Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello has revealed that the group have decided to “scrap” their second studio album.
Angello made the revelation during a filmed interview with Billboard promoting his recent solo single, ‘Hooligans’, which came out October 25.
When asked if the trio would release a follow-up album to 2022’s ‘Paradise Again’, Angello laughed and explained: “We had an album, we scrapped it, and we put out singles”.
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Rumours of a new album sparked in July 2023 when Swedish House Mafia played Tomorrowland, and introduced their track ‘Ray Of Solar’ by saying: “This is coming on an album we’re dropping later this summer.”
Explaining why the album was abandoned, Angello said: “We are still always working on music and when we feel like [what we have] is good enough, we will put it out. As a creator, if you’re not feeling something, it’s not going to see daylight.”
Since their performance at Tomorrowland, which marked the group’s first time playing together in 12 years, Swedish House Mafia have dropped two new singles – ‘Lioness’ featuring Niki & The Dove, and ‘Finally’, a cover of Kings Of Tomorrow and Julie McKnight’s house classic, in collaboration with Alicia Keys.
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In the interview, Angello reassures fans that, despite the scrapped album, “there’s always a lot coming”. He explained: “We’ve made so much music in the past couple of years, so we’re just going to have this flow of putting out records.”
The group have also been busy performing together over summer, taking over a six-week residency at Ibiza’s Ushuaïa, and playing at Romania’s UNTOLD Festival and Norway’s Findings Festival.
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Announcing his latest track ‘Hooligans’ on Instagram, Angello said: “I started it a couple of days before Coachella because I needed something special for my set. I loved it so much that I spent some time this summer playing it and tweaking it and it is finally out now!”
In his interview with Billboard, Angello talks more about the single’s creation, explaining: “I needed that old ravey energy of the hoover sound, so it was made for the show to get an effect. The vocals were chopped up especially for the live show.”
He also spoke about Swedish House Mafia’s hit single ‘Don’t You Worry Child’, the evolution of EDM, his collaboration with The Weeknd, and the vision behind his Size record label. Watch the full interview below.
[Via Billboard]
Meena Sears is Mixmag’s Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram