David Guetta
BY: Mele Moli & Danny Fifita
David Guetta Group Presentation
(Music 1010 Professor Leslie Henrie)
1.
Biography
2.
Composition History
• Turn Me On
• Up and Away
3.
Listening Guides
• Turn Me On
• Up and Away
4. References
David Guetta’s Music on rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/david-guetta
DAVID GUETTA…
Was born on November 7th, 1967 in Paris
France. He was born into a family of Moroccan
Sephardi Jewish descent. He started his
musical passion early, mixing his first vinyls
when he was only 13 years old. At 14 he was
organizing parties in his basement. At the age
of 17 he quickly moved on to DJing in popular
nightclubs throughout Paris. While he was
performing at his first Club named Broad, he
started mixing his own music and showcasing
it during the evenings. In 1987 he heard a
Farley Jackmaster Funk track on the radio and
it inspired him. He recorded the track and
brought a copy of it with him to one of the
clubs to play. This was a breaking point in the
popularity of the artist David Guetta.
About one year later Guetta and Kien decided that Club Broad was too small to gain the attention
that they yearned, so they moved to larger venues which included Rex Club, Central World, and
Wunderland Boy. During this time, Guetta met with Robert Owens, a Chicago native legend in
house music, while he was on tour in France in 1992. Guetta shared some of his music with Owens,
and Owens picked one and sang over it. This song, “Up and Away” ended up being a minor hit in
the house-music scene for the next several years. In 1992 he also met and married his wife Cathy
Guetta. He spends a lot of his time working with his wife.
During 2002 along with his first released album he co-founded GUM Productions Record Label.
Now, having several major hits on his hands, Guetta finally released a compilation in 2003 entitled,
“F**k Me I’m Famous” named after his parties he threw in Ibiza.
Link to Just a Little more love album: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/david-guetta/album/just-alittle-more-love-caroline-astralwerks---cat
With the success of this compilation he released a
second album in 2004 titled “Guetta Blaster” which
contained four singles and included some vocals by
Chris Willis. The album was a big hit throughout
Europe and sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. This
led him to winning the World Music Award in 2007
for World’s Best Selling DJ.
During these years Cathy and David had their 2
children, their son Tim Elvis Eric who was born in
2004 and their daughter Angie born in 2007.
Link to Guetta Blaster:
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/david
-guetta/album/guetta-blaster
It wasn’t until 2009 that David Guetta became
very popular internationally. He made it to the
3rd spot on the top 100 DJ’s in DJ Magazine. In
August 2009 he released his fourth debut
album titled “One Love.” The album sold over
3 million copies by May 2011 and reached
platinum record status. Guetta won his first
Grammy in 2009 in the category of Best
Remixed Recording, non-classical for the track
“When Love Takes Over.”
On August 30th, 2011 Guetta would release his
5th studio album, “Nothing But the Beat.” This
album would feature 17 all-star cast including
Akon, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, Taio Cruz, Snoop
Dogg, Timbaland, Chris Brown, and others..
Guetta had this to say about the album, “I
produced about 40 songs to get these 13 records
together. I wanted every song to be huge,
phenomenal.” According to the record sells he
has lived up to his hopes.
Link to Nothing But the
Beat Album:
http://www.rhapsody.c
om/artist/davidguetta/album/nothingbut-the-beat-capitol-2
David Guetta has successfully crossed the bridge in America and brought together dance style music and
rap bringing the Euro-pop sound to America. He has created a whole new sound that is at the top of the
charts around the world. During an interview with The Vine, David expressed his love for music, “for me
it’s about the music; I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink or smoke. I just do what I love to do which is making
and playing music.” With over 5 million sales worldwide since his first release in 2001, David Guetta has
made a tremendous mark on the world’s music industry. Guetta has come a long way from where he
started and now he is at the top, doing what he loves, making and playing music.
