“He Changed My Life”: Aloe Blacc Remembers Avicii, Plays Unreleased Collabs
Since Avicii’s tragic death in 2018, the music industry has been abuzz with not only a newfound focus on artist mental health, but also speculation surrounding the legendary artist’s unreleased library. Aloe Blacc, Avicii’s longtime friend and creative collaborator, recently gave fans the scoop on this storied discography during an annual tribute to the late producer on Instagram Live. Watch it in full here.
The hourlong chat took place on April 20th, three years to the day of Avicii’s death. “Rather than be a day of mourning, I think we should honor the day in the way that Tim made an impression on our lives, which was to celebrate life—celebrate life with music,” Blacc reflected.
Billboard reports that Blacc kicked off the tribute with an anecdote about the unreleased song “Black and Blue,” which he performed during Avicii’s famed performance at Ultra in 2013. “We kind of just performed live music at an EDM festival, which was extremely daring and a huge risk,” Blacc remembered. “[Avicii] certainly took a hit for it with a lot of the early comments that were made online, but ultimately he changed the face of EDM by doing that.”
Another track Blacc shared with the audience was the uncompleted “Please Forgive Me,” written in 2013 and intended for True, Avicii’s debut album. “For me, it was one of our best musical themes,” he said. “It was really dark, the music.”
Blacc closed out the listening portion of the livestream with a clip of “I Wanna Be Free,” an upbeat, funk-infused collaboration between him, Avicii, and Nile Rodgers. Fans may recognize the tune from leaked audio files floating around the web.
While Blacc himself is able to share this unreleased music, he disclosed that it is unclear if these tracks will ever see the light of day as official releases. Her discussed interest in this endeavor during a March interview, but the final call is ultimately in the hands of Avicii’s estate holders, he noted.
Even so, it appears his opinion on the matter may have changed: “Everyone feels that without Tim here to finish the song in the way he was going to finish it, it’s not going to be an Avicii track,” Blacc said during the stream.
Watch the full tribute below.
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