With roughly half the number of songs found on his 2016 debut LP, Kygo's sophomore effort, Kids in Love, actually ends up being a more satisfying and enjoyable experience now that he's learned to trim the fat.
Clocking in at less than half an hour, the eight-song collection feels more like an EP and is a focused dose of sunshine that avoids much of the homogeneity of his overstuffed Cloud Nine, trading tropical cool for warm emotion.
Of course, there are nods to his earlier work, like the breezy "I See You" with the gruff vocals of Billy Raffoul and the big pop moment of "Stranger Things," which features OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder.
However, much of Kids in Love finds Kygo taking stylistic steps outside his comfort zone, which pays off during the impeccable middle stretch.
American singer Wrabel brings a Sam Smith-style soul to the soaring "With You," while Boston outfit the Night Game carry the title track into the festival stratosphere with a giant singalong anthem that would fit nicely in an open-air set by Avicii or Swedish House Mafia.
Above all stands highlight "Riding Shotgun," a collaboration with Oliver Nelson that benefits from the light vocals of Bonnie McKee, who comes off as a cross-generational mix between Demi Lovato and Kylie Minogue.
Kids in Love brims with feeling and maintains its momentum throughout, providing an extremely uplifting and empowering mix that is a proper and gratifying evolutionary step for Kygo.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Never Let You GoKyrre Gørvell-Dahll, Max McElligott, John Newman | Kygo | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | SunriseDavid Frank, Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, Petey Martin, Jason Walker | Kygo | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Riding Shotgun | Kygo, Oliver Nelson | Play | 03:18 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Stranger Things | Kygo | Play | 03:41 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | With You | Kygo | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Kids in Love | Kygo | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Permanent | Kygo | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | I See You | Kygo | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 29 mins | 69 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Frank | Composer |
| 2 | James Goldcrown | Cover Painting |
| 3 | Selena Gomez | Primary Artist |
| 4 | Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll | Composer |
| 5 | Lars Gørvell-Dahll | Photography |
| 6 | Ellie Goulding | Featured Artist |
| 7 | Justin Jesso | Featured Artist |
| 8 | Jhart | Featured Artist |
| 9 | Kygo | Primary Artist |
| 10 | Johannes Lovund | Cover Design |
| 11 | Petey Martin | Composer, Producer |
| 12 | Max McElligott | Composer |
| 13 | Bonnie McKee | Featured Artist |
| 14 | Oliver Nelson | Primary Artist |
| 15 | John Newman | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 16 | The Night Game | Featured Artist |
| 17 | OneRepublic | Featured Artist |
| 18 | Billy Raffoul | Featured Artist |
| 19 | Myles Shear | Executive Producer |
| 20 | Sasha Sloan | Featured Artist |
| 21 | Jason Walker | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 22 | Wrabel | Featured Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |