True is the debut studio album by Swedish
DJ Avicii.
It was released on 13 September 2013 through
PRMD Music and Universal Island.
True features collaborations with American
guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers, country
musician Mac Davis, Mike Einziger of American
rock band Incubus, American soul singer Aloe
Blacc, singer and songwriter Dan Tyminski
of bluegrass band Alison Krauss and Union
Station, singer and songwriter Sterling Fox,
and American singer and songwriter Adam Lambert.
Avicii said that sonically, the album would
move away from his electronic dance and house
music sound on previous records, by incorporating
elements of other genres such as country music.
True is preceded by the release of the Blacc-assisted
"Wake Me Up!" that topped several charts around
the world, and "You Make Me", which features
vocals from Swedish artist Salem Al Fakir.
The album has been commercially successful,
peaking within the top ten of at least ten
countries.
True debuted at number two in the United Kingdom
during September 2013, and has subsequently
re-peaked at number two in February 2014.
On 24 March 2014, Avicii released a remixed
version of the album, titled True.
A 2-disc edition, comprising the standard
10-track "True" alongside the remix album
was released featuring a brand new cover,
on June 2014.
Background
Swedish producer Avicii had been making music
since he began remixing and producing tracks
in his own bedroom at the age of 18.
He started life as a professional musician
in 2007, and after numerous collaborations
with other record producers and DJs, such
as John Dahlbäck and David Guetta, Avicii
reached international mainstream success with
his 2011 single "Levels", which reached the
top ten in over fifteen countries and topped
the charts in Norway, Hungary and Sweden.
Subsequent releases "Silhouettes", which charted
in eleven countries, and "I Could Be the One",
which charted in twenty-four countries, achieved
similar popularity and sales before Avicii
entered the recording studio in late 2012
to record a debut studio album to follow up
his mainstream success.
Composition
Since starting work on a studio album, Avicii
has stated on multiple occasions that the
material on the album will not be a replication
of his earlier hits like "Levels" and "Silhouettes"
but rather an experimental and more synthetic
record.
In his own words, he wanted to bring "disruption"
to the electronic dance music scene, which
he described as "half stuck".
Speaking to music magazine Billboard about
the new album, Avicii said in response to
an earlier conflict at the Ultra Music Festival
that he wanted to "bring 15 minutes of something
fresh to break [Ultra] up."
In context to the listener's reactions to
the heavy bluegrass and country music influences,
he additionally stated, "We knew people would
be provoked".
He further explained that TRUE “is about
me being true to my sound but also to my own
influences and musical preferences.
For me it will be successful if it resonates
with people – no matter how many.
It's what I stand for, so whoever loves it
loves what I love.
That's what fans are to me."
Critical reception
True received generally positive reviews.
At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out
of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics,
the album received an average score of 69,
based on seven reviews, which indicates "generally
positive reviews".
Philip Sherburne from Spin magazine gave the
album a positive review.
In his review of True, Sherburne said "Avicii
inhabits his newfound country-pop shtick so
naturally that you may wonder whether he somehow
internalized Ralph Lauren's aesthetic, or
whether 'going country' was part of the business
plan all along...
It may be a sprawling hodge-podge, but all
this works more often than you'd expect."
Rolling Stone's Caryn Ganz also gave the album
a positive review, complementing the diversity
of the guest musicians.
In her review, Ganz said "Dan Tyminski of
Union Station sings the grand Appalachian
stomper "Hey Brother," and Imagine Dragons
penned "Heart Upon My Sleeve."
True saves room for two funky disco jams featuring
banging diva vocals from Audra Mae and Adam
Lambert.
All of this proves that Avicii's new sound
is much more than a page from Moby's Play
book.
PopMatters's Francesca D'Arcy-Orga agreed,
saying that "Avicii takes his listeners on
a journey with True... it is an album that
takes one type of music and moulds it into
something completely different, allowing Avicii
to cement himself as one of the best DJs in
the world.
However, David Jeffires of Allmusic gave the
album a mixed-positive review, saying "Country
music and bluegrass keep winding their way
into the album, and while it rarely smacks
of a gimmick, these rustic numbers often evolve
into EDM around their drum machine-introducing
choruses, as if True was a remix album commission
Avicii picked up while vacationing in Appalachia.
In the end, it's an admirable and interesting
effort where the highs offset the lows, but
those with molly in hand and dancing shoes
on feet should just cool their jets and get
ready to sit a spell."
Blue Sullivan's review for Slant Magazine
only awarded the album 0.5 out of five stars,
saying that "Fans will likely write this off
as churlish hatred of pop EDM, but there are
other artists that are more than capable of
arousing genuine dance-floor thrills: Deadmau5,
Afrojack, and Kaskade are all capable of spinning
sinuously lush, sexy, and even surprising
music.
Morever, these artists' best material convincingly
conveys something Avicii's work rarely does:
a bone-deep love of this music and a palpable
desire to create art their beloved EDM ancestors
would be proud of."
Promotion
In April 2013, Avicii released a 60-minute
promotional mix of new album material on the
online audio distribution platform SoundCloud.
The mix featured several unreleased tracks
from the album like "Wake Me Up" and songs
featuring Dan Reynolds and Mac Davis, and
has been played over three million times.
According to Billboard, the album was due
for release on 17 September 2013.
