True

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The audacity it took for an EDM DJ of Avicii's profile to begin his debut studio album with a country-fried, foot-stomping anthem featuring Aloe Blacc is astounding. But “Wake Me Up” felt like Swedish mega-DJ Tim Bergling was fulfilling a promise he had made when he announced the album—that this album wasn't just going to be a replication of his club anthems “Levels” and “Silhouette.” Throughout <i>True</i>, you can hear Avicii rooting around for influences outside of the club's dark confine. His search found him in odd musical lands—country, nu metal, gospel—but it was all in the pursuit of making a record that Avicii had been ruminating on for year. Not everyone was happy about it. As the legend goe, when Avicii took the stage at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami to play “Wake Me Up” for the first time live, some of the crowd was enraged by the rendition, which featured a live instrumental band and vocalist. (Blacc performed with him, as did co-writer Mike Einziger, Ben Kenney, and José Pasillas from the band Incubu.) There was a moment when it seemed like Avicii's grand experiment might go haywire, that people just wanted him to shut up and press play. .

via Apple Music

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