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Apr 10, 2017
No Longer A White Label
Still Young are a duo that has seen heavy support from Steve Angello and Size Records, resulting from their incredible ability to churn out massive productions. One of their biggest tracks to date is “White Label (Is This Love),” a track that has been on our site for quite some time sitting with the ‘Working Title’ flag until Still Young finally announced it would see its release with that title. While there is often a great backstory to Still Young tracks, this one might be the best of all of them. Enjoy learning about the production of this track leading up to its first play at Tomorrowland Brasil and how fan influence led to the “White Label” name sticking.
Can you take us back to the beginning of this track and how it was born? When were the Bob Marley vocals added?
First of all, thanks for supporting us throughout our journey. We respect what you guys are doing with 1001Tracklists.
Now, on to the interview. The birth of the track was around 1.5 years ago as an idea we were toying around in the studio. It started with a really nice melody and some cool chords to accompany it, but we didn't really like the direction it was taking overall, so we kept shelving it. We would revisit the project now and then. It was just before Christmas in 2015 that we went back to it one night and with some changes it turned into “White Label.” In the new year, we decided to keep at it and clean it up. We didn't rush and took some more time till about April. Steve reached out to see if we had anything new, as he was going to headline Tomorrowland Brasil. So, we sent it to him a few days before he was to depart for Tomorrowland and he got back right away saying he loves it and is going to play it. Day of his departure from Sweden he called us to say that he felt it would sound incredible if we could play around with the vocals from Bob Marley's “Is This Love.” Took a while, but we did it. Literally a half hour before he jumped on stage we sent him the new version with the vocals added. Don't think he even heard it to be honest as he was rushing to leave the hotel room to go to the venue. Everything was so fast. We got a text saying “I got it” and that was it.
What was your initial reaction to hearing Steve Angello play it at Tomorrowland Brasil [full set + tracklist]?
We were watching it live on the stream. It was incredible to see the reaction of the crowd instantly singing along to it and picking up on the emotion that the track possesses. Seeing Steve happy, singing along to it with his hands in the air just made it all that special. He truly loves that record. He called us on our cell phone immediately after he got off the stage to tell us that it went off big time. The best was hearing him tell us that he wants to release this with the Bob Marley vocals and that he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. An amazing experience as we felt we were there with Steve the whole time. Again, this happened so fast.
Can you talk about naming the track “White Label” as it came to be known by your fans? Did you intend to name it that, or did you end up naming it that once everyone knew the track as “White Label”?
The track was played as an ID at the time of the show, but it stood out in that set and there was an instant buzz online as fans cut the video and started posting clips of it. It had a different name at the time, but we couldn't keep it since it had the Bob Marley vocals on it now. Remember, this happened so fast so our initial reaction was to call it “White Label” to buy some time in naming it correctly. White label, in reference to records, used to be a physical record release that had an uncleared sample within it. The 'white label' had no information on the record and thus you could release it with the sample and not get sued by the publishers for usage of their property. We corrected everyone on our socials about the track naming and it just ended up sticking. Once we got the clearance from Bob's camp, we just added the ‘(Is This Love)’ to the name so that fans know it’s the vocal version.
How does it feel to finally get to the release of this track and seeing it supported all over and crushing the Beatport charts?
It feels great that it is getting attention and into a lot of charts and breaking new ground for us on some of the biggest viral playlists on Spotify. There was so much hype on this record since the time Steve first premiered it and this truly was driven by the fans. We love Beatport and any other chart for their support for us. We try to be different with every production, so it's cool to see that we are entering new charts in different territories and genres around the world. It's really nice to be in any chart and get recognized for your hard work. Again, if the fans love it, the DJs play it and the Size crew is behind it 100%, that is what truly matters. The rest is an unexpected bonus that we are humbled by.
Will we get to see you guys play it out yourselves anytime in the near future? :)
We have sacrificed a lot to get to where we are today. Our goal has been to let the music reach our fans organically without any bias and we have done just that. We have tremendous fans and we want to meet all of them around the world very soon and would love nothing more than to be playing our music to them. 2017 would be a great start to shows and we are doing everything we can to plan for this in the near future.
What's next for you guys production wise? Anything upcoming that you can tell us about?
In terms of productions, we have enough material for about two albums worth. We are working on the next set of releases now and deciding what should come out. People have been waiting for the vocal version of “Follow Me” with Steve Angello and that will surface. There are some different directions we have dipped into and some that stay true to the Still Young sounds, so timing will be everything with these records. We are also collaborating with some familiar faces and some new ones and can't wait for our fans to hear them. Soon enough there will be a new one premiered, but for now, crank it up and enjoy our latest track “White Label (Is This Love).” To all our fans, much love. SY :-)
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