‘Forget The World’: Track-by-track with Afrojack
by: Dylan Farella
May 15, 2014
May 19th, the official US release date for Afrojack’s debut album is now just days away. Continuing with our second part of our one-on-one conversation, we take a walk through of the project, and Afrojack breaks down Forget The World track by track. From his big-drop smashes to his pop hits and from his out-of-the-box hip-hop collaborations to balancing and ordering the complete album, get to know Forget The World with the insights from its own creator.
Ten Feet Tall, featuring Wrabel
It comes as the second single to the opening for a reason. One of the bigger singles. Ten Feet Tall has that really catchy hook, really big drop. It’s like my personal “Don’t You Worry Child.” I’m not saying it’s as good as “Don’t You Worry Child,” just that it’s my “Don’t You Worry Child” moment.
Illuminate, featuring Matthew Koma
The cool thing about Illuminate, Matthew wrote a great song, and I did it on purpose where there’s a little line in the beginning, but then the drop is the big EDM explosion. I still think that even though it’s another main stream track it still represents my sound — and it’s one of my favorites.
Born To Run, featuring Tyler Glenn
This one started out with a different vocal and also a slightly different production. Daniel Werner from Def Jam had sent the instrumental to a couple of writers who came up with a different top line that was amazing. When we were looking for somebody to sing on Born To Run, we found Tyler Glenn from the band called Neon Trees. He absolutely killed it and when I got his vocals back from him it was finished right away.
Freedom, with D-Wayne, featuring Jack McManus
The Freedom track is really inspired by Avicii. It was funny a lot of people thought it was a collaboration, he actually plays it now and is supporting it fully. It’s like if Afrojack would do a track with Avicii, that’s what it would sound like, only I did it myself — kind of weird.
The Spark, featuring Spree Wilson
I hadn’t released a single since “As Your Friend,” and people know me from “Take Over Control,” “Give Me Everything,” maybe “Can’t Stop Me.” So I wanted a soft opening where the radio wouldn’t be afraid of it, main stream wouldn’t be afraid of it, and my fans would still be into it. I didn’t want to do anything that would be average. So even The Spark, even if it has the most pop-like vocals, the drop and the synth line with the sampled voice, no one had done that in that way — that’s why I think it’s cool even with it’s pop vocals.
Dynamite, featuring Snoop Dogg
To me, Dynamite with Snoop Dogg is just so changing, so different. The record isn’t trap, it isn’t hip-hop. It’s like a combination of EDM, trap, hip-hop, rap, I don’t know. Snoop is usually like “laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind,” like slow. So this is high tempo, I knew he was going to like it, when I played it for him he was like “oh my god.”
Too Wild, featuring Wiz Khalifa
The coolest thing to me about this album is I wanted to work with these people, but I wanted to do a song that you’d never hear on their album. That’s what we did with Too Wild: a really chilled-out, beach kind of track with Wiz Khalifa, for me that was lots of fun.
Three Strikes, featuring Jack McManus
I wanted to do a rock-dance track with some old school club house elements. So that’s Three Strikes. I remember seeing Slash at Ultra a couple of years ago and I thought it would be so dope if it’s mixed properly. You can’t put a live guitar player over a sound system because it would miss the bass and drop. So I wanted this to be like if you side chained everything and made it like fat, and worked the guitar in. I hope I created something that people won’t expect or haven’t heard before.
Catch Tomorrow, featuring Sting
We needed somebody who could sing on it and as soon as my friend Martin Kierszenbaum from Cherrytree Records heard the song he suggested he would play it to sting. I was like “yeah sure lets ask Obama to do an intro on the album as well,” I mean it’s Sting… Sting! So he sure did play Catch Tomorrow to Sting, and Sting liked it. We all met in the studio in New York and that was one of the best experiences of my life, sting did an amazing job on the song and he is so cool to work with, very very professional, it was an honor.
We’ll Be Okay, featuring Wrabel
Another song that Wrabel did for me, he wrote it with a bunch of writers and send me a rough sketch, I loved it right away and we started working on it. We’ll Be Okay is different and it shows another musical side of me.
Mexico, featuring Shirazi
I had already made almost everything. Shirazi came in. He also had a second verse, but I was so happy with his first verse that was the one I kept… and put it on there twice. Mexico, that was beautiful. It’s hard to understand because it’s weird and different. That’s why I put it on there, not as the last track but before the last track before the big, EDM, closing track.
Keep Our Love Alive, featuring Matthew Koma
I play this one all the time. Keep The Love Alive is such a big feeling track, with beautiful ass drop at the end. That’s my shit, like crying shit.
Do Or Die Remix, vs Thirty Seconds To Mars
I almost broke my neck over the track selection and actually ordering it. I love Do Or Die but I didn’t put it on the main album because if I did it would be too EDM. It would take away from the artist album and add more to the “EDM Guy” album. That’s why I put it on the bonus.
Join us Friday, May 16th; Dancing Astronaut and Afrojack will be hosting a Twitter Q&A at 4:30 PM PST/6:30EST PM. Stream three of the album’s standout tracks early, exclusively via Beats Music.