Alan Walker

Early life

Alan Olav Walker was born on 24 August 1997, in Northampton, England, to a British father who was a baker and Norwegian mother who worked in elderly care. Walker moved to Fana, Bergen, Norway, with his family when he was two years old. As a child, he was interested in computer games, graphic design, and programming, and spent his childhood playing with Nintendo hardware and home consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube.

2012–2016: Career beginnings and breakthrough

In 2012, Walker reached out to Italian music producer DJ Ness, inquiring how he produced his music. In July 2012, Walker began making music on his laptop using FL Studio with the help of friends he met online, and released his first song, "Celebrate" on YouTube. He subsequently posted several more songs on YouTube and SoundCloud. He was inspired by Norwegian music producer K-391 and Dutch music producer Ahrix, as well as film composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky. Starting as a bedroom producer, Walker was better known as DJ Walkzz before he signed a record deal, releasing his debut single in 2014.

Influences

Walker was inspired to start producing by Italian music producer DJ Ness. When making his debut single "Fade", Walker was influenced by the sound of the song "Nova" by Dutch music producer Ahrix. He has often spoken about the influence of Dutch music producer Tiësto. He is also inspired by music producers such as K-391, Kygo and Avicii, as well as film composers such as Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.

Musical style

Walker's musical style has been described as house, future house, future bass, electropop, electro house, big room house, and progressive house. Walker's music was described by DJ Mag in March 2018 as "a mix of youthful styles like big room house, progressive, and electro", characterised by emotionally rich, grandiose melodies. It is also noted as being significantly darker and closer to minor keys compared to the upbeat rhythms of contemporary tropical house. He incorporates elements like video game music into his tracks. He has stated that the Nexus plugin in FL Studio defines the entirety of his sound.

Faded

"Faded" is a song by Norwegian DJ and record producer Alan Walker with vocals by Norwegian singer-songwriter Iselin Solheim. A rework of Walker's earlier song "Fade", the song was written by Walker, Jesper Borgen, Mood Melodies, and Gunnar Greve and produced by the former three.

It was released as a single by MER on 3 December 2015, for digital download and streaming.

Background and release

"Faded" is a remake of Walker's earlier song "Fade", which was released by the British record label NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) in 2014. When "Fade" started gaining attention in 2014, Walker received feedback from listeners on how the song felt like it should have lyrics, which it lacked. Walker felt the song had the potential to be expanded, such as by adding vocals, but was not ready to do it yet. "Fade" had already racked up over 40 million views on YouTube and over 15 million streams on Spotify before the release of "Faded". He followed with the release of "Spectre" and "Force", which attracted the attention of major record labels.

Lyrics and composition

The lyrics for "Faded" were written by Walker, Jesper Borgen, Anders Frøen, and Gunnar Greve. Also participating were Ingrid Helgor Skretting as vocalist and Sören Von Malmborg as mastering and mixing engineer. In addition to the lyrics, the track was fully rebuilt with a new mix and mastering, and a piano was introduced. Walker said that by adding lyrics and piano, "the whole song just came together". In the acoustic version, only the piano, violin, and Solheim's vocals are heard. Lyrically, the song expresses a sense of longing and a search for something meaningful. Its protagonist feels like she is fading away, both physically and emotionally, and struggles to find her way back to a place of belonging and purpose.

Critical reception

"Faded" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Julia Friese of Die Welt called it "universal emotional pop" and "ideal background music", while Aundun Vinger of Dagens Næringsliv described it as a "definitive masterpiece". Vinger and German radio station 1LIVE's Anke van de Weyer highlighted Solheim's "ethereal" vocals for adding "depth" and "emotional weight", which Austrian news portal Vorarlberg Online noted fit the concept "perfectly". Music critics also focused on the atmospheric composition, with Bradley Stern of PopCrush praising its "lonesome trance pulsations" and "ghostly cries", and Simon Kress of German music website Dance-Charts noting the shift from piano to synth sections. Kress and Vorarlberg Online commended the...

Production

The music video for "Faded" features Swedish actor Shahab Salehi. It was produced and edited by the Swedish production company Bror Bror and directed by Rikkard and Tobias Häggbom; Rikkard Häggbom served as director of photography. The music video was filmed in Estonia at locations such as the Linnahall building; a disused textile manufacturing plant and a concert hall in Tallinn; the former Rummu prison; the Rummu quarry and lake alongside the adjoining spoil tip in Vasalemma Parish; and the city of Paldiski.