Music
I Need A Dollar star and Avicii sidekick Aloe Blacc performs The Man live with an orchestra.
Soul man, RBMA graduate (Melbourne, 2006) and former Stones Throw artist Aloe Blacc had a massive hit in 2013 with his appearance on Avicii's barn-rocking Wake Me Up, which was possibly the world’s first-ever country-EDM song.
Now Blacc is back doing his own thing. His third album – his first on a major label – Lift Your Spirit (XIX Recordings/Interscope) is out on March 11 (US) and April 7 (UK). As well as the song he recorded with Pharrell Williams, (Love Is The Answer), Blacc’s big-selling US single, The Man, is on it.
And now you can try out a new version of that mega hit. The soul singer performed The Man last week at the Red Bull Studios Los Angeles with a full chamber orchestra led by Geoff “Double G” Gallegos, and an African dance troupe. Director Kyle Salazar shot the video in one take.
“I want to remind people that music is made by human beings and instruments,” says Blacc, who plays Coachella on April 11 and 18, before touring the US with Bruno Mars. “At the root of it all are blood sweat and tears behind songs. Not just zeros and ones.”
He also told Billboard that life as a major label artist is actually pretty sweet. “It feels like a whole new existence. Before, as an indie artist, I would just make songs in my bedroom. I have hundreds of songs sitting in my hard drive that will never see the light of day. But now, I can think of an idea and know that it will reach people in a few months.”
A special recording of The Man in the Red Bull Studio Los Angeles is available for free download right here.
Go behind the scenes in the player below.
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