Making 2020 a Better Year with Kygo’s Golden Hour
Text by Parashie Sidhwani
2020 has clearly been a bumpy road for all of us. From the death of Kobe Bryant to the spread of the coronavirus and the killing of George Floyd, all of us have been put in an extremely tough position in life, however, in order to get through it, it is important for us to be happy, to be soulful, to be free and this can easily be instigated by Kygo’s new album, the Golden Hour.
For those of you’ll that haven’t heard of Kygo (Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll), he is a 28-year-old Norwegian DJ who continually works with the genre of tropical house. He’s released four albums till date, Cloud Nine, Kids in Love, and as mentioned before, his most recent one being Golden Hour.
His newest album is based on the concept of golden hour photography where the aesthetics are based on sunsets, sunrises, and the colour gold. This can be easily recognized through the cover of the album, where Kygo’s face’s outline is filled with an image of what looks like either a sunset or a sunrise with palm trees, which is also an essential feature of golden hour photography.
So how has he resonated his music, keeping in mind the theme? Well, this is one of the most mesmerizing aspects of his album because each and every single song that is part of the album drives you away from your current state of mind and places you on a beach, where your sun-kissed by the blazing star during this magic hour with the palm trees gently swaying side to side and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Once again, Kygo has proved that he is the king of tropical house. He is back with full force after releasing his previous hit album, Kids in Love, three years ago.
Coming to one of the most iconic songs of his album, “Higher Love”. “Higher Love” is a collaboration Kygo did with the one and only, Whitney Houston. Kygo usually works with a lot of undiscovered artists, but this time he decided to spice it up even more. With Houston’s high range to Kygo’s fabulous production, “Higher Love” is a track that stands out from the rest of the songs in the album.
Out of the several other tracks from the newer artists, some of the other songs that really make the mark is the country-inspired “Someday” and the pop-inspired “Lose Somebody”. Both these tracks carry the weight of this album owing to its extremely catch melody Kygo has used in the chorus. Brown’s song, “Someday” is a true gem both because of the vocals and the excellent tropical vibe while on the other hand, OneRepublic’s “Lose Somebody” stands out because of the extremely relatable journey of losing someone which has been narrated in a beautiful way.
Apart from the top songs of this album, there is certainly a lot more exploring that has to be done. “The Truth”, sung by Phildaephian Valeria Broussard also deserves a big round of applause because of how Kygo has matched the whole vibe of the album to such meaningful lyrics. This song certainly does grab one’s attention because of the narration of such a relatable problem in so many young-adults and adults’ lives, moving on from a loved one.
Next, we have another recognizable artist, Sandro Cavazza, who will send goosebumps down your spine because of his amazing vocals. Kygo and Sandro Cavazza also had another popular single before they released “Beautiful” (which is part of the Golden Hour album) known as “Happy Now”. Both their songs take the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride because of the pure emotion that Cavazza brings through his vocals and the emotion Kygo brings through his music.
Golden Hour brings a variety of styles together such as rap stylings to dancefloor-ready tracks. Kygo has clearly made his way. This is arguably the most genre-defining album he has released yet, giving him a fresh look, but at the same time, keeping him grounded to his roots. This is the album all his fans have been waiting for, it’s perfection, it’s class, it’s a vibe, all coming together to fulfil the quenching thirst of all the Kygo fans around the world.
Even though the world is incomplete chaos right now, we have Kygo who makes everything seem perfect and shines upon us a glimmer of hope. Here’s to one of the best albums released in 2o2o, Golden Hour!
About our writing program student:
Contributor: Parashie Sidhwani
About our Writing Program Student
Parashie Sidhwani is a Grade 9 student at Oberoi International School, Mumbai. She is greatly passionate about tennis, art, piano, and writing. Although she dreamt of being an astronaut at NASA, she wishes to pursue journalism or architecture in the future.
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