We can’t believe it’s been a year since Alexander 23 dropped Aftershock and changed our lives forever. It truly was one of our top albums of the year last year. With the anniversary approaching we were expecting a nice post or message from Alexander to commemorate the occasion and we were pleasantly surprised with what we got. Just a year after Aftershock, Alexander 23 hit us with Aftershock Deluxe! It includes ‘Different,’ which Alexander has been teasing us with for a while, an original demo version of ‘The Hardest Part,’ and the demo version of ‘What If.’ Can’t believe we get to cry to a whole new version of ‘The Hardest Part,’ he really did that for us.
It feels like just yesterday that we were freaking out over Aftershock singles like ‘Hate Me If It Helps’ and ‘Crash’ and time seems to have flown by. We’re so happy that ‘Different’ made its way to Aftershock Deluxe because we’ve been dying to hear the full thing ever since he first teased it in his community texts. Not to mention ‘What If,’ which you hear snippets of at the end of ‘Fall 2017 (What If?).’ Lots of fans are obsessed with that portion of the song so getting the full version of it is truly the best anniversary gift. And we didn’t think ‘The Hardest Part’ could be MORE painful but we’ve once again been proven wrong.
‘Different’
‘Different’ really is everything we could’ve asked for and more. It’s exactly Alexander 23’s brand of emotional and sad lyricism set to an upbeat track. Yes, we were teased with this one and wondered if we’d ever hear it in full, and we’re happy to say it was well worth the wait. It’s also really cool to see what did and didn’t make the original version of the album and the process of turning it into what it is as well as what ended up on the deluxe version.
‘What If’
We’re so so happy to hear the full version of ‘What If.’ It’s such a beautiful track and we’re obsessed with his vocals and the production of it. It’s hard to believe it’s only 1:41 because we could listen to it forever. Finding out this existed was so exciting and now we’re finally sitting here able to listen to it. It’s also really cool to see what did and didn’t make the original version of the album and the process behind some of these songs and what they became.
‘The Hardest Part’ (original demo)
We’ve ugly cried to the original and now we can ugly cry to the demo version. This song takes an already emotional, personal, and heartbreaking track and adds another layer of melancholy and emotion to it. You can once again hear the raw emotion in Alexander’s voice and the production of this demo version shows us a different side of what this track is. We honestly can’t decide which version we prefer cause they both make us cry.
We’re absolutely in love with all these demo/new tracks and we’re so glad Alexander 23 decided to release this. You can stream Aftershock Deluxe here. (And we highly recommend that you do). Alexander 23 is playing a special show on July 15th in LA to celebrate Aftershock Deluxe and we hope we get all three of these tracks live.
How are you feeling about Aftershock Deluxe? Alexander 23 simply never disappoints. Let us know in the comments below or drop us a line on our socials. We’re always buzzing about something on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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