Mainstream EDM artist Tim Berling, aka Avicii, has a few tricks up his sleeve for his follow-up to 2013’S highly successful album, True. According to Rolling Stone, the DJ plans to release a rock and roll centered album featuring collaborations with huge names such as Coldplay’s Chris Martin, John Bon Jovi, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Wyclef Jean, Matisyahu, and many more. Although this album already sounds as if it will be a smashing success, one can also expected it to stray even farther from the original EDM roots that initially planted.
Avicii explains his concept as an album that, “takes True’s EDM- Rootsy vibes and broadens it further.” He basically wants to place EDM music in an easy to swallow song format, one that fits perfectly onto any given mainstream hits radio station playlist. The 24-year-old DJ has proven his talent for creating this style of music through hits such as “Wake Me Up” and “Hey Brother”, songs that almost everyone in the country cannot stop listening to.
The famed EDM DJ recently caused a ruckus in Boston, where the city declared a level two mass casualty incident at his show. Thirty-six of his concert attendees were rushed to the hospital due to dehydration and other undisclosed issues. “It got blown out of proportion,” Avicii states while on the subject. “It sucks, because it gives electronic music a bad reputation.”
From the sound of it, this album is expected to be a blowout success. With a combination of Avicii’s elegant production skills, his ear for the next great dance-pop sound, and the sheer talent of each collaborator, there is no denying that each song off the yet to be name release will be inescapable. Yet it will also move in a much different direction from where he began with his earlier music. Once he began to experiment with EDM as a hit single as seen on his song “Levels”, he seemed set on continuing down that path of mainstream music. While it may attract significantly more listeners, this path took away from his aim to be an esteemed DJ in the EDM community. Avicii’s star will rise even higher than it already has with the release of this highly anticipated album. Yet he may fall just a little farther from achieving his ultimate goal of being both an international superstar AND a well-respected DJ in the EDM world.
-Marisa Frydman (@musicalmarisa)