(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The Grammy-winning DJ-producer says his sixth album Listen is more emotional compared to past songs like the upbeat Sexy Chick with Akon and the explosive Where Them Girls At.
Photo: AP
David Guetta says he wants his new music to make you dance. That’s no surprise but he’s also hoping to make you cry a little.
The Grammy-winning DJ-producer says his sixth album Listen is more emotional compared to past songs like the upbeat Sexy Chick with Akon and the explosive Where Them Girls At.
“(My last album) Nothing But The Beat ... was all about like dancing and partying and being sexy you know and this is a little deeper” he said in a recent interview. “It is of course an album that makes you want to dance because I’m a DJ first and I’m a positive person but it’s a little more - my life was not so much a party lately. It was harder on a personal level and I think you can feel it in the album actually.
“Yes I want people to dance but they can dance with tears in their eyes. It’s possible.”
Listen the French hitmaker’s first album in three years debuted at No. 22 and No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 and Dance/Electronic albums charts last week. He said that writing and producing songs about his own emotions was therapeutic.
“When you have a problem if you keep it to yourself it makes you go crazy. If you speak about it you feel better. So if you make a song about it it really helps” he said. “And I’m very happy now.”
The album features some of Guetta’s usual suspects: Turn Me On collaborator Nicki Minaj appears on the song Hey Mama while Sia who worked with Guetta on the successful Titanium lends her vocals to two songs.
He called the female stars “perfectionists” and said they somewhat caused delays to the release of Listen.
“I actually finished the album five times and every time it was like ‘Ugh I can do a little better’” he recalled of Listen which also features John Legend Ryan Tedder and Emeli Sande.
“And then Nicki Minaj called me and asked me for some changes. So I called the label called the factory they were pressing the record; I cancelled it.
“And the same with Sia” he continued. “We started a song together and she called me like ‘I love this song. We should really do it but I want to re-sing.’”
David Guetta Listen
(Atlantic/Parlophone)
Listen up
David Guetta has proved again and again he’s the master of the dance floor hook. The Frenchman’s sixth album Listen brings an army of reasons to support this without veering too much into club territory - from the myriad collaborators that elevate the dance tunes to a collection of well-crafted tracks to the mix and match of genres.
Dangerous starts off the record with an urgent piano that suggests the possibilities are endless while Lovers on the Sun featuring Sam Martin is an unlikely Western spaghetti dance tune that touches on post-modernist sensibilities. It’s the album’s standout track.
Sia who worked with Guetta on the massive hit Titanium does a double shift on the new album. She contributes to Bang My Head and The Whisperer and presents two faces of the same coin: techno euphoria on the one hand and piano soulfulness on the other.
The album’s chillout factor comes from three Caribbean-flavoured tracks: the catchy Lift Me Up the tongue-in-cheek yet affable No Money No Love and the dull if feasible Sun Goes Down featuring MAGIC. Nicki Minaj and Afrojack deliver a startling R&B bump and funk gem in Hey Mama and John Legend another uniquely gifted performer offers another brilliant reason to love this album - his ballad Listen wrangles both the ears and the hips into action.
Guetta may be a club kid at heart but his music has managed to grow up.