Salem's top 5 hit in the UK! (and elsewhere in the world)

"You Make Me", the Avicii track featuring Salem on vocals, entered the UK singles chart at number 5 last Sunday.  The song remains at number 5 this week.  "You Make Me" is also currently doing well in the worldwide iTunes charts.

Unfortunately Salem doesn't seem to be credited on the single over here, and he doesn't appear in the video either :(  You can check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GADx4Hy-Gg which has had almost 7 million views so far.

The Wizard....

Salem has continued to collaborate with his great friend Pontus de Wolfe - firstly there was Earpony, then their book, then their theatre show and now they have taken the great step into writing the lyrics and music for a new production of "Trollkarlen Från Oz" - The Wizard of Oz - by the Glada Hudik Theatre.

Glada Hudik will be touring Sweden with this production in 2014.  More information at http://www.gladahudikteatern.se/ where I also found this nice picture of Salem.

"Sergels Torg" - Veronica Maggio

Salem has been very busy collaborating with other artists.  Apart from Avicii, he has co-written and produced the latest single by one of Sweden's best female artists, Veronica Maggio.

"Sergels Torg" is the name of the song, which is in the Swedish iTunes top 10 at the moment.  The song mixes Veronica's distinctive vocal sound with that special kind of  magic and emotion which we expect from Salem, and the result is a lovely, uptempo (yet somehow sad) pop song. 

Avicii featuring Salem Al Fakir: "You Make Me"

It's been a long time since there has been anything to write about on Planet Salem, but thanks to top Swedish DJ and producer Avicii, that's all about to change.  For "You Make Me", the song co-written by Avicii, Salem and another one of my favourite Swedish artists Vincent Pontare, is going to be the follow-up single to Avicii's worldwide smash hit song of this summer, "Wake Me Up" which featured the vocals of Aloe Blacc.  So you can expect to hear Salem's voice on the radio, all over the world!

"You Make Me" has of course been around the internet for some time - the title was originally thought to be "Someone Like You" or "All My Life".  The song will probably not be as big a crossover hit as "Wake Me Up" although it is still very accessible and as Avicii's popularity has soared over recent months, it is guaranteed a place on radio playlists.  

I just wish that Avicii would credit his guest vocalists more, but it is just great to know that he is still making music, even in collaboration with other artists.  Although Salem had previously collaborated with Avicii on "Silhouettes" (which really deserved to be more successful than it was), "You Make Me" will really make people sit up and take notice of Salem's musical talent.