EDM-juggernaut Alison Wonderland’s very highly anticipated second album Awake is dropping next week. And what better way for the Twitter-savvy DJ to celebrate? By giving her loyal legions of fans a glimpse of each track in a day-by-day drop, duh.
Alex Sholler, better known by her stage name Alison Wonderland, is one of the leading DJs on the EDM scene right now – continually crushing the typically male-dominated industry one platform sneaker-clad step at a time.
Wonderland recently broke Coachella history, becoming the highest billed ‘female DJ’ to feature on the coveted 2018 lineup.
And she’s been keeping busy; bringing her own slice of Wonderland to fans in every pocket of the globe with her high-voltage shows and grungey ‘Warehouse’ tours. Yet despite the high-pressure and demands of her day-job, she has always been unapologetically candid about her ongoing struggle with anxiety and depression.
Last year, coinciding in part with her Aussie ‘Scarehouse’ tour, Wonderland dropped her first taste from the upcoming second album Awake. Speaking with Billboard, Wonderland admitted that the new track ‘Happy Place’ was penned when she was on the hunt for a healthier headspace,
“[It’s] the two polar opposites of my brain… so I wanted it to be this ethereal thing wrapping up into the crazy, complicated, fucked up side of my mind, then coming back down to this helpless limbo world that I was in.”
Awake has been described as a musical diary, with Wonderland conveying the ups and downs of her own mental health through a tasty entanglement of EDM, synth and trap.
Catering to the overzealous consumption of online content on the plebeian behalf, Wonderland has opted to release bite-sized previews of the entire tracklist via Twitter. The short clips feature a video diary-esque snippet of herself recounting the origin of the track, followed by a (criminally) concise audio teaser.
We’re only four days/tracks deep into the two-week countdown so far, but we’re too damn riled up right now to wait this out! So without any further ado, let’s unpack the first handful of tunes vying for rotation on the next Warehouse tour…
Track 1. Good Enough
My album comes out in 2 weeks. There r 14 tracks on Awake so I’m going to show you a track every day until it drops. #14tracksin14days
Good enough: pic.twitter.com/LQq8boEBiZ
— ALISON WONDERLAND (@awonderland) March 24, 2018
If you’re a diehard Wonderfan then you’ve probably already caught snippets of this little ditty at various Wonderland gigs. And yeah, it’s pretty safe to say this track is more than ‘Good Enough’. It’s the perfect intro to what’s already looking to be one hell of a high-octane album, and will undoubtedly make for the ultimate catalyst to snap fans out of Alison’s “soul-owning”, trance-induced hypnosis mid-gig. If you were fortunate enough to be in the crowd at Scarehouse 2017, you’ll know what I’m talking about… that is, if you can remember it.
Track 2. No
13 days until my album drops. I will be showing u a track a day. Here’s track 2️⃣: Nohttps://t.co/J6dtljQL8I pic.twitter.com/2XHLQ6DR29
— ALISON WONDERLAND (@awonderland) March 24, 2018
Already hailed by one Twitter follower as the next big ‘summer song’ of 2018, ‘No’ indeed presents as an uplifting, ‘coming of age’ anthem. In fact, Wonderland tributes the song to a nasty habit of blindly following the toxic advice and enabling tendencies of people within the music industry – but it certainly isn’t a stretch to envision this behaviour within the confines of our own messed-up microcosms. Sure, A.W’s preaching naysaying, but we’re screaming ‘YAS KWEEN’ to the summery vibes of this tune right back her.
Track 3. Okay
12 days until my album drops. I will be showing u a track a day. Here’s track 3️⃣: Okayhttps://t.co/J6dtljQL8I pic.twitter.com/ygSRGN9x6H
— ALISON WONDERLAND (@awonderland) March 25, 2018
WOAH, ‘Okay’ is yet another explosion of emotionally-enhanced EDM blending ‘super beautiful and ethereal’ verses with ‘ugly’ and in-your-face choruses to convey the inherent power struggle in relationships. The snack-sized audio for this particular clip features molten-heavy bass, so it’s a little difficult to gauge this track so far… but if the first two are anything to go by, there’s no doubt ‘Okay’ will live up to Alison’s ‘secret banger’ hype.
Track 4. Easy
This is perhaps, out of all the songs I’ve ever made, one of my favorites.
11 days until my album drops. I will be showing u a track a day. Here is track 4: ?Easy?https://t.co/J6dtljQL8I pic.twitter.com/k6QHyeEU8C— ALISON WONDERLAND (@awonderland) March 26, 2018
Described as her favourite track on the album, ‘Easy’ is another lighthearted venture into the murky tide of Wonderland’s well-documented depression. Produced by Joel Little, who has previously worked with Lorde and Khalid, ‘Easy’ is certainly the poppiest sounding tune on the track list so far.
In case you’ve been living under the proverbial rock, the early months of 2018 have already seen us acquainted with certified bangers ‘Church’ and ‘High’ feat. Trippie Redd. ‘Church’ dropped back in February, and saw Wonderland smash out of her shell. Speaking to triple j breakfast, she admitted this almost irritatingly-catchy track was borne of her own realisation of self-worth in a toxic relationship.
‘I felt like shouting at that person ‘I wish you would treat me like church! Praise me, make me feel like I’m worth something’.
On the other hand, ‘High’ feat. Trippie Redd is in every essence a fantastically filthy track, sure to awaken your inner-EDM demon. The last thirty seconds or so are fairly reminiscent of Flume’s ‘Wall Fuck’; nevertheless, it’s killer beats the likes of these bad boys that reinforce my fierce passion for our sunburnt exports (of which was knocked back a coupla’ sticky wickets on the weekend).
Catch a glimpse of the video for ‘High’ below.
High ft. @trippieredd https://t.co/uI9mPoVCcS pic.twitter.com/gl5KQX4JbC
— ALISON WONDERLAND (@awonderland) March 20, 2018
Including those tracks already released, we’re already halfway down the rabbit-hole of Wonderland’s second album! Head to Twitter to catch the rest of the teasers as they drop. Awake is due for release on the 6th of April, but is available to preorder now from iTunes and JB HiFi.
Would you have preferred to wait for the official release of the album, or do you think this kind of marketing is necessary in the age of rapid content consumption? Let us know in the comments below.