A decade ago, Calvin Harris wanted to step into the background. It was summer of 2010, and the emerging producer had just finished his last “band”-style gig at Creamfields.
With a newfound desire to focus on presenting his music within the scope of DJ sets instead, Harris was eager to blend into the background a bit. That meant delegating the role of singing his own music.
Harris subsequently spent months in the studio working with singers on what he believed would be his next chapter of music, but after presenting the demos to his label, the response was “overwhelmingly lukewarm.”
With the wind taken out of his sails, Harris was feeling impulsive. An emotional cocktail of disappointment, sadness, and determination was what it took for Harris to write “Feel So Close” in just a few short hours and recording his own vocals on the track was the icing on the cake.
“I had discovered when I was much younger that there is something so comforting about a piano, a bass guitar and a vocal and very little else,” Harris said in a commemorative Instagram post celebrating the song’s 10th anniversary. “This was exactly the sort of musical hug I needed.”
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As history showed us, Harris never did quite get away from recording dance music without his own signature vocal touch.
In fact, “Feel So Close” sparked a broader trend in the dance music space that continues to shape how we appreciate the genre today. From The Chainsmokers and San Holo, to Getter and Ookay and a myriad of electronic music producers in-between, countless artists have since lent their own vocals to some of their own tracks, due in part to the trend sparked by Harris.
In hindsight, we have a feeling he wouldn’t have it any other way. Check out Harris’ full post below.
FOLLOW CALVIN HARRIS:
Facebook: facebook.com/calvinharris
Twitter: twitter.com/CalvinHarris
Instagram: instagram.com/calvinharris
Spotify: spoti.fi/3mmhsk7
