NEWS

This one’s been bubbling for a long long time: Netsky – 3

We first spoke to Netsky about it last April when he told us “I’ve been working on it for two and a half years now. It feels like forever.”

We spoke to him again in January when when he told us it was done and should hopefully be out before the summer. (He also discussed the thorny subject of ‘selling out’ and his take on what that means)

Between those interviews he casually brought Emeli Sande on stage for the debut of what will be the album’s opening track Thunder and has dropped two successful singles Rio and We Can Work It Out.

Now, over the weekend, he’s confirmed the release date: May 20… Just a month shy of four years since Netsky – 2 came our way. What’s more, he’s confirmed the full tracklist and revealed two brand new tracks: Forget What You Look Like and Higher, a collaboration with the currently unstoppable bass-flinger Jauz. Both of which are below.

What’s interesting is that neither Forget What You Look Like and Higher are drum & bass, the genre he came through on and is still mostly associated with. It seems like Netsky – 3 will mark his biggest creative shift since leaving Hospital Records and while some of his original D&B fans have reacted negatively to this on Facebook and YouTube comments, we’re really excited to hear the rest of the album.

Echoing the sentiments he shared with us a year ago, both the garage-minded rolling momentum of Forget What You Look Like and the robust, electro-fied bass house dynamics of Higher are the sounds of a man evolving and writing what he wants to write, not what fans expect of him…

You can’t please everyone all the time. If you’re constantly trying to please people who got into you three years ago then you’re stopping your own evolution. The real commercial side of dance music comes into play then; when you’re only trying to please fans you already have. Making music you really like yourself is anti-commercial because you’re not trying to fit a market, you’re being true to yourself and evolving.

Can’t argue with that. Can’t wait for the full album to drop, either. You can pre-order Netsky – 3 now and cop Rio, Work It Out, Forget What You Look Like and Higher now.