DJ Kygo's tropical house set 'Golden Hour' features Whitney Houston surprise and fans love the 'masterpiece'
Norwegian tropical house DJ Kygo's third studio album 'Golden Hour' released on May 29 and fans are already praising it for saving the summer of 2020. Despite consistently putting out music in the interim, this marks Kygo's first full-length album since his 2017 release 'Kids in Love' which was described by critics as being an "uplifting and empowering" record that showcased the DJ and producer's signature sound while also reflecting some interesting stylistic choices.
The album featured a wide range of artistes including John Newman, Jason Walker, Oliver Nelson, Bonnie McKee, Wrabel, The Night Game, James Abrahart, Billy Raffoul and OneRepublic who also feature on Kygo's latest release. In addition to the band, 'Golden Hour' also includes features from Jamie N Commons, Zak Abel, Sandro Cavazza, Kim Petras, Dreamlab, Sasha Sloan, Zara Larsson, Tyga and, rather interestingly, Whitney Houston.
That last name may have made you do a double-take, but it is, in fact, Houston's voice you're hearing on the track 'Higher Love'. The song was originally released in 1986 by English singer Steve Winwood as the first single off his fourth solo LP, 'Back in the High Life', with the female vocals on the track being performed by Chaka Khan. It served as Winwood's first Billboard Hot 100 number one hit and spent four weeks at the top of the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, eventually earning two Grammy Awards for 'Record of the Year' and 'Best Male Pop Vocal Performance'.
Houston's version was a cover recorded in 1990 that was included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of her album 'I'm Your Baby Tonight'. The song also saw a resurgence in fame when Nick Jonas recorded it for his 2005 debut solo album 'Nicholas Jonas'. In 2019, Kygo decided to rework Houston's rendition of the track, reimagining it as a tropical house number. The song dropped in August last year and became a worldwide hit, hitting number one on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Songs chart and making it Houston's highest-charting posthumous release to date.
The hit was a good indication of what more was to come from 'Golden Hour', because the album features tropical hit after tropical hit, and fans are finding it quite hard to pick a favorite. One fan tweeted, "There is not a single song that isn’t pure gold in the new album," another said, "I still can't decide which song is the most I like in Kygo's Golden Hour album. They're all good," and one fan shared, "@KygoMusic thank you for #GoldenHour loving every bit of it. Such a masterpiece. There's no one like you Kygo. You made my day."
"Take me to places like these," tweeted one fan along with an image of a heavenly sunset, adding, "Yall need to seriously go listen to Kygo's new album 'golden hour'." Another fan stated, "Gonna be on repeat all summer," one said, "Golden Hour on replay," and one fan shared, "Hurting by Kygo explaining my whole life so far #Kygo #Goldenhour."
One tweet read, "@KygoMusic just made Summer 2020 that much better. Greatness. #GoldenHour," while another stated, "@KygoMusic new album speaks to me on so many levels...I need to experience this album live on his next tour. #goldenhour #feelgood."
Some fans did manage to pick a song or two as standouts. One fan said, "The whole album #GoldenHour is heavenly," adding, "But this track stuck to my mind #beautiful@KygoMusic #newmusic2020," while another stated, "Kygo’s song 'Follow' off Golden Hour honestly sounds like an Avicii x Kygo song and I am loving it." And one fan shared, "GOLDEN HOUR album is a masterpiece. @KygoMusic is pure Genius. There is magic in the Song 'Could You Love Me' when u listen to it even if u down/sad u just put on a smile."
And while most are enjoying the release, a few listeners had an odd complaint: that Kygo's latest release shares its name with an album of Kacey Musgraves. "Wonder why @kygo named his new album Golden Hour when @KaceyMusgraves just did that... yeah, artists can do whatever they want, fair enough, just seems weird to me when it was literally two years ago and won AOTY at the Grammys," tweeted one user, while another stated, "Kygo releasing an album titled 'Golden Hour'... you're not Kacey, b***h."