When you try to think of artists or bands out there that have the best debut albums, it’s hard to not think of Avicii’s 2013 masterpiece ‘True.’ Putting a new spin on EDM by adding in elements of country and soul was experimental to say the least, but Avicii masterfully blended the genres together creating an album that stamped his name as one of the biggest EDM artists in the world.
He had already started off the early 2010’s incredibly with one of his most iconic songs ‘Levels’ along with some other massive hits like ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Seek Bromance’ which put Avicii on the map. Despite his success with these house classics, he decided he wanted to try go in a sonically different direction and disrupt the electronic music scene with something new.
He would shock the world when he performed at Ultra Music Festival and instead of playing the usual house music, the Swedish DJ would unveil his new sound of EDM and country. This drastic change in style left a lot of people confused and the response from critics and fans was very mixed largely leaning towards negative. Although the initial response wasn’t good, both Avicii and his manager Ash Pournouri had faith in the music.
Over the coming weeks the negativity towards the new material mellowed and then it all changed when preceding the release of the full album ‘Wake Me Up’ was released. Following its release, it would go to number one in the charts in 22 different countries, became one of the songs of the summer, and has gone on to garner 2.4 million streams on Spotify. Everyone was captivated by this new style and so hype began to build for the release of the album.
‘True’ went beyond all expectations reaching number 1 on the Billboard US Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart along with going to number 1 in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Australia. The diversity on the album was incredible ranging from the house based ‘Dear Boy’ to the beautiful ballad ‘Addicted To You’ to the heavily country inspired ‘Hey Brother.’ Every track was amazingly produced and contained brilliant performances from collaborators from a variety of genres including the likes of Nile Rogers, Adam Lambert, Aloe Blacc and Imagine Dragons who co-wrote ‘Heart Upon My Sleeve.’ This track would later appear on Avicii’s posthumous album‘Tim’ where Imagine Dragons vocalist Dan Reynolds would return to provide vocals for the song.
Since its release the album has had over 4 billion streams on Spotify and is widely regarded as Avicii’s best work. ‘True’ was the perfect title for this album as it was his true vision for the music that he wanted to make. He didn’t just follow trends he made music he loved which he continued to do throughout his career which always made him stand out from the rest. Avicii was a musical genius who amazed everyone he worked with and will forever live on through his music as a true legend.
