With “Wake Me Up” — the 2013 mega-hit he sang and co-wrote for Swedish DJ Avicii and saw climb to #1 in 102 countries across the globe — Aloe Blacc proved himself a singer/songwriter with an irresistible power to capture the complexities of human emotion. Now with his third solo album Lift Your Spirit (Blacc’s major-label full-length debut, released by XIX Recordings/Interscope Records), the rapper-turned-singer pushes further into a folk/soul/pop fusion that’s both undeniably joyful and eye-opening in message. Adding an of-the-moment twist to the music of legends like Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder, Lift Your Spirit is built on songs that pair Blacc’s poetic yet incisive lyrics with huge hooks and relentless feel-good grooves.
The follow-up to his 2013 EP Wake Me Up—whose title track serves as an acoustic version of the Avicii single that’s emerged as the fifth best-selling dance/electronic song in SoundScan history—Lift Your Spirit finds Blacc teaming up with premier producers like Pharrell Williams, DJ Khalil (Eminem, Drake, Kendrick Lamar), and Rock Mafia (No Doubt, Miley Cyrus) to achieve a slick and smooth retro-soul sound. “On my last album I paid homage to the music of Curtis Mayfield and James Brown and Al Green,” says Blacc of 2010’s Good Things, which featured his breakthrough hit “I Need a Dollar.” “But for this one I wanted to go in a new direction and create a new, updated sound.” To that end, Lift Your Spirit expands Blacc’s sonic approach by amping up his soulful musicality with a fiery rock & roll energy, razor-sharp hip-hop edge, folk-influenced lyrical sensibility, and pop-inspired ease with melody.