Ultra Music Festival
Avicii performed at the 2013 Ultra Music Festival
on March 22, 2013, revealing nearly forty
minutes of new album material from True, to
which he received a mixed to negative response
from critics, fans and media alike.
The new material, which incorporated bluegrass
and country music elements, and included live
performances from Aloe Blacc, backed by a
banjo and kazoo, saw a negative response at
the festival, whose attendees criticized the
DJ for bringing the experimental material
to a high-profile electronic dance music festival.
Some fans and following musicians also took
to social media sites like Twitter to bash
the performance.
Dubstep/electro house musician Jake Stanczak,
better known as Kill the Noise, tweeted: "What
are the similarities and differences between
Avicii and Al Walser?
Discuss."
Producer Tommie Sunshine tweeted: "I just
listened to @Avicii's @ultramusic Festival
Main Stage set; did he jump the #EDM shark?"
However, fans and high profile musicians were
quick to support Avicii and praise his performance
at the Ultra Music Festival.
Russian producer Zedd said in response to
a negative comment about the performance,
"I only heard a couple of those country-sounding
tracks and I really liked them!"
Avicii's manager Ash Pournouri stated on Twitter:
"So proud of @Avicii set at @ultramusic.
Everyone will understand in a week.
Stay calm and keep hyping the album."
On 26 March, Avicii went on Facebook to respond
to the negative reaction to the Ultra Music
Festival performance.
He stated in an extended response, "we wanted
to make a statement, and theres really no
better place to make one than UMF mainstage.
People will soon see what it's all about.
[...] My music is open to anyone who wants
to listen to it and I will always stay true
to my sound.
Love you all who listen with open hearts and
open minds.
These past few months I've been so lucky to
have had the chance to work with so many talented
artists and to bring them there when I launch
the album was amazing and they all did an
amazing job."
True Reveal
On the 13 August 2013, Avicii premiered his
#TrueReveal project.
Avicii's management set up an experiment,
featuring a glass cube, of which was surrounded
by large speakers, and in the cube contained
the album artwork for True.
Twitter users could tweet a true meaning about
themselves using the hash-tag #TrueReveal,
and the more users who did this, the more
volume of Avicii's second single from the
album was directed at the glass cube, until
it would break, releasing the album artwork.
The experiment ended on 14 August 2013, at
3:29 PM EST.
The experiment achieved over 100,000 tweets
at 3:13, but the glass still did not break.
A crane was called in and a worker threw the
hook of the crane into the glass, breaking
it, and revealing the album cover.
Later on, the second part of True Reveal was
announced.
"Track Ambassador" is a project that aims
to make 15-second teasers on Instagram to
each song on the album.
The most voted teasers will be selected as
the official ones and the creators will be
involved in the making of the official full
music video.
The winners were revealed on 17 September
2013.
True
On February 17, 2014, manager Ash Pournouri,
confirmed through his Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram pages that Avicii is due to release
a remix edition of True, containing a remake
of all the tracks in True remixed by Avicii
himself, however, "Heart Upon My Sleeve" was
not remixed.
On February 20, it was confirmed that the
remix edition was due to be released on 24
March 2014.
Singles
"Wake Me Up" was released as the lead single
from True on 17 June 2013.
The song was first premiered on Pete Tong's
show on BBC Radio 1 on 14 June 2013.
The song, which features vocals from Aloe
Blacc, has so far charted on twenty national
singles charts, peaking at #1 in ten countries,
including the Australian ARIA Charts and the
Swedish Sverigetopplistan charts.
The song has also peaked at #4 on the Billboard
Hot 100.
"You Make Me", featuring vocals from Swedish
soul/pop singer Salem Al Fakir was revealed
as the album's second single on 16 August
2013, when it received its worldwide radio
premiere on Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 dance
music show.
The single was released in Australia and New
Zealand on August 30, 2013 and was scheduled
in the United Kingdom for September 15, 2013,
a day before the album's release in that region.
The song, so far, has charted within the top
40 in several countries including the Netherlands,
Germany, Australia and Ireland.
Notably, the single has peaked at number one
in Avicii's home country of Sweden, the top
five in the United Kingdom, and at number
44 on the Canadian Hot 100.
"Hey Brother" was serviced to radio on 9 October
2013 as the album's third single in Australia,
and on 1 October 2013 in Denmark.
On 28 October 2013, it was released as the
album's third single in Germany, Switzerland
and Austria.
It will be released to US Triple A radio on
November 18, 2013.
"Addicted to You" impacted Australian radio
on 27 November 2013 as the album's fourth
single.
"Addicted to You" had a lyric video release
on Avicii's VEVO page on the 24th of January,
2014.
"Lay Me Down" was released as the fifth single
from True; it was released to Australian radio
on 21 April 2014.
Track listing
Notes
^[a] signifies co-producer
Remix album / CD 2 of 2-Disc Edition
Personnel
Vocals
Adam Lambert
Aloe Blacc
Audra Mae
Blondfire
Dan Tyminski
Linnea Henriksson
Karen Marie Ørsted
Salem Al Fakir")
Sterling Fox
Instruments
Mac Davis – guitar
Peter Dyer – keyboards, talkbox
Mike Einziger – guitar
Nile Rodgers – guitar
Production
Tim Bergling – producer, mixer
Stuart Hawkes – mastering
Arash Pournouri – co-producer
Charts
Weekly charts
True album
True Avicii by Avicii remix album
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
