EDM fans mourn Avicii’s passing
View(s):Once again the world is in shock over the loss of a young music maker. The sudden death of Avicii aged 28 in Muscat, Oman on April 20 was met with an outpouring of tributes from the big names of the industry. The Swedish DJ and music producer, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was discovered by DJ Pete Tong is widely credited for unleashing EDM and progressive house and electro pop to the US. He was a winner of a MTV music award and Billboard award. He had medical issues and retired from touring in 2016. But he continued with studio work. He had worked with likes of Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Rita Ora, Robbie Williams and David Guetta.
His icebreaking release was ‘Seek Bromance’ in 2010. But it was ‘Levels’ in 2011 that generated global appeal as the song evolved into a kind of anthem for the music of its time and has been so even today for the EDM/ electro house genre. That track sampled ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’ by Etta James. His first No: 1 was ‘I Could Be The One’ featuring Nicky Romero.
Avicii’s first universal chart topping song came in 2013 with ‘Wake Me Up’ which had a mix of folk and EDM and featured the vocals of US Soul singer Aloe Blacc. The song was No: 1 in nine countries. He released his first album ‘True’ which featured the hit song. The same album spawned the EDM/bluegrass hit ‘Hey Brother’ featuring vocals of US bluegrass singer Dan Timynski. The track was a chart topper across six countries. ‘Addicted To You’ featuring folk rock singer Audra Mae was top in eight countries. In 2016 as his medical issues worsened Avicii retired from touring and set about studio work. His last EP ‘Avicii (01)’ containing six tracks was released in August 2017. His last chart hit ‘Lonely Together’ featuring Rita Ora in 2017 peaked at No: 4 on the UK chart. The homepage on his website at the time of his death read “We all reach a point in our lives and careers where we understand what matters the most to us”.
Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa have scored the biggest No: 1 song on the UK singles chart of 2018 with ‘One Kiss’ which advanced two notches to oust Drake’s ‘Nice For What’. ‘One Kiss’ pushed 70,000 units combining 7.1 million streams and 22,000 downloads. The song is jointly penned by Harris under his actual name Adam Wiles with Dua Lipa and Jessie Reyez. ‘One Kiss’ is the ninth UK chart topping hit on home ground while he had an additional two as a featured artist. For Dua Lipa it’s her second UK No: 1 song.
Drake is to release his new album mostly likely to be titled ‘Scorpion’ in June. The 31 year old hip hop star took to social media posing in a jacket with the “Scorpion” on the back. His recent hit song ‘Nice For What’ will be featured on what will be Drake’s fifth album.
Ariande Grande has released ‘No Tears Left To Cry’. The video features a working bee at the end as a tribute to the city of Manchester. The dance pop track has a punchy baseline.
TW LW
1 3 One Kiss – Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa 
2 1 Nice For What – Drake
3 2 Freaky Friday – Lil Dicky ft: Chris Brown
4 5 Paradise – George Ezra
5 4 These Days – Rudimental ft: Jess Glynne & Macklemore
6 6 Friends – Marshmello & Anne – Marie
7 9 Lullaby – Sigala & Paloma Faith
8 8 Feel It Still – Portugal. The Man
9 10 Psycho – Post Malone ft: Dolla $ign
10 7 This Is Me – Keale Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble