Watch Aloe Blacc Sing ‘Wake Me Up’ in Three Languages to Honor Fourth Anniversary of Avicii’s Death
Four years ago Wednesday (April 20), Avicii died suddenly at age 28, shocking the global dance scene, the producer’s millions of fans, scores of collaborators and the world at large.
On the fourth anniversary of the superstar producer’s death, one of his best known collaborators, Aloe Blacc, has paid tribute to the artist born Tim Bergling by recording his own vocals from the Avicii hit “Wake Me Up” in Mandarin and Spanish.
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Blacc, whose lyrics and vocal performance helped make “Wake Me Up” a global megahit and one of the most enduring songs from the Avicii catalog, posted his “Universal Language Mix” to YouTube, writing that “Avicii’s music touched the world. Writing the lyrics and recording the vocals on ‘Wake Me Up’ was a transformative experience for me. Everywhere I’ve been, no matter the country, music lovers and fans sing the lyrics with me in English.”
“In honor of Avicii and with the help of Metaphysic.ai and Respeecher.com,” Blacc continues, “I present a very special international version of ‘Wake Me Up’ in multiple languages.” Metaphysic.ai is a Web3 content company, while Respeecher applies AI to make one person speak in the voice of another specific person. Watch the video below.
Famously debuting to boos at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival 2013, “Wake Me Up” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and finished at No. 13 on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 songs chart in 2013. “Wake Me Up” also held the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart with 26 weeks, until that record was broken by The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,” featuring Halsey, which logged 27 weeks at No. 1.
Other dance figures also paid tribute to Avicii on Wednesday, with David Guetta sharing a home video of Bergling and writing “4 years ago already, we all miss you very much.” Timmy Trumpet shared a video of himself playing Avicii’s “S.O.S.” at Tomorrowland, writing “Music is eternal. RIP Avicii forever in our hearts,” while Beatport wrote that “Four years ago today we lost a true icon of the dance music world, Avicii. His music continues a lasting legacy.”
“He just frickin’ had the songwriting, and his mixes are so good,” Diplo also recently told Billboard of Avicii. “It took me a lot longer to appreciate him more. He passed away so young and only had this window of like, four years — but he was really a big influence on me. He was just a sick songwriter, and mainstream as hell, but the songs are classics. They weren’t sell outs. He made bangers.”
