Avicii’s new song ‘SOS (Feat. Aloe Blacc)’ is out now. The first track to be released from the upcoming album TIM is a sleek and modern song, built on Aloe Blacc’s soaring voice and brightly layered pop production from Tim Bergling, Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark.
When Tim died in Oman on April 20, 2018, the music was 90 percent ready. “Afterwards, finishing them was… I just got paralysed by talking about it but everything was about completing Tim’s vision” says Fogelmark.
Through the program Fruity Loops, Albin and Kristoffer were able to track and preserve Tim’s exact keystrokes. “He had a completely different way of playing piano and keyboard“, says Nedler. “As a result his fingers would sometimes strike an unusual key, which added to his unique sound“.
In the personal notes recovered after his passing, Tim wrote that he wanted to work with Aloe Blacc, the vocalist on his previous hit ‘Wake Me Up’. This prompted Albin and Kristoffer to invite Aloe in to work on the song.
Talking about this, Aloe explains:
“I feel like SOS was a song that was probably ahead of its time for when he wrote it. He wrote these lyrics obviously about some of his battles and I think it’s a really important topic to approach and to share, especially with his visibility and his access to ears and hearts. To give people the words to be able to say ‘I need help‘.
Avicii’s new album TIM will be released on June 6. Avicii’s net proceeds from the album will go to the non-profit Tim Bergling Foundation and the purposes it will work for, among other things, to prevent mental illness and suicide.
