Sometimes you just have to roll with the selections of the random jukebox, and today it picked Wake Me Up! by Swedish DJ Tim Bergling, aka Avicii, who would have turned 30 today. He burst on the international scene as one of the hottest young artists in dance music when the exhilarating Levels was a major dance pop hit around the world in 2011.
Your skin isn‘t paper, don‘t cut it
Your face isn‘t a mask, don’t hide it
Your size isn‘t a book, don‘t judge it
Your life isn‘t a film, don‘t end it.
And then for something completely different.
Taken from his studio debut True, Wake Me Up! sported a live band, soul and R&B vocalist Aloe Blacc, and even hints of a country music influence. Although some were baffled by the new direction, the Swede soon won over his vast legions of disciples.
Wake Me Up! became a huge smash hit topping the Billboard dance and mainstream pop radio charts. It also hit the top spot in Britain, France, Australia, The Netherlands and numerous other countries around the world.
As a result, whether you care for the genre or not Avicii’s electronic innovations opened up the gates for other artists to broaden the palette of their EDM club sound.
Avicii died at age 28 on 20 April 2018, taking his own life at a suite at the Muscat Hills Resort in the Omani capital. (Freakily, I had been staying at the nearby Sheraton Oman Hotel just two weeks earlier.)
A posthumous album entitled Tim was issued in June 2019.
Gee, this life’s a funny thing.
Steve Pafford