The Norwegian hidden gem of Aleksander Width's discography

There aren't that many male voices in my music collection and that's not a secret. One singer that however makes it very often in my playlists is Aleksander With. Last Friday, he released his first single Favorite Tee after 9 years. But I want to take this chance to go through my highlights in his discography, since I have the impression that not many outside of Norway are aware of his great catalog and how talented of a singer he is.

His career starts officially with the winning of (Norwegian) Idol in 2006 and his first single A Little Too Perfect, to start, is not the typical Idols ballad, rather a catchy Avril Lavigne-esque song (he was only 19 at the time). It is with the follow-up The Other Side that one can already sense the direction of his career. A much better thought song, less catchy, less up-tempo but overall a lot more pleasant to me, this is a song I like to revisit often, but I am always in disbelief when the video pops up on my YouTube. The guy was a lot younger than his voice sounded. Now, I would love to recommend it in a full Spotify/Deezer playlist but his entire first album does not appear to be on streaming services (at least outside of Norway, didn't have time to check). So there you go, this is one of the example why I hate streaming services... You can still find some cheap physical copies of it according to Discogs

Took him three years to come back with a sophomore album in 2009 called Still Awake and this is to me the moment he fully established himself with this pop style and with a fully mature image too. Three tracks I would definitely recommend out of this album are: the title track/opener Still Awake, the final track My Home is Where You Are and the big hit single Worth It. This last track features the incredible Lene Marlin. Now, if you don't know her, you clearly weren't around in the early 2000s, but having her on his single was a big deal. There is another version of this single with Sandrine, I have no idea who she is, I don't know why a version with her replacing Lene Marlin's vocals was released, but it's there. Maybe if you hate Lene? That'd be rude. But good for Sandrine I suppose! This album is available in streaming, hooray hooray! So you have all find it on Spotify here

Another three years and Aleksander puts out his best work (and I stand by this statement till today) and also his latest full-length album so far. This third album, the self-titled Aleksander Width is to me, to force an analogy with my over fav Will Young, his Echoes. The maturity of his voice, the even further improved image and simply the pure quality of his pop sound reached the peak with this album. Pictures, Satellite and Once are good single choices, but to me the outstanding track by far is Unstoppable. And this is the track that drew me into the Echoes vibes because the song has that timeless Richard X vibe that marries incredibly well with a pop singer like Aleksander. This is my ultimate favourite track of his and I am mad this is unknown to many.

ANOTHER three years break (now, more or less, dates are a bit blurry from online sources, but the man seems to be fixated on this... at least that's what I thought...) and Aleksander comes back again this time with not necessarily a full length album but rather a long 5-song EP with 3 embellishments (intro/outro + bonus remix) called Butterfly Effect. I believe only Better got a proper single treatment. I remember being happier that he was back at that time than happier about the song itself. The comparison in my mind with his previous album was still to fresh. However it was nice surprise. He did perform some of the others songs live here and there, I think YouTube should still have some. Nice comeback, not the most-solid piece.

And then it was silence.

At least internationally/online. I think he was still doing TV apparencies here and there but no releases in a long time.

Recently he took part in a singing show called Stjernekamp (Star Battle?) where he came third and had the chance to perform quite the variety of music genres. There are clips on YouTube, which reminded me once again how cool of a singer he is. Whatever it was, thankfully he accompanied this experience with actual plans to release new music (do you hear me, Nicola Roberts???) and we finally got after 9 years, his new single Favorite Tee.

Is this his best song? No. Is it a nice song I'm gonna keep in my seasonal playlist? Yeah. Am I hoping for a full album with much more complex songs musically and lyrically? Hell yeah! Am I hoping for another Unstoppable? I shouldn't, but I do. Let's hope, whatever he's got in his bags, that we won't have to wait another 3 or 9 years to have another full length work from him.

I hope this helped spreading the news that Aleksander With is an amazing pop singer. Till next time and Ciao Reload :)