Calvin Harris Ready For The Weekend Songs
Brinda
Through all his success, Harris has kept his cool, hovering just outside both the pop world and the superstar DJ circuit. While Forbes named him the world's highest-paid DJ for six years running, he rarely appears alongside his peers at big-name dance festivals like Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival. The festivals he does choose are close to heart, like Creamfields in the UK or his collaborator Pharrell's Something In The Water in Washington, D.C. This summer, he's focused instead on a residency at the flashy Ushuaa Ibiza, appearing each Friday to sold-out crowds. He's also press shy, largely skirting interviews in favor of chats with his friend Zane Lowe on Apple Music.
Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 doubles down on the producer's reputation as a born collaborator with a special talent for making vocals shine. A sequel to 2017's funk and boogie-flavored Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, the album is wall-to-wall with guests including Dua Lipa, Young Thug, Halsey, Pharrell, Justin Timberlake, 21 Savage and Snoop Dogg.
While Vol. 2 follows the same easy groove as its predecessor, Harris' career is full of change-ups. No matter what mode he's in, the producer's Midas touch is undeniable. In honor of his latest bid for pop glory, here are 10 essential Calvin Harris songs that capture his sonic evolution.
Harris got his start making unpolished productions in his bedroom and uploading them to MySpace with no illusions of international fame. Harris wrote, produced, arranged and performed all the songs on his cheekily-titled debut album I Created Disco, a do-it-all approach he'd carry into the future.
His surprise breakout hit, "Acceptable In The 80's," was born on a vintage Amiga 500 Plus computer running the OctaMED sequencer. Its music video is youthful goofiness personified as Harris dances with taxidermied animals against a neon backdrop.
Now working with a modestly expanded production set-up, Harris happened upon a trance preset on the Roland Juno-G that unlocked "I'm Not Alone." Pairing a huge dance riff with the producer's charmingly reticent vocals, the song became the first Calvin Harris single to go to No. 1 in the U.K.
"People didn't really know what to make of it," Harris told Music Radar in 2012. "When it first went to the radio stations, they all said, 'What the hell is he playing at? He's made a trance record!'" BBC Radio 1 host Pete Tong, however, chose "I'm Not Alone" as his "Essential New Tune."
Released in 2010 as the final single from 2009's Ready For The Weekend, "You Used to Hold Me" marked the end of one era for Harris and the beginning of another for dance music. The song arrived just as EDM was taking hold in the U.S. mainstream, including a media storm around the significant medical emergencies at Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles.
The collaboration clicked into place when Harris supported Rihanna on a tour of Australia in 2011. "It was a risk for her, I think, 'cause it was a pretty full-on record," the producer told Fuse in 2013. "It was different sounding at that time. And also putting my name on the record as well kinda confused a lot of people."
On his third album, 18 Months, Harris leaned into his promise to work with "proper performers," including Florence Welch on the GRAMMY-nominated "Sweet Nothing." The album also cemented a very good thing between Harris and English singer Ellie Goulding on "I Need Your Love," released as a single in 2013.
The song's combination of syrup and mainstage heft was right at home in a big moment for acts like Swedish House Mafia, Avicii and Zedd. Harris knew the power in Goulding's raspy vocals, which excelled again on Motion cut "Outside." In the words of one YouTube commenter: "Her voice is actually the sound of an era."
The lead single from Harris's fourth album, Motion, saw the producer team up with Alesso and Hurts vocalist Theo Hutchcraft. Its release coincided with peak EDM hysteria in the US, perfectly capturing the serotonin rush of 2013 with a melody and breakdown built for the biggest possible stages. True to the moment, Harris rounded out the year by signing an exclusive residency with Hakkasan Nightclub in Las Vegas.
"Summer" stands out on the loaded Motion tracklist as notably guest-free. Despite its lack of additional star power, it was one of Harris's biggest hits, featuring his return to vocals after quitting singing in 2010.
Amidst all that attention, and after the giddy crossover ambitions of 18 Months and Motion, he teamed up with UK trio Disciples for an understated swerve into deep house. As always, he picked his moment, tapping into a hunger for deeper styles after the excesses of EDM. At the time, Harris told Zane Lowe he was eager to skip the album format and "just release one song at a time." While that didn't exactly stay the plan long-term, "How Deep is Your Love" makes perfect sense on its own.
