Life can be random sometimes… so many things hit us totally out of the blue. When you’re just walking down the street, and suddenly you meet the love of your life. Or what about the crazy summer nights? Where you just went out for one drink with some friends, but the evening turned out to be one of the best nights ever. Because you asked someone for a lighter, you find yourself watching the most amazing sunset from a hidden spot in the hills.
‘Out Of The Blue‘ is PRETTY YOUNG’s first single leading up to the same-titled EP due for release later this year. It is all about how life surprises us out of nowhere. Just think, no one expected the pandemic and look at how much it has changed our lives. Now that we are slowly returning to normal, we should make the most of our freedom and once again go out and let life amaze us.
The song was heavily inspired by retro disco music, yet with a modern touch. During the creative process, PRETTY YOUNG was listening to a lot of disco and was fascinated by the creativity behind the chord progressions and basslines. As he describes: “Disco tends to have moving basslines, that almost create melodies. That’s quite unusual in modern pop music. Everything right now is just a flat straight copy of the chords lowest note”. ‘Out Of The Blue’ is the perfect mix of vintage synths, drum elements, heavy bass, and an old dusty ambiance that are combined with clean and modern vocals.
ABOUT PRETTY YOUNG — PRETTY YOUNG is the pseudonym for 24-year old Swedish producer and songwriter William Ek. Already from the age of 12, he always knew that he wanted to make music listeners deeply feel. Not just music to bang your head to at a festival. Having tried many different styles and sounds throughout the years, he finally found the right sound. In 2019, PRETTY YOUNG was born. PRETTY YOUNG is about strong passion and emotions in sound design and songwriting. He is very picky with topliners and vocalists. However, when it’s a perfect match, it just happens!
The first major success for PRETTY YOUNG was as a songwriter; when he teamed up with Dutch singer-songwriter Willemijn May. They wrote the song ‘Don’t Hide’, which eventually landed with Mike Perry, receiving over 35 million Spotify streams. In 2019, PRETTY YOUNG released his debut single ‘A Girl Can Tell’, with the Swedish radio POWER Hit Radio instantly adding it to their playlist and interviewing him live at their festival broadcast show.
Soon after, PRETTY YOUNG started to gain some traction internationally. The following singles ‘Me & Hennessy’ & ‘Scars’ not only achieved success in Scandinavia but also in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Single number four, ‘Run Away’, even reached 12 New Music Fridays worldwide. However, the big breakthrough was the remake of Echosmith’s classic ‘Cool Kids’. The song reigned supreme at the Top 25 in the Swedish airplay charts and was on heavy rotation via stations such as NRJ and RIX FM. Also internationally, the track took off, achieving several #1 spots in major Spotify playlists across the Benelux, Germany, and Norway. It even charted in the Viral 50 in both the Netherlands and Belgium. Later, the German DJ duo LIZOT made a remix and turned the song into a slap-house version.
In December 2021, PRETTY YOUNG released the official remix of Tik-Tok viral hit: ‘Infinity’ by Jaymes Young. The rework immediately skyrocketed, achieving 98K daily streams on Spotify alone. It peaked at #6 on the Global Shazam Electronic charts, #186 in the worldwide airplay charts, and reached #5 on Top 20 airplay charts in Poland. It also received instant playlisting on radio stations such as The Voice (Denmark), Radio Kiss (Norway) and was the “POWERPLAY” song on POWER Hit Radio Sweden.
Setting up for a new chapter in 2022, PRETTY YOUNG went back to the studio to fully focus on writing his own originals. He teamed up with the incredible writer Juliander, who had earlier success with: ‘All Falls Down’ featuring Alan Walker and Noah Cyrus. The result: a four song EP with a fresh Scandinavian pop sound, yet with the PRETTY YOUNG signature.
