Fred again.. Actual Life 1 & 2
Fred again.. released two albums under the name Actual Life in 2021.
– Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020)
– Actual Life (February 2 – October 2021)
“The plan is to do two albums a year of this because I want it to feel like a rotating diary that just keeps existing,” he told NME.
So let’s just break down how he has created a ‘rotating dairy’.
The album starts with a track named April 14th. The album ends with one called December 17th. Straight away this tells the listener that this album represents a period of time. He repeats this on the second album with tracks titled February 2nd 2021 and October 15 2021. All four tracks are no longer than 40 seconds.
April 14th 2020 features a sample of Fred himself saying ‘Yo! It’s a Tuesday at 10 pm and this is one of the best days of my life. Kyle (i found you) is named after a poet named Kyle, who Fred met at an open mic night. The song lyric ‘in this smoking chaos our shoulder blades kissed’ is how Kyle describes meeting a girl for the first time in a bar. The music video is an amazingly produced slow-motion video by Adam Magyar on Hackney Wick Station with all of Fred’s friends on the platform. Fred was obsessed with Adam’s work and when the two met in Berlin, Fred pitched an idea to him.
I don’t know the story behind Yasminah (see your face again) but due to its time of release, this could easily represent how a lot of us felt during the pandemic when we couldn’t see our friends or family. The album ends with Angie (i’ve been lost). A heartbreaking song about a girl who fell ill. Don’t even get me started on the subtitles on the music video. 🥺
Fred again.. Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)
The third instalment of Actual Life follows the same pattern with the track names only this time I think we are going to get something that is the complete opposite if his Boiler Room is anything to go by. Hit records Lights Out, Jungle and Turn On The Lights again.. are a lot more club-focused and cross-genres representing where Fred again.. is at now he is touring worldwide.
The three singles released so far Danielle (smile on my face), Bleu (better with time) and Kammy (like i do) are all club records. If you close your eyes, you can almost see the lasers at The Warehouse Project as you listen to the Bicep-like synths of Bleu (better with time). The drums and vocals of Danielle (smile on my face) are the total opposite of the emotion behind Carlos (make it thru).
The photos used as the artwork for Actual Life 3 and all of Fred again’s most recent Instagram content has a blue filter on to represent the third album. This is another common theme in his music. Actual Life 1 was red, Actual Life 2 was orange and all of the singles outside of the albums have been black and white.
It’s the little things.
The Boiler Room
Boiler Room is one of the key music platforms in the world. The fact it is still breaking careers is a testament to just how many listeners it still has when it’s done right.
Fred again states in one of his posts that he has been watching Boiler Room videos since he was a kid. This video is likely to go down in Boiler Room history as one of the best ever. You could see by his speech at the end of the video how much it meant to him.
The Boiler Room was shared on the same day as ‘Turn Off The Lights again’ with Swedish House Mafia and Future dropped. Guess what clip from the Boiler Room they used to promote both Boiler Room and the single? Yep, when Fred played ‘Turn Off The Lights Again’ in his set. That’s three gold moments taking place all at the same time on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Spotify to all three fanbases.
Give these marketing teams a raise 😮💨
Peace and love ✌️
Andrew at Socially Sound 🧢
