Who I Am by Alan Walker - Reviewing the king of catchiness
- by Peter Källman
- in Reviews
Alan Walker, the EDM prodigy from England, releases another banger in conjunction with MER Recordings titled “Who I Am.” The track is a mix of dancehall with a little bit of trap drums, featuring catchy vocal lines and atmospheric string pads. Some EDM acts rode the wave of whatever trend was popular during their first come up. Alan Walker was one of those acts, along with people like Skrillex, who decisively carved out a path for their very own unique sound. He started, and many followed. His sound has certainly changed since super hits such as “Faded,” but the music is impressively fitting for 2024. The vocalists featured on this track are Putri Ariani and Peder Elias. Putri is heard singing with powerful anthemic female vocals, which blends very well with Peder Elias’s still anthemic but raspy voice. The melodic hook in this song is a blend between a voice synth and some other synth sound. The choice of notes gives the melody a bit of an oriental sound, which unsurprisingly fits very well into the whole mood of the song.
If we compare this track to other hits by Alan, it certainly seems that the vocals take up more of the focus. It is good for a producer to be versatile and not always having to hog the entire limelight. However, the difference in outcome will be that after a listener has heard the song, they will probably remember the vocal hooks rather than the melodic hook. When I think of "Faded," the first thing that pops into my head is the extremely catchy synth melody because it gets so much space in the arrangement of the song. This is how a classic EDM song is made. This release shows that Alan is comfortable with having more of a traditional producer role, where he makes songs for people to add artists to the topline on.
I love credit where credit is due. So, some of the notable collaborators include: (co-producer/producer) Kasper, Additional writers: Christian Hartmann, Fredrik Borch Olsen, Gunnar Greve, Marcus Arnbekk, and Mats Lie Skåre.
The song is really epic and bombastic. It has a very good structure as far as dynamic buildups with a slow start, building and building. Some would probably argue that the song feels a little safe. I think some things that clearly stand out and make this song unique are the blend of Putri & Peder’s voices; they work like a duet. Also, the melodic hook has a pretty unique sound texture as well as note choice. If they were looking to make something groundbreaking that would fuel an entirely new era of music, as some older pieces by Alan did, I think this song is a no-go. But that is not a reasonable goal anyway. I think the best anyone can do is try to make the best thing they can by giving their everything to it. In any case, Alan Walker has very much succeeded in creating a song that is easy to listen to, very, very catchy, and that will surely provide a lot of feel-good for a lot of people.