Just like David Guetta’s single Without You, Turn
Me On also derives from his fifth studio album
named Nothing but the Beat. The song was written
by David Guetta, Ester Dean, and Giorgio
Tuinfort. The vocals in this record though, were
created by one of the most popular female hip-hop
and rap artist Nicki Minaj. Nicki also uses this
song in her second studio album called Pink
Friday: Roman Reloaded, as a bonus song in its
deluxe version. The song was released in January
of 2012. This song peaked at 4 on the Billboard Hot
100 which makes it tie with his earlier single,
Without You! Even though this song wasn’t used
in GLEE like Without You it was used to promote
WWE WrestleMania XXVIII which is just as huge
of a deal as the show GLEE. Wikipedia states that
Turn Me on is a “Up-tempo club song, with heavy
beats and features Minaj on vocals.” Nicki Minaj’s
Rap is amazing in this song and flows so well that
after hearing it at least twice you’ll have most of it
memorized! This song was such a great creation
and production in the world of music.
Up & Away is one of David Guetta’s first
successful creations. In 1992, David Guetta was
promoting his music and having successful club
nights. The genre Daft Punk and Electroclash had
the biggest influence on his club music and the
combinations of the two genres are soaked in UP
and Away. David Guetta was given the
opportunity in 1992 to showcase his tracks for
Robert Owens a successful and now legendary
house vocalist. The track that Owen’s considered
his favorite was given lyrics and melody related to
a girl that was using a boy to get closer to his
friend. Owen’s sang over the track. The song was
given the title UP and Away. In David Guetta’s
crate the song would wait. In 1994, Up & Away
was released in France and immediately become a
minor hit! Its genre was of course Electronic with
House style. Its label was Dance Pool which is a
division of Sony. The song is licensed by R.
Owens & XL Promotion. Up & Away is still a wellknown song to this day and has been remixed 7
times into different Electronic styles. It starts out
slow but gets you up to beat and in the mood for
electronic music.
0:00- The introduction starts out quick and ends quickly. The song has a quadruple meter with simple
division and is simple to tell with the beat on the first count being emphasized. The tempo of the song is very
fast, but isn’t filled with much music throughout the introductory. The music is synthesized and all
electronically done. The introduction has a few simple beats before the first verse begins, and is in a major
scale.
0:15- First Verse, this song features Nicki Minaj as the singer. The song is homophonic in nature, and Nicki
Minaj brings a really good texture to the song that compliments and accompanies the song well. I say the
song has a really good texture because usually popular songs music will accompany the singer, but with this
song both the music and singer accompany the other. The song is produced to where it could be just good
house music without lyrics. Also, Nicki Minaj brings great lyrics and voice to the table that accompanies the
song, but the lyrics are good enough to have it be its own. The timbre of the song is something that is not
natural however, because the singer’s voice is enhanced electronically using auto tune. For the first 15
seconds of the verse the rhythm of the song doesn’t change much.
0:30- The beat starts to bounce around as Minaj gradually gets a higher pitch, and then drops back down to
gradually build up to a higher pitch.
0:45- Chorus begins the song seems to slow down as Minaj holds a note until the chorus. Because of the use of
the synthesizer and auto tune the first verse has a moderate range.
0:53- The chorus does a really good job of catching the listener with catchy lyrics and rhythm. The rhythm
seems to “pump” and makes it easy to follow along with, and get stuck in your mind. The chorus harmonizes
well between the music and the lyrics. The harmony is consonance throughout the chorus as well as the
whole song which gives it a nice flow without requiring a resolution. Again because of the song involving a
lot of synthesizing the timbre does not have a lot of overtones as described in our class’ e-text. Even though
this portion of timbre is not present it does not take away from the song; in fact, it gives the song its
uniqueness.
1:24- As the second verse begins the rhythm goes back to being somewhat basic and does not change as
much. The beat does give a couple contrasting beats that bounce around towards the end of every other
measure. The beat alone has a small range. This gives the music a good repetition to contrast ratio that the
listener can hold on to, but still be “stimulated” by the contrast. The repetition also requires the Nicki Minaj to
add a lot of contrast to it, which she does.
2:02- Is repeated as the same as the first time the chorus is sung.
