◢ ◤ The Avicii Discography Rate ◢ ◤ WINNER!

Mina

Mina

ohnostalgia said:
Giving Levels a 4...... tsk. I actually love it because there are barely any lyrics and you’re just waiting and waiting for that “ahhh sometimes I get a good feeling” to sweep you away. Kind of like life.
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I've just never liked it! Wake Me Up is what made me an Avicii fan.

But given that my score knocked Levels out of the running, will you be happy or angry at me when you see the final result?
 
Mina

Mina

Empty Shoebox said:
Now, there is a difference of two in my scores for these last songs. I wonder if that will prove significant.
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Well, since Levels was 3.4 points shy of the #1 spot, the difference between #1 and #2 was smaller than that!

Robsolete said:
Considering I like you, I'll allow you to go as low as a 9. Any lower than that would be a struggle though.
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Hmm. Interesting.
 
WowWowWowWow

WowWowWowWow

he/him
I really enjoyed spending time with everyone. I’m heading into witness protection now. Make sure my DVDs all find good homes.

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Mina

Mina

It’s time for the grand finale.











In one corner of the ring, we have Wake Me Up, arguably Avicii’s best known and most commercially successful song. While Levels may have been Avicii’s breakthrough in the EDM world, Wake Me Up was undoubtedly a career-defining moment that saw Avicii gain recognition in the mainstream music world.


















In the other corner of the ring, we have Lonely Together, Avicii’s final single at the end of his career. And what a creative career it was - as we’ve seen in the course of this rate, Avicii kept changing up (or abandoning altogether) formulas that had previously been successful to keep his releases sounding fresh and innovative, and Lonely Together is no exception.


















So which one gets the gold?




























In the end, it came down to a tiny 1.7 point difference between #1 and #2. The leaderboard kept flipping between these two in the final day of voting.



























I don’t know how often this happens with PJ rates, but this was one in which the 11s dictated the outcome.




















We have four 11s left in play, and they belong to:

@SuperNerd
@Robsolete
@Raichu
@ohnostalgia

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@Robsolete and @ohnostalgia have made it exceedingly obvious that they both 11ed Rita, but @Raichu and @SuperNerd have both kept their allegiances close to the vest.
































@Raichu 11ed Wake Me Up.






























And @SuperNerd …...

















SuperNerd said:
@Mina I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think my 11 is going to win this.
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was correct!























































#2
Wake Me Up!
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Average: 9.005
Standard Deviation: 1.389
Total Points: 198.10
Points Away from #1: 1.70 (!!!)
High Scorers: 11x1 (@Raichu), 10x9 (@Sprockrooster, @Eric, @Robsolete, @LiK, @Filippa, @ohnostalgia, @Blond, @phily693, @Mina), 9.5x1 (@berserkboi), 9x4 (@londonrain, @Petit nain des Îles, @SuperNerd, @Oleander)
Low Scorers: 5x1 (@OspreyQueen), 6.6x1 (@Untouchable Ace)​

As I previously highlighted, True's first single Wake Me Up was written by a team of people you’d never think would end up in the same room. Alongside Avicii and the song’s performer, American singer/songwriter of "I Need a Dollar” fame, Aloe Blacc, writing credits were also given to country songstress Lee Ann Womack of I Hope You Dance fame, Aileen Quinn who played the titular character of the 1982 Annie movie, Mike Einziger of the rock band Incubus, and others. Avicii gave an interview describing the creation of this track:

Avicii told me: “I had a demo with Mac Davis singing, the guy who wrote all the Elvis Presley stuff, but I needed another singer to do the parts.

“At the same time I was tipped off about doing another track with Aloe Blacc and I started working on that track.

“When I was with Mike Einziger from Incubus, we came up with the chord progression and the melody for Wake Me Up but no real lyrics.

“None of us sing and we really needed to get that demo down and the only person I knew that lived in LA was Aloe, so I called him and he was free. Lyrics come really easy to him so he wrote them in a couple of hours and we finished the track.”
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The song itself is classified as “folktronica,” an interesting fusion of EDM and country/bluegrass and soul music. The lyrics - some of my favorite in Avicii’s whole discography - speak to being young and unsure of what the future holds.

The song itself was a worldwide hit - #1 on the UK singles chart for 3 weeks with a total of 72 weeks in the top 100 and a 3x platinum certification, #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and a 6x platinum certification, and many other chart accolades in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Wake Me Up received both a lyric video and music video to promote its release, linked below. The music video has netted over 1.5 billion views - quite impressive!

Aloe Blacc later released his own version of Wake Me Up to minor chart success in Europe; it was also included on his 2013 album Lift Your Spirit. He released his own poignant music video for the track, on the topic of immigration and immigration rights, starring real life immigrant activists.

Wake Me Up was THE song that made me an Avicii fan and definitely in my top 3 all-time favorite Avicii songs in contention for my 11. I’m so thrilled that it got your 11, @Raichu! Here’s what @Raichu had to say:

@Raichu (11) - It always makes me feel special to pick atypical 11s, but I’m going to have to be predictable with this one. Wake Me Up is unquestionably Avicii’s greatest song. It is countryfied EDM at its most evocative and beautiful. The superb lyrics feel kinda devastating in light of his death, but the stunning melody and Aloe Blac’s gorgeous vocals will always keep me coming back. A friend of mine said that this accidentally became one of the greatest country songs ever and I couldn’t agree more.

With a few exceptions, most of you were fans of this track!

@OspreyQueen (5) Could never really get into this one to be honest. It still just sounds like a country song with an EDM drop wedged in. He got way better at blending genres later in his career.

@Untouchable Ace (6.6) - I'm not attached to this as it never clicked with me.

@Empty Shoebox (8) - I don't think the guitars really add anything here, but if you took them away, what would you have instead?

@WowWowWowWow (8) - 639 million streams don't lie! Probably suffered the most from overexposure of the songs here.

@Petit nain des Îles (9) - I thought this one would be tricky to rate, as it was overplayed to death at the time, but I've grown to love it again with fresh ears. The melody in the chorus must simply be one of the most definable ones of this decade. I remember how inescapable it was when I graduated from high school, and when I think about it, it felt like a celebration of this era of my life. It also reintroduced me to Aloe Blacc... who I haven't heard of in a while.

@londonrain (9) - I quite like this song but never want to hear it again.

@berserkboi (9.5) - A classic!

@Sprockrooster (10) - Timeless.

@Eric (10) - The blend of country and EDM works perfectly, and it works brilliantly as a singalong or dance track.

@Blond (10) I loved Aloe Blacc before this song, in fact I was obsessed with his album Good Things and I still think he has one of the best male voices around. This was basically all I listened to in the summer of 2013. I live in Spain and it was absolutely huge here, and it’s one of those songs that you’d hear on the radio or blasting from someone’s car and it’d make you excited to go out that night. I have so many amazing memories of this song and it almost got my 11.

@Filippa (10) - This was the song that got me into Avicii. I simply love it. The song is incredible, so fresh and yet somehow old-fashioned.

@LiK (10) - Great Vocals, Lyrics, Melodies and production. Honestly what's not to love about this? I'm getting my life to it as I type this.

@phily693 (10) - This is one of those songs that the first time you heard it, you knew it was going to be massive and completely inescapable. The day it leaked, I basically played it to everyone I knew or would hear me out and everyone had the same "Holy fucking shit!" reaction. Country/folk and dance music? And it works? He deserved all the praise he got for this and for how he changed the game.


Music Video



Making of the Video Featurette:



Lyric Video:



Aloe Blacc’s Wake Me Up Music Video:



Aloe Blacc’s Acoustic Live Version:




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Mina

Mina

And now, our winner!






































#1
Lonely Together
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Average: 9.082
Standard Deviation: 1.412
Total Points: 199.80
High Scorers: 11x3 (@Robsolete, @ohnostalgia, @SuperNerd), 10x5 (@HarryEzra, @Eric, @Filippa, @phily693, @AshtrayHeart), 9.7x1 (@berserkboi), 9.5x1 (@LiK), 9.1x1 (@Untouchable Ace), 9x5 (@Remyky22, @Sprockrooster, @Blond, @Petit nain des Îles, @Mina)
Low Scorers: 6x2 (@WowWowWowWow, @Empty Shoebox), 7x1 (@Oleander)​

Lonely Together was the last official single release of Avicii’s career. It was the second single released from the Avīci (01) EP and featured (credited!) vocals by UK singer and PJ on-again-off-again icon Rita Ora. The song was written by Avicii with a cadre of hitmakers, including Grammy winning songwriter Benny Blanco (Moves Like Jagger, Starboy), Ali Tamposi (Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger), Brian Lee (Havana), and Cashmere Cat. Lyrically, the song speaks to being in the moment with someone and worrying about the consequences later. Musically, it showcased yet another facet of Avicii's repertoire in evolving the progressive house sound through synths and catchy beats. It’s amazing to think that in just under 10 years, Avicii went from being a teenager posting his homemade EDM instrumental tracks on a random internet forum to becoming one of the genre’s major influencers, and the artist most responsible for bringing progressive house to the masses through his many career hits and collaborations.

Rita debuted the single in July 2017, and its official release followed in August 2017. The song was promoted with lyric video in August and a music video featuring Rita.

Lonely Together achieved a good deal of commercial success, peaking at #1 in Scotland, #4 on the UK singles chart (platinum certification), and also achieving platinum certifications in Canada and Italy.

This song tied for the most 11s of the rate with 3, but none of our 11-givers prewrote commentary for me. Perhaps they’d like to share their thoughts below?

Among the rest of you, there were a few lukewarm remarks:

@WowWowWowWow (6) - I want more energy here!

@Empty Shoebox (6) - I think I've heard this too many times. I have no desire to hear it again. I'm no big fan of Kia Ora and I don't think I ever will be.

But everything else was positive!

@londonrain (8) - Points for that chorus.

@OspreyQueen (8) - The effect on Rita’s vocals that makes it sound like she’s singing from another room is a little off putting, but other than that it’s really good.

@Raichu (8.5) - A great song slightly compromised by awful vocal production. I don’t understand why he felt the need to put all those effects on Rita’s voice. Otherwise, I love the melody and the quasi-ethereal, nocturnal production. I suspect this will go far because all the Rita stans on PJ.

@Blond (9) - This is my second favourite thing Rita has ever done after I Will Never Let You Down. I love the lyrics and it’s cool to hear a different side of her vocals. So many DJ/ female popstar collabs in recent years have been lacklustre or seemingly thrown together to appease Spotify listeners, but this is a really great song.

@Sprockrooster (9) - I adore this title. Having a boyfriend as a steward which means he is away a lot and then we miss each other and perhaps feel a bit lonely. But we feel lonely together and have that. Amazing.

@Untouchable Ace (9.1) - Can someone explain FIRO to me please?

@LiK (9.5) - Issa Bop! Great vocals, great production... seriously why wasn't this anthem a bigger smash?

@berserkboi (9.7) - Gorgeous, just not quite in my top 5 tracks here!

@Eric (10) - An earworm, so catchy!

@phily693 (10) - I don't really like Rita but this song is a total gem. She doesn't even sound like herself on this.

@Filippa (10) - Haven’t we all been there? Putting tomorrow out of the mind to indulge in a very doubtful pleasure? I really like Rita’s soft vocals here.


Official Music Video:



Lyric Video:



Acoustic Version:



A lovely tribute performance by Rita after Avicii’s passing (previously shared by @Sprockrooster):


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