I am open to learning.

FML: You have described your recent work as exploring queer joy and resilience. Where does vulnerability fit into that story for you?

RB: Vulnerability is the joy. Queer joy is having our stories told whether they are soft or strong. I do not want every interview to start with “so you were a gay kid growing up in the country.” There are so many sides to queer people, and historically a lot of the stories told are from a white straight cis lens. Telling the universe you want something is vulnerable. Every release is sharing something honest.

FML: Sonically, ICY still lives on the dancefloor. Why was it important to keep the song club-ready even while dealing with bittersweet themes?

RB: I just want music to be fun. I had fun making ICY and I definitely have fun performing ICY. I do not want you in the car alone crying to my music. I want you dancing in your hottest outfit and maybe one single tear sneaks out and you are feeling euphoric knowing we are feeling the same thing. I was just the one that wrote it down for us.

FML: You have closed out 2025 with this release. Does ICY feel like a conclusion, a bridge, or a tease of what is next?

RB: It feels like a perfect bridge from the end of 2025 to the start of 2026. This is the song of the summer in my opinion. I dropped SKY CITY, I <3 GIRLS and ICY in a way that was really spontaneous. I wrote them all around three months before releasing. I will be collecting these tracks into a project in February, and I have not told anyone that yet. That is the FML exclusive.

FML: What do you hope listeners feel or confront the first time they hear ICY (TAKE IT OFF)?

RB: I hope you take the song as it is. If you feel like dancing, crying, screaming, opening up, texting your ex, do whatever feels right. Just do not do anything I would not do.

FML: Your production pulls from UK garage, trance, techno and eurodance. What sounds or references were most present when making ICY?

SB: What I love about ICY is how many genres it pulls from while still feeling cohesive. The bass is rooted in early 2000s UK garage and bassline. The synths draw from late 90s trance for that emotional punch and euphoric lift. The drums move between jersey, UKG and techno. It is a melting pot but it all locks together naturally.

FML: How did you approach balancing heavy basslines with the emotional softness in Robert’s vocals?

SB: Robert’s vocals made this easy. Their voice is angelic and sounds good on literally everything. The first drop is so bass heavy that we needed something even more hype for the second drop. The repeating “Take Take Take” chop on Robert’s vocal is simple but it creates momentum and really makes the second drop punch.

FML: You have had a huge rise in the past year. How has that momentum changed the way you approach collaboration?

SB: I only started the Sweatbaby project one year ago, so this momentum has allowed me to collaborate with established artists really early in my career. Robert was the first vocalist I ever worked with in person and that is now my favourite way to collaborate. You can really capture a feeling by making something from scratch together.

FML: What made Robert the right artist for this track?

SB: I first heard Robert through “Suspicious” and immediately went deeper into their catalogue. Their voice and the world they build around their music stood out. The ICY session was the first time we met and the song came directly from how Robert was feeling in that moment. That emotion carries through the entire track. It could not have been sung by anyone else.

FML: How did this collaboration first come together?

RB: Sweatbaby said he liked my song SUSPICIOUS and wanted to work together. I happened to be in Sydney around that time. I was feeling a bit burnt out and almost did not go, but I am so glad I did. We made ICY the first time we ever met. The spark was our shared love for energetic music that makes you move. He trusts his instincts and his vision, and that is how you get into a flow state and make something quickly.

FML: Was there a specific moment in the studio where you both knew the track was it?

SB: We made the core of the song in under an hour and that energy made it feel special straight away.
RB: As soon as I laid down the vocal and heard “Baby it’s icy, not on my neck” hit the chorus beat switch, I knew. It was a hit.

FML: How did you translate the idea of being icy emotionally into sound and texture?

SB: Robert’s opening vocal over the chord progression really sets that emotional tone.
RB: A lot of emotion comes through in the vocal, but the sound selection too. The plucky synths make me think of ice and glaciers, like we should be headlining a snow doof in an ice cave.

FML: What did you learn from each other creatively during this process?

RB: Sweatbaby reminded me how fun it can be to create and be audacious. Over the years I learned what did and did not work for me, and he trusted me to take the lead where I was strong while encouraging me to try everything else again from a new perspective.
SB: I learned so much from Robert. If I had to pick one thing, it would be the importance of creating a world around your track. Every visual comes from Robert’s mind, and that attention to detail really brings the sound and story together.

FML: Both of you are deeply connected to club culture. What does the club represent to you beyond just a place to dance?

SB: Club culture and dance music are about connection and joy. People coming together and letting go.
RB: A place to come together and release.

FML: If ICY (TAKE IT OFF) were played at 2am in a packed club, what would the room feel like?

SB: Singing and sweaty.

FML: FML sits at the intersection of music, fashion and culture. How do those worlds collide for you personally?

RB: They collide every day. I try to be as visible as I can. When another queer person says, “You did that for all of us,” that makes everything worth it. I take what I have learned from modelling and art direction into my music visuals. Everything is intentional, even when I have to make it work with what is already in my closet.

FML: FML often champions artists pushing against norms. Where do you feel most resistant or rebellious right now?

SB: This track broke a lot of rules. You are not supposed to drop so close to Christmas, but we did. A queer POC pop artist and a straight white producer might not seem like the obvious pairing, but we did it anyway. This collaboration represents unity and friendship, and we are just getting started.At its core, ICY (TAKE IT OFF) is not about heartbreak or heat alone. It is about visibility. About letting emotional complexity exist in spaces that are often expected to be effortless or escapist. Robert Baxter and Sweatbaby approach the club not just as a site of release, but as a place where stories are exchanged without explanation. In doing so, they create work that resonates beyond the dancefloor, while never leaving it behind.

#FMLFAVES

Favourite Song Right Now
SB: ICY (TAKE IT OFF)
RB: ICY (TAKE IT OFF), obviously

Fave Movie
SB: Ice Age
RB: Frozen

What’s In Your Bag
SB: SPF 50+ sunscreen and a sweat towel

This Season’s Must-Haves
RB: Nip slips, STARGIRL energy, shiny skin, ICY in your headphones, platonic kisses, audacious New Year’s resolutions, and Australian music in your playlist

Aussie Must Visits
SB: Any Australian beach

2026 Resolution
SB: Make more bangers with Robert Baxter
RB: Make more bangers with Sweatbaby