2:32- The Bridge in my opinion is the best part of the song. I especially like the rhythm because it seems to be
so simple. The beat seems to softly echo the lyrics as notes are held by Minaj. The bridge unfortunately does
not last very long and even though the tempo slows way down for this portion of the song it still flies by.
2:47- Because of the bridge being the best part of the song it must be the reason why the start of the third
verse is the worst part of the song. During the third verse is really the only time in the song where there is
dissonance and needs resolution. This opinion may be bias because I do not like this part of the song, but the
harmony is terrible as the third verse begins. The beat is a simple low bass beat as Nicki Minaj attempts to
give the third verse range and dips low in pitch stuttering all over the place, of course of purpose.
2:58- The resolution is as Minaj brings the pitch back to normal right before the chorus begins. The tempo
does pick back up in the third verse where the bridge had slowed down the tempo.
3:02- I classify the ending as the chorus because it is the same rhythm and lyrics as the chorus are song earlier.
It is however, half the length as it normally is throughout the song so it could be classified as something
different.
00:00- Starts with clapping and short tuba sounding
melody, it’s kind of silly. Beat 1 sounds like low
frequency piano sound, clapping and every 8 beats
is a crash of the high hat.
00:18- Beat 1 starts. Beat 1 sound like a drummer
tapping a rudiment pattern on a open high hat very
softly. This make you feel like the songs going to get
fast.
00:25- There is a crash and beat 2 is now being
played louder with a different metallic sound.
00:40- Beat 3 starts and the clapping is removed at
the same time. It slows the whole feeling of the
song. Vocals decide to come in now.
00:55- Light solo cymbal crash then Beat 3 connects
to Be at 2 seems to have the offbeat emphasized.
Then a Augmented notes vibrate like an organ hold
steady as Robert Owen's vocal melody harmonizes
with beat 2 making a sad emotional texture. The
tempo never changes. and the tempo picks up
slightly. Clapping and beats carry the music to its
next destination. The vocal melody is really pretty
here.
01:23- Beat 2 ret mixed with beat 4. Beat 4 is not
metallic, it's low in frequency with short attack and
release with each note. Beat 4 give great contrast
and your attention comes back to the music. There is
one vocal melody doing round melody technique
and one continues the previous melody. Both voices
are Robert’s voice.
01:40- Beat 4 is faded away. One voice is singing
again.
02:15- Beat 4 comes crescendo in very lightly.
02:33- Beat 4 is removed again.
02:39- Complete silence
02:40- Cymbal crash brings back the music. Which
is, Beat 4, Beat 3, clapping, augmented organ like
notes but not the vocal melody.
03:03- Cymbal crashes and beat 3 is removed
quickly like a razor sliced it from the rest of the song
but we'll wait and see. Beat 3 is quite important to
this song and we still have 2:34 seconds left. There’s
a electronic sound sounds like whistle, that seems to
follow beat 4 but is still separate from beat 4.
03:13- Cymbal crashes and Beat 4 is removed. But the vocal melody returns. I'm not pleased. I would
rather have the beats then listen to vocal melody. But, I'm in a happy mood listening to broken
hearted song in a genre that thrives on happy moods.
03:15- Beat 3 is back and the augmented notes are now less augmented but more of quick repeating
melody, it very trance like. This melody is really fun, subtle and screams house music. twelve
seconds.
03:20- Beat 4 is back.
03:26- 2 voices that are harmonizing. one is melody with polyphonic singing “up & away” and
another voice that is humming or sing just syllables.
03:39- There is a nice break from the vocals and it just instrumentation music.
03:58- The vocal melody comes back.
04:12- Vocal harmony with three voices all Robert Owen's voice just doing a different melody. one is
doing sing a conjunct melody, one is imitating and 3rd is doing a round melody sing "up, up and
away".
04:42- The vocal are louder and lyrics are new in this part of the song. The once augment low
frequency is now its own melody and very important to climax of this song. As this melody continues
there are variations to it.
05:12- The song continues to at the same tempo it started with. The low frequency piano notes playing
a really fun melody, clapping is hold steady, beat 3 and 4 are almost one beat.
05:32- The song end suddenly.
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