Avicii and Aloe Blacc reunite on the new song “SOS,” the first offering from the late producer’s posthumous album, Tim, out June 6th. The song was accompanied by a music video featuring words of praise for the artist born Tim Bergling from his fans.
The track boasts a lithe pop groove made out of synths that twist and tumble atop a beat of crisp drums. Though the song features a quintessential EDM build, there’s something poignant and understated about its apex as Blacc sings, “I can feel your touch picking me up from the underground/And I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part time lovers.”
“I feel like ‘SOS’ was a song that was probably ahead of its time for when he wrote it,” Blacc said of the song in a statement. “He wrote these lyrics obviously about some of his battles and I think it’s a really important topic to approach and to share, especially with his visibility and his access to ears and hearts. To give people the words to be able to say ’I need help.’”
In a recent statement, Avicii’s team said the songs that will appear on Tim were “75 to 80 percent done” when the producer/DJ died by suicide in Muscat, Oman last April. A variety of Avicii collaborators helped complete the album, including Albin Nedler and Kristoffer Fogelmark, who worked on “SOS.”
“He had a completely different way of playing piano and keyboard,” Nedler said in a statement. “As a result his fingers would sometimes strike an unusual key, which added to his unique sound. Tim’s fingerprints are literally across the entirety of ‘SOS.’”
Nedler and Fogelmark reached out to Blacc after seeing that Avicii had written in some personal notes that he wanted to record with the singer again (the pair previously collaborated on the 2013 smash, “Wake Me Up”).
Tim will also feature contributions from Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare. Coldplay’s Chris Martin provided vocals on the leaked song, “Heaven.”