20th April, 2024
17th August, 2017Swedish DJ and producer Avicii, releases ‘Avici’, his highly-anticipated EP of six new tracks. ‘Avici’ is his first new music to be released since 2015. The EP features collaborations with Rita Ora, AlunaGeorge, Billy Raffoul, Vargas and Lagola and Sandro Cavazza, continuing Avicii’s practice of working with great vocalists who can deliver on the uplifting energy and infectious melodies of his music.
After eight intense years of music-making and touring around the world - Avicii, aka Tim Bergling, announced that he was stepping down from the stage. People everywhere thought he had left the music scene for good. Shortly after Tim went out on a journey across the States together with his closest friends and creators, and this transformational journey led him back to the joy of doing what had always meant the most to him composing music. One of the first tracks to come out of that process was Without You, a song of freedom and empowerment, featuring Sandro Cavazza. Avicii performed the track at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival in 2016. Of the new EP, Avicii says:
“I’m really excited to be back with music once again, it has been a long time since I released anything and a long time since I was this excited over new music! My focus on this first EP of the album was to get a mix of new and old songs, some that fans have been asking about/waiting for mixed with brand new songs that they haven't heard before!" stated Avicii.
Hitmaker Rita Ora features on the pop anthem Lonely Together, on a classic four-on-the-floor that bridges the gaps between pop, dance, and the phases of Avicii himself. Aluna George, the English electronic music duo from London, appear on What Would I Change It To, a soft reflection of one who's finally convinced that the “right now” is right after all. Canadian born, 22-year-old singer-songwriter Billy Raffoul’s character driven vocals power You Be Love, which was recorded in Nashville; It's pure Avicii brightness with the clean, catchy style and uplifting energy.
The EP opens with the Friend of Mine, which blurs lines between folk roots and a burning synth hook. It’s a tale of friendship lost and longed for sung with playfulness by fellow Stockholm natives Vargas & Lagola, who have previously collaborated with acts such as Miike Snow, Madonna, Axwell /\ Ingrosso, Katy Perry and more.
The final bonus track on ‘Avici’is a remix of Sandro Cavazza’s track So Much Better, remixed by Avicii.
In 2011, Avicii reached critical mass with the global success of Le7els, which became a No. 1 dance hit in the U.S. and the U.K. Le7els topped the charts in six other territories, has been streamed over 200 million times on Spotify, and garnered Bergling another Grammy nomination. In 2013, the Swedish songwriter and producer cemented his place in the firmament of superstar recording artists/DJs with the success of his genre-defying debut album, True. True spawned the 4x-platinum guitar-laden stomper Wake Me Up, which hit No. 1 in 81 countries and became the most streamed song of all time on Spotify and the No. 1 most Shazamed song worldwide, while racking up 1.6 billion combined YouTube views. Later in the year, Avicii won his first American Music Award, an MTV Europe Music Award, and a World Music Award. Wake Me Up won a Billboard Music Award and an iHeartRadio Music Award.
In 2014, Bergling released Stories that has achieved more than 750 million streams on Spotify and spawned the international hit Waiting for Love, which was #1 in 22 countries. Today, Avicii has a combined total of 11 billion streams. In March 2016, after a performance at Ultra Music Festival, Bergling announced in a letter to fans that that he would be retiring from performing live. But the silver lining from his announcement was a renewed conviction, inspired energy, and much more time to get back to what Avicii does best – create music.
LISTEN HERE:
