★★★☆☆
Kygo is a young and rising start in the realm of electronic dance music or EDM. As a 24 year
old it’s hard to thrive in a musical scene filled with DJs such as Avicii, Tiesto, Afrojack and
much more. However, Kygo does a fantastic job of mixing up his sounds throughout the
entire album. The first song does exactly what its titled “Intro” just demonstrates Kygo’s
ability as a DJ before adding the lyrical components to the songs. The second song, I believe
to be the best song on the album and is titled “Stole the show” with Parson James adding
the lyrical content. It is a fun song to sing along too and has a motivational factor to it as
well. Kygo follows that song up with a pair of upbeat fun, raging music titled “Fiction” and
“Raging”, with Tom Odell and Kodaline respectively. The lyrics may not play as important
of a job in these songs, but Kygo does enough with the upbeat tempo to make up for it. The
next two songs are another two of my favorites from the album and for different reasons.
The first is “Firestone” with Conrad Sewell and with its fantastic build up and a drop that is
not too harsh, the song is beautifully crafted and can easily top the charts as the summer
progresses. “Happy Birthday” with John Legend has to be one of the songs with the lyrics
being most highlighted. John legend does a phenomenal job with the vocals and it adds a
change of pace. After that a lot of the songs incorporated a more love song feel to them. It
starts off with “I’m in love” coincidentally enough, which is a slower song when compared
to the rest of the album. If you are into the lyrics of a song these songs do not do that, it’s
the small set of lyrics and sound of Kygo that makes the song amazing. “Oasis” with Foxes
as the vocals, is another love type but is more upbeat and has the type of summary sound
that has made DJs so popular over the years. Kygo slows down again with “Not Along”,
which has a very relaxed sound and a song you would play on a long road trip. “Serious”
shows something different from Kygo. He uses a mix of fast and slow sounds, but keeps a
relaxed almost acoustic feel. It’s a good song with a great feel to it. Kygo Picks it up again
with “Stay” that has the potential to be another radio banger as the summer picks up and
pool parties begin. Maty Noeys adds some good vocals that tag well with the beat and
rhythm. However, Kygo goes back to the slow sounds with “Nothing Left” and “Fragile”,
that were actually a couple of the weakest songs on the album because of how out of place
they seemed. Overall this album packed a lot of strong punches, with some scattered weak
ones. If this albums shows anything about Kygo and his potential as a DJ, its that his future
his bright. Will be reach the peaks of other top EDM DJ’s only time will tell, but it will be fun
to see what else he can whip up.