Strange that right after house and EDM broke, many of its leading names looked outside the genre for inspiration, including
David Guetta, who goes singer/songwriter with his 2014 effort
Listen. That's singer/songwriter in the vocation sense, not the '70s sense, as big names like
John Legend sway the superstar producer toward their own style, which in the case of
Legend's title track, "Listen," is elegant and exquisite R&B. In the case of
Nicki Minaj, it's sassy and sexy dancefloor business as "Hey Mama" shines with
Afrojack on the assist; then there's
Emili Sande invoking the spirit of
Nina Simone on the moving "What I Did for Love," or
Sia going stark on the excellent "The Whisperer."
Guetta does the build, break, and drop thing on some cuts, while tastefully keeping other songs EDM free, but his major contribution when it comes to creativity seems to be the inspired
Black Eyed Peas and township jive mashing he does on "Lift Me Up" with
Nico & Vinz plus
Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Otherwise, he seems like a featured artist on his own album, which would be standard issue for other producers turned artist, but not
Guetta. ~ David Jeffries