Trying to keep it cool
But I can’t keep cool about it

Having been a fan of Alesso since 2011’s club smash Nillionaire, I was pretty excited to learn that he released a new track on Tuesday. Upon hearing the first few chords my immediate thought was, “Wait a minute; is this some kind of a mistake?! I thought I heard this song before!” It then quickly dawned on me that the song in question is none other than Kylie Minogue‘s Get Outta My Way. Never thought I’d see the day when one of the world’s most popular dance music producers sampled a freaking Kylie Minogue song, but here it is, in its shameless, full frontal glory, assaulting and teasing my ears like the girl I made out with last Friday night at the club who was teasing something else.

I then wondered how I felt about this brazen attempt of creating a follow up to Heroes, the first single off of Alesso’s upcoming debut album with Def Jam Recordings to be released sometimes soon I presume, and how, similarly to its predecessor, it will storm the global dance and pop charts and an entire generation of young adults will have no idea that it, for the most part, is almost identical to one of Kylie’s more recent and uber-camp offerings. “Is this better than Get Outta My Way?”, “Should the two be compared?”, “Will the public understand the reference?,” “Does this sample even work?!”, and “What does Kylie think of this?”, were all questions that seemed to simultaneously run through my mind. After all of the initial shock and excitement I decided to actually give the track my full attention and really listen to it.

OK, so let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Cool is hardly anything ground breaking, but, at the same time it’s not trying to be. The catchiness is clearly intentional as the goal here is not to create strides but to provide some of the tried and tested formula that has already worked so well for its predecessor. What is also perhaps, intentional (but maybe slightly less obvious) is the quite effective marriage of an extremely ear-friendly pop song with a more EDM sound, thus providing those who have never heard Get Outta My Way with a brand-new earworm, those who have heard it with a familiar reference, and all those die-hard Kylie fans (myself including) with a smile on their face as the overall end result seems to work quite well with British singer/songwriter Roy English‘s pleasant vocal. Ta dah! Everybody wins!

Speaking of the vocal, the lyrics are nice and uplifting which corresponds quite well with the cheerful melody and mood of the track. God knows, I love hearing songs on the radio that are about love and being saved by love to take me away from the daily struggle and hardships of life while I drive to and from the office. Perhaps, happiness is the main theme here, after all and what other pop star has so consistently channeled that theme over the last thirty years more than Kylie?

My curiosity and eagerness to answer my own questions have promptly driven me to social media where I quickly found that everyone involved, and most importantly, Kylie herself, are pretty happy with the outcome of this project. Alesso tweeted Roy English, Roy English tweeted Kylie, Kylie tweeted them both, Alesso tweeted back-it was all a big Twitter love fest! And that’s how, ladies and gentlemen, you sample your back catalog to current hit makers, give them your blessing with plenty of class and open arms, and remain relevant for four decades and counting (take a hint Madonna)!

Snag your copy on iTunes now.

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