Diplo has further diversified his career with his latest album, taking on ambient sounds. He’s already been everywhere this year, from Fortnite to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) afterparty as well pushing his Higher Ground label and Thomas Wesley alias.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Diplo announced his first-ever ambient album, MMXX, Roman numerals for 2020. In the post, he writes that MMXX is the only music he made this year, and he further describes the inspiration behind his new album:
“…It’s about being here this year. For me it’s all I had inside me. I didn’t want to have zoom sessions, I didn’t want to write pop songs. I was just stuck in my house with keyboards and a guitar I barely ever used. I would walk outside Los Angeles and see empty streets and see nervous people and this is what I heard .. but to me this year isn’t dark it’s not about the negative .. it’s about hope. We are all going to remember we did it together and remember what we take from it .. we can look back in a few years and say it was tough but I’m tougher…”
Diplo also stated that album proceeds will be donated to Beam Collective & The Loveland Foundation: “Everyone might need something different, you don’t have to do it alone .. mental health is something that we don’t speak about enough. I’m giving to Beam Collective & The Loveland Foundation because they can give you a little help where you need it most. I’ll be donating proceeds of what we’re making from this album .. also working with calm app because they can help find a way for people to listen to these tracks… Making ambient music might be a lot different than what you would expect from me but actually if you know me you probably know it’s not.”
The album is not solely Diplo. He also tapped Mikky Ekko, Good Times Ahead, Lunice, and Rhye for collaborations.
Diplo partnered with mobile app Calm for this release. As evident by the name, Calm focuses on reducing stress and anxiety and bettering mental health in general. This will push the album to a greater audience that may not have listened outside of the app.
