He’s Sweden’s most recent Eurovision winner. And following the success of “Heroes”, Måns Zelmerlöw’s career has kept going strong. Now, he’s released his brand-new studio album, titled TIME.
TIME is the Swedish star’s eighth LP, following on from 2016’s Chameleon. The new studio album features 12 tracks, including the previously released “Better Now”, “Grow Up To Be You” and “Walk With Me” with Melodifestivalen 2018 contestant Dotter.
Leading up to the release of the new record, “Walk With Me” and “Better Now” entered the Swedish charts at number 51 and 79 respectively.
The opening track of the album, “On My Way”, provides a chill introduction to the record. It combines electronic and guitar elements, but is also filled with a recurrent whistle sound near the end of the chorus.
“Faker” has a slower start to it, but subsequently picks up from the second verse onward. Lyrically, it describes the idea of pretending to feel ok when you see an ex-lover hanging out with someone else. However, it’s clear the “Heroes” hitmaker hasn’t quite moved on yet, as he struggles to fake these emotions, claiming “I don’t feel nothing, I can’t feel nothing without you”.
Måns’ duet with Dotter, “Walk With Me”, is the third track of the album. The chorus includes some nice vocal layering, creating the atmosphere of several voices singing at the same time. It’s also refreshing to have someone like Dotter on the project. The two artists harmonise well together and the duet is definitely a standout moment on the album.
Måns Zelmerlöw — TIME
“Careless” subsequently comes in with a striving beat that sets it apart from the previous tracks. It’s more uptempo and underlines the fact that Måns can clearly work well with very different musical styles.
This is shown once again in pre-released track “Better Now”, which gives off a cooler summer vibe that adds new texture to the album.
On “One”, the Eurovision alum also plays with vocal recorder effects. This all leads to a big note towards the end. The song sees Måns singing about the relationship with his loved one. Although things might be “going through a few turns”, he still notes that “we could be the one, the one exception to all the other ones”. The star wants to keep this relationship going. And, following his marriage to Ciara Janson in Croatia a few weeks ago, it’s clear his current relationship is definitely heading in the right direction.
The loving words to his partner continue in “Mirror”, which also slows things down again. In the track, the Swedish star knows that the person in front of him is beautiful and “a little bit of heaven just the way you are”. However, his loved one doesn’t seem to believe this, instead only focusing on their flaws. Måns hopes he can act as a mirror, so as to show them just what he sees through his eyes and the “beautiful sight right in front of me”.
Finally, on “Something To You”, the Eurovision champion knows that he could try harder in the search for fame and aim to be “the founding father of something pivotal”. But in the end, he notes that what truly matters to him, more than the high life, is being something to his wife.
Clearly, Zelmerlöw is in a happy state of mind right now. Many of the songs’ lyrics celebrate his current relationship and take a romantic approach. However, it doesn’t come across as cliché by any means.
TIME is a record filled with different vibes and instruments, but it still very much sounds like the Måns Zelmerlöw we fell in love with during Eurovision 2015. He knows his sound and how to deliver a well-produced body of work.
What do you think about Måns Zelmerlöw’s new record? Are you happy with the direction his music is stepping into? Let us know in the comments section down below!
He has great songs.
I agree. Måns is an amazing talent I hope he succeeds even further