After he and Rihanna pleased the pop charts with 2016's "This Is What You Came For," Harris was ready to get back in the album game. As the lead single from Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, "Slide" introduced a sound that was more California road-trip than peak-time at a dance festival.
The song stood out for its warm, disco-tinged instrumentation and the rare appearance of Frank Ocean outside his own albums, sounding light and sun-drunk. After "Slide" came out, Harris shared a video showing how he made it, casually showing off a studio a long way from an Amiga 500 in Dumfries.
In the years after Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, Harris jumped between his interests, releasing the purely pop "One Kiss" with Dua Lipa in 2018 and creating the Love Regenerator alias in 2020 to honor his rave roots. (Those decidedly non-commercial releases, including "Hypnagogic (I Can't Wait)" and "Live Without Your Love" with Steve Lacy, provided much needed escape during the pandemic.)
"Stay With Me," featuring Justin Timberlake, Halsey and Pharrell, is equal parts '70s funk and '90s pop, conjuring a carefree vibe that's sure to permeate Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2. On Instagram, Harris shared a photo of himself standing alongside Timberlake, Halsey and Pharrell at the music video shoot, with the caption: "Ever felt like an imposter on your own video set? I have." And yet the hits don't lie.
The last weekend of the month brings exciting new collaborations, including another iconic track from Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, as well as a fierce team-up from Paris Hilton and Meghan Trainor. Halsey and Muni Long offered a taste of their forthcoming projects, while Jordan Davis and Miranda Lambert each delivered fun new country tunes.
In addition to fresh collabs and singles, there's a treasure trove of new albums to uncover. Highlights include Ice Spice's Y2K!, Rakim's G.O.D., Sam Tompkins' hi, my name is insecure, Wild Rivers' Never Better, Tigirlily Gold's Blonde, and kenzie's biting my tongue.
Although fans anticipated Machine Gun Kelly's next release to mark his return to hip-hop, no one seems to be complaining about "KellyRoll." Embracing the trend of venturing into the country genre, mgk teams up with fellow GRAMMY-nominated artist Jelly Roll on their newest track, "Lonely Road."
The genre-blending track interpolates John Denver's classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads." However, unlike Denver's sentimental ode to the simplicity of rural life, mgk and Jelly Roll reinterpret the track through the lens of romantic relationships that have come to a, well, lonely end.
As mgk revealed in an Instagram post, "Lonely Road" was a labor of love for both him and Jelly Roll. "We worked on 'Lonely Road' for 2 years, 8 different studios, 4 different countries, changed the key 4 times," he wrote. "We finally got it right."
In another interpolation special, Halsey samples not one but two classics in their latest single, "Lucky." The song's production features elements of Monica's 1999 hit "Angel of Mine," while the chorus flips Britney Spears' fan-favorite "Lucky" into a first-person narrative.
While Halsey has always been a transparent star, their next project is seemingly going to be even more honest than their previous releases. After first revealing their journey with lupus with the super-personal "The End" in June, "Lucky" further details their struggles: "And I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year/ And that's the biggest lie of my career."
Like their previous work that transports listeners to a different universe, this album continues that tradition with trancey tracks like lead single "Changes" and the thumping title track. Ask That God offers a chance to reflect on the blend of reality and imagination, while also evoking the radiant energy of their past songs.
The track debuted earlier this month at Harris' show in Ibiza, where Goulding made a surprise appearance to perform "Free" live. With Harris delivering an infectious uptempo house beat and Goulding's silky vocals elevating the track, "Free" proves that the pair still have plenty of musical chemistry left.
Post Malone's transition into country music has been anything but slow; in fact, the artist went full-throttle into the genre. The New York-born, Texas-raised star embraced his new country era with collaborations alongside some of the genre's biggest superstars, like Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton. Continuing this momentum as he gets closer to releasing F-1 Trillion, Post Malone teams up with Luke Combs for the new track "Guy For That."
Over a plucky electric guitar and lo-fi beats, Frank and Kelly trade verses before joining for the second chorus. Their impassioned vocals elevate the song's hopeful prayer, "Miracle Worker make me new."
Their collaboration arrives just before both artists hit the road for their respective tours. Frank kicks his U.S. trek off in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31, and Kelly starts her world tour in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 17.
Since their debut in 2022 with "Tippy Toes," Japanese girl group XG has been making waves and showing no signs of slowing down. With their first mini album released in 2023 and now their latest single, "SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT," the group continues to rise with their distinctive visuals and infectious hits.
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