Monday Choon: Avicii - SOS feat. Aloe Blacc

This Saturday marks a year since the world lost Tim Bergling, otherwise known as Avicii. His rise to stardom in the electronic music world was truly remarkable, as a young kid at the time producing hit after hit, then going on to collaborate with some of the biggest names of the industry did his career no harm. Tim wasn't afraid to push the boundaries and he did that on the biggest stage of the world when he switched his style up and credit to him, it proved to be a success. It's as if he could do no wrong but the pressures of the industry got to him in the end and he sadly could take no more. Almost a year after his passing, his family decided that the world needed to hear his unreleased music, he was in the process of finishing another album before his passing and with the help of fellow artists and friends they managed to achieve this. The first track of the album entitled "SOS" was released last week and features Aloe Blacc on the vocals. Given the circumstances of his death, the lyrics to the song are almost like a story he wants to tell the world, it touches the heart listening to the song and reading the fan memories which are included in the music video. The sounds are uniquely Avicii and while the mellow beat of this track suits it well. The world looks forward to see what else this immensely talented artist had lined up for us.

Lights out and away we go!

This was suppose to be a happy post, seeing that the Formula One season kicks off this weekend in Melbourne but we start the blog on a somber note. A legend of the sport, and FIA Race Director for the past 22 years,  Charlie Whiting sadly passed on this week. He joined the Federation in 1988 and has been integral in not only the success of the sport but also in keeping the needs of the drivers his number one priority during his time. Every single driver, past and present have been giving their heart felt thoughts about Charlie since his passing and this can only show the character of the man he was. We as the fans and public won't really know much about the behind the scenes when it comes to driver briefings, and race management but Charlie ensured that this remained smooth sailing for everyone. He will be missed by one and all in the F1 world. 

Back to the racing, Winter testing normally gives us an indication on which teams to look out for in the season to come and there were no surprises with Ferrari and Mercedes on top of the time charts again, with Red Bull now powered by a Honda engine, not too far behind. Overall it was Ferrari that were the fastest in Spain but if we learnt anything from Winter testing, is to not take these results for granted as come race weekend, given the conditions and strategies, a lot can change. With FP1 and FP2 just being completed at Melbourne, its Merc who showing good pace down under with Ferrari playing catch up. It will be interesting to see what happens during qualifying tomorrow. 

They've been many changes in teams this season with some drivers swapping teams, swapping seats but for the current constructors champions it all remains pretty much the same for them. World Champion Lewis still heads up the driver line-up with Valteri Bottas being the number 2. It was interesting as to how last season started with Toto giving both drivers free reign to compete with each other but obviously to keep the team in mind when doing so but ultimately it was Lewis who forced his way up the points tally which meant Valteri had to bow down for the rest of the season and allow his team mate to compete and win the Championship in the end. So not sure if the team will adopt the same approach again this season or if the 4 times world champions will have a say in how things go down on race day. 

Ferrari, the darling of the sport really need to get some silverware as it's been a good few years without any and I'm sure the powers at be in Maranello have set targets for the team. There has been change at Ferrari, coming from the top with Mattia Binotto taking over the position from Maurizo Arrivabene, interesting move from the Italians and a strategic one at that. There is a change in driver as well with Kimi Raikkonen departing for their sister team. Alfa Romeo Sauber and see's their driver Charles Leclerc come across to partner Sebastian Vettel. Vettel showed good promise at the beginning of last season as he mounted a substantial challenge to Lewis but after some costly errors by him and the team midway through the season saw his challenge disappear. He seems pretty confident about the car this year around and also gave it a name "Lena", with newbie Leclerc along side him, it will be one to watch how their relationship develops over the season. 

Red Bull are still that one team everyone knows not to forget about, Christian Horner still has his work cut out for him this season with a new driver pairing of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, lets hope he wont have to deal with as much of the friction there was when Daniel Ricciardo was there. It was no secret that Max and Dan didn't see eye to eye, especially on the race track, none so evident that the race in Baku when the pair collided on the straight. Max still remains RBR's number one drive but he has to prove his worth this year round, some costly errors made him still look immature last season and with now reliability a thing of the past with the new engine suppliers, we hope he will be making things extra exciting on the top of the grid. 

Other notable changes, as mentioned before see's Kimi join Alfa Romeo Sauber. It's always great to have the charismatic Fin in F1, his charm is one the reasons we like to see him on the podium and many like to see him at the drivers gala dinner at the year end so lets hope he scores some decent points this year. Another happy note see's the return of Robert Kubica to the Williams seat, after his leg break it was hard to see Robert's return to the sport happen but he proved everyone wrong and hopefully can fly the flag high for Williams Racing again. With the first race in Australia, we can't forget about the ever smiling Daniel Ricciardo, after a difficult year at Red Bull, he was pretty open after he signed a deal with Renault about his time at his former team, he said he felt no love for him there and hopefully the French will show him a lot of it. Winning his home race will be a stretch but lets hope we see him in the top 6 at least. 

