When 1788-L broke through the spacetime wormhole arriving in our present reality, it probably did not notice its fellow robot and sweeter counterpart followed him. The cyborg KLOUD bore many resemblances to its more famous cousin and upon descending to present-time Earth, it subsequently got sheltered, raised, and promoted as a successful offspring of futuristic music by none other than the Trap Nation management team.

Summoning the indomitable bravery that comes with being an uprising musician – and with having the biggest YouTube electronic music channel backing it up – KLOUD has been setting its standards extremely high in terms of remixes and covers, pulling those off for big shots such as NERO, La Roux, Illenium, San Holo, and Porter Robinson. It’s even more impressive to think it still has in its bucket list deadmau5, Above & Beyond, and Skrillex for this new year.

More recently, KLOUD has put its own midtempo spin on ‘Save The World’ by Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin, following the enormous wave of hype that the Swedish supergroup has generated last year with their return and multiple teasers.

Here, KLOUD dares.

During the first 10 seconds of the song, we already are welcomed by two stark deviations from the original.

The beginning phase welcomes us with a melancholic replacement of John Martin’s grandiose voice, which is arguably the biggest risk this entire track is running, and with some gloomy, quasi anxious plucks that take the place of the Original Mix’s upbeat drum pattern – I can’t help comparing this initial segment to Phuture Noize’s ‘Shallow Waters’, a vocal Hardstyle gem defined by a similarly suffocating atmosphere.

The aforementioned struggling vocal doesn’t flow well.

The build up-drop scheme feels too hasty, contributing at turning some heads, and the impact of said drop gets damaged from this.

Finally, the drop comes, and I’m all for switching things up all little, taking for granted the producer manages to keep a certain mood or vibe throughout the entirety of a solid release. Here, though, KLOUD goes off the rails of a usually devastating and relentlessly cruel midtempo drop that you would expect from such gloomy build that almost brings you to the verge of anxiety.

Instead, a sharp and sparkling synth drives the drop, and I would stretch as far as calling it melodic midtempo. Energetic, futuristic, and it carries fresh glitchy plucks: it capitalizes well on the modernity and novelty of its concept.

Personally, I found it an overall improvement on the original drop, which still holds its ground to this day, but can show the signs of age at times: I always thought ‘Save The World’ was an objectively weaker vocal track from the trio, particularly due to a bland climax, outclassed by ‘Leave The World Behind’, ‘Don’t You Worry Child’, and even by the underrated ‘Euphoria.’

The main synth caused some rip-off controversy.
Porter Robinson’s Remix of ‘The Thrill’ by NERO represents everything a top tier Remix is; taking inspiration from it only helps here. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a rip-off, though. Anything that will even scratch the surface of sounding as good as the Porter Remix does, will sound great… Regardless.

As in many solid songs, the abrupt ending does damage the finished product, also considering the Cover was not as long as it deserved. I understand this branch of Bass Music doesn’t owe its fame to brilliant progressions or refined length, but the original clocks in at almost seven minutes long.

Keeping in my mind all of this, KLOUD proves to be one of those acts whose influences can be thoroughly felt coming all together in one spot, not that it actually bothers. Au contraire, KLOUD breathes new life in a decade-old classic anthem manipulating futuristic elements, thrilling us.

The community reaction to this cover went two ways. Obviously, purists and conservative fans will hardly ever accept a twist like this on a song like ‘Save The World’. Then, the forward-thinkers, who just as much as I did, got enthusiastic by this experiment and accepted it for what it was.

Actually, there is a third way the reaction went: those who never heard the classic, are into the more modern trend of midtempo, and thus loved KLOUD’s version in a sort of blind way.

Wrapping this up, KLOUD is an emerging trap and midtempo producer that dared to touch the sky, remixing what is not too far from a ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ of the “EDM Golden Era”, ‘Save The World’ from uber-legends Swedish House Mafia, and didn’t disastrously fall flat on to the ground.

Anyone that considers himself/herself a serious electronic music aficionado should hold great respect for KLOUD even daring to touch this track. In my perspective, it pulled this feat off effectively and even added in the flavor that the original was so notably missing.

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