On December 31st, 2007, Basshunter released his iconic track “Now You’re Gone,” and, fifteen years later, we’re still listening to this club classic. With its deep trance beat and catchy melody, it’s the kind of track you love to go back to, and it’s sure to raise the energy at any party. But is there more to the story of this song than meets the eye?
“Now You’re Gone” began its life as a European hit, also by Basshunter, called Boten Anna. However, there are a few differences between the original and its English language cousin. First of all, as you may have already guessed, the lyrics to “Boten Anna” are not in English but in Swedish. Secondly, the lyrics tell a very different story.
Where “Now You’re Gone” is a classic break-up song, more notable for its sound than the themes of its lyrics, “Boten Anna” is the story of a man who meets an online bot only to discover that she is, in fact, a real woman.
Although the song is very much grounded in the technology of the era, it’s worth noting that its ideas have only become more relevant today. In a way, living in an age of online bots pretending to be people, where the line between humans and computers is already becoming blurred, this song feels more relevant now than it did in 2007.
In a way, it makes sense that the English song ditches these contemporary cyberpunk themes for a more straightforward and yet more immediately relatable narrative. The choice to turn it into a high-energy break-up song also gives the music more chance to stand on its own.
The choice to rewrite the lyric and speed up the tempo came from DJ Mental Theo, who began using it in his sets. The song was so popular that Basshunter ultimately decided to collaborate with Theo to release a studio version of the track. Sebastian Westwood sang the lyrics, and the rest is history.
The song saw international success in the charts. In the US, it peaked at number 45, in France it debuted at number 6, and, in the United Kingdom, it stayed at number 1 for five weeks.
Of course, one rewrite of this song isn’t enough. In 2009, on his third studio album titled Everybody Dance Now, famous noughties novelty artist Crazy Frog released a cover of the song titled “Everyone.”
At one and a half minutes long, the music video for this curious cover is one of the most 2009 things you’ll ever watch. The lyrics have once again been rewritten, this time to reflect the antics of Crazy Frog, and the video features a robot hunting down the Frog as he attempts to mix his latest track.
The song has also had a life outside the charts. In 2012 and again in 2015, “Now You’re Gone” was played non-stop for a 20-hour charity sleepover. It was arranged by Norton Hill School’s Quantock house and raised thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK and Time is Precious.
In the years since “Now You’re Gone” was released, the EDM genre has grown and changed in many different ways. So in a sense, the song represents the last of an old-school style of EDM that we don’t see so much of anymore, but it’s a fantastic tune and one we won’t stop playing any time soon.
