Armin van Buuren has already been at the top of the Dutch dance scene for as long as I can remember. In fact, he practically is running the dance scene, because he went from DJ to running a whole empire based on his music. It includes a label and management company, to as far as I know. But, currently, he’s also back in the charts thanks to a collaboration with Garibay.
The track is called “I Need You” and reminds me a little bit of the early house music, when it was on the rise. The piano and keyboards make all the difference in this song that make it sound that way. Combined with the soul vocals of Olaf Blackwood, it completes this sound even further and has an airy summer feel to it that has so worked for me these past weeks in which we had our first rays of sun. Yeah!
For Armin, this track has a slightly different sound compared to what we usually get from him. His sound is usually a bit rougher, so this airy electronic sound is definitely under the influence of Garibay, whom I’ve only heard of via his collaboration with Kylie Minogue a few years ago.
The collaboration is most definitely a commercially successful one, because it’s been in the charts for 11 weeks already and had brought Armin straight back under the attention of the mainstream audience.
Armin has had an extensive career, so far, and is celebrating all of it in May with two special “Best of” gigs. This will feature special guests. He’s already announced that Gavin McGraw will be joining him on these gigs.
I think just like anyone else, I start to wonder if he might be wrapping things up to take it slower from here on in. Usually a “Best of” moment allows an artists to rearrange things, or just simply quit. We will have to wait and see, I guess.