With some new rules being thrown into the mix as well as changes to the cars, this years Formula One season is bound to be another nail biter, even more so than last year. The FIA have now decided to award points to the person who does the fastest lap on race day, so you'll be seeing many gunning to achieve that. This is a tricky one with most teams choosing to look after their engines towards the end of the race but this being optimal time to get those fast laps in, it will be interesting to see who is willing to take the risk for that extra point. I can't wait to see who crosses that checkered flag on Sunday but if the past few races are anything to go by, don't be surprised to see that red car going through first. 

Monday Choon: Avicii Remembered

Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii sadly passed away last Friday, he was found dead in his hotel room in Muscat, Oman. He was just 28 years old and had already accomplished so much in his short time on earth. The Swedish producer come DJ was a cult legend in the EDM world, he was fearless, bold and always pushed the boundaries in an industry where many chose to be comfortable in a set style they had. My first recollection of his music came in 2010, back when people still watched MTV, they had a Dance Floor Chart every Friday night, I used to watch it religiously. While they only featured 10 tracks a week, it was the top 10 at the time, and an unknown artist was featured as a new entry, Tim Berg - Seek Bromance. If you think the title of the track was odd, watch the music video and be even more perplexed, but back then all music videos were a bit weird but the music was ace. It was a time where EDM was just known as Dance music and there was no division over genre's. This track was epic though, something that was different to what everyone else was making, a new sound, a great beat which was catchy and hence got him quite high up the charts very quickly

. 

In 2011 the world was introduced to Avicii, Tim at the time had many stage names but this one seemed to have stuck and with it he released possibly one of his greatest tracks ever. He himself knew he had a brilliant creation but I don't think he could have fathomed how much of an impact that song would have had worldwide, the song was Levels. That song elevated him into instant stardom, he was 22 years old and already getting bookings all over the world. He toured South Africa in March of 2012 and I was very fortunate to have seen him play live, in his prime at the Wavehouse in Gateway. He played Levels 3 times that night but I don't think anyone cared, he had us going and we were loving it. I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play his New Generation Mix of Nadia Ali's hit track, Rapture at the show. It was also released about the same time as Levels and still to this day I rate as one of the best remixed tracks made. 

Avicii's tour to South Africa came a week just after he killed Ultra Miami in 2012, if anything was an indication of how big these Swedish talent was, it was that festival. At the time he collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, let a lone electronic music. He had made songs with Lenny Kravitz, Alesso, Nicky Romero and even Madonna! He got Madonna to Ultra Miami in 2012. The production team behind the event said it was the biggest star they've had at the festival and I'm sure still is that way. While his track with Madonna "Girl Gone Wild" was pretty epic, his track with Lenny Kravitz, "Super Love" was everything at the time and even featured on the Ultra Miami Aftermovie. 

Many lauded his bold approach at trying new things with his music. As mentioned, he didn't conform himself to one set style, while his music was easily identifiable he always liked to mix around with other genre's and see how he could adapt that to his music. Hence in 2013 at Ultra Miami, he shocked the whole EDM world, when his set began with an unplugged version of "Wake Me Up", the crowd was left a bit dumbfounded, as this was the first time we've heard the track and it wasn't anything remotely close to dance music. It was more Country Western, I still recall listening to the podcast and wondered if someone was playing a prank and uploaded something from Tim McGraw. I loath country music so for me, that set was a write-off. I thought to myself, how can someone blow peoples minds the one year, then go and do that the next year? Many felt the same but slowly as the year went on, people realised there was a deeper meaning to his music. I still wasn't a fan though.

Over the next few years, he spent a lot of time touring, while still working on new music. His music hit a high commercial level where almost every radio station was playing it, more so than clubs. Had he succumbed to the commercial Devil? Whereby he made music just for the airplay and money instead of making it for the sheer joy and enjoyment? It's a bit of a harsh comment, I know but it sure felt that way but it wasn't. If you just have a look at all the music he made, it followed a pattern and this was just one of the phases of that pattern. Slowly in 2017 a new sound was transitioning from him, when he released the track "Without You", I heard it on a podcast from another famous DJ, I instantly took a liking to it, it came as a nice surprise to see Avicii on the artist profile. Maybe it's just from my age, that the maturity of the song appealed to me but I was very happy to have Avicii back on my playlist. 

One of his last song's he made that still features on my play list is a collaboration he did with Rita Ora, again just shows you the pull he had with working from artists outside the EDM sphere. It was more Pop than EDM but again, it had the unmistakable Avicii signature to it, you could feel that he was onto something great. His management have come out and said that there was an album he was working on, which was almost complete, so lets hope they somehow get to finish it and let the world celebrate his last achievement. Thank you Avicii, for your music and your legacy that you leave behind.