Fade

*For other uses, see Fade (disambiguation).*

## Fade [NCS Release]

Cover

Alan Walker released the track **Fade** on 17 August 2014. The track gained attention after its re-release via the record label NoCopyrightSounds on 19 November. Walker stated that the creation of the track was inspired by K-391 and Ahrix, whose tracks were also picked up by the record label. The track has over 405 million views on YouTube, 79 million plays on Spotify, and 41 million streams on SoundCloud. Faded is the vocal remake.

## History

### Background

Walker joined YouTube in 2012 under the name "DJ Walkzz" and primarily produced Hands Up tracks for a full year. At the time, DJ Ness (now known as David Whistle) was his key inspiration. After almost another year of inactivity, he transitioned to using his real name and producing House tracks, continuing to do so up to the present day. Fade isn't actually the first house track produced by him as he did produce a track that is named "Dennis 2014" despite being produced the previous year. As the name of the video implies, the track was inspired by fellow Norwegian producer K-391, who is also known for producing house tracks. As a matter of fact, Fade was also inspired by him. A track named "Nova" (produced by Swedish producer Ahrix) was the other key inspiration for Fade.

### Aftermath

Following Fade's release through Walker's YouTube channel, it took 3 full months for NCS to notice him. Afterwards, the video was re-released through NCS, making it one of the rare instances where a track wasn't released through both channels (NCS and the original artist) on the same day, Nova being another example. Upon re-release, Fade was an instant success. Walker released 2 more tracks (Spectre and Force) through NCS in early 2015, and all 3 videos gained hundreds of millions of views each, making Walker perhaps the most popular NCS artist at the time.

Due to Fade's success, Walker took the opportunity to remake the track, this time with vocals. He first uploaded 3 teasers to YouTube, the first showing an excerpt of what the remake sounds like, the second showing the lyrics, and the third revealing the expected release date and name of the track, "Faded". Faded was originally planned to be released on November 25 (as a belated 1-year anniversary of Fade being released on NCS), but it was delayed "due to circumstances out of Walker's control."The track was eventually released on December 3. The vocals were sung by fellow Norwegian Iselin Solheim, who was uncredited. Upon Faded's release, it was a massive success, topping the charts of not just Walker's native Norway, but also Sweden, Finland, and others. It reached 1 billion views on March 30, 2017, after which Walker uploaded a video to celebrate this milestone. As of today, Faded has over 3.3 billion views, making it by far Walker's most popular track, and perhaps even his signature one.

During live performances, Walker would perform a remix of Fade, which is essentially a mashup of "Fade" and "King in The North" by MARNIK and Blazars.

After being the most popular video in the NCS channel with over 444 million views, Fade was taken down on November 12, 2021 (1 week before its 7-year anniversary) due to Walker's contract with NCS expiring. This also extends to Spectre and Force.

Another 2 days later, NCS addressed the removal of Walker's tracks from the label on Facebook:

6 years ago, when NCS was in its infancy, we had the pleasure of meeting and working with an immensely talented artist called Alan Walker. The tracks of his that NCS signed ("Fade", "Spectre" and "Force") performed incredibly well and we have greatly enjoyed playing our part in Alan's growth into one of the most successful producers in the world.
Unfortunately NCS's rights with Alan's tracks have come to an end and it hasn't been possible to agree terms to extend them. This means that we have removed these tracks from the NCS catalogue. This certainly isn't what we wanted, and we tried incredibly hard to avoid this.
We sincerely hope that all the arrangements that we put in place as a label that provides free music for creators will continue to be respected on these tracks in the future.

This was furthermore followed by a response from Walker himself:

When I dropped my first track 'Fade' with NCS more than 6 years ago, I never dreamed that my music could bring me to where I am today.I am forever grateful for the opportunity, support and help that Billy and NCS gave me, as they have done with thousands of other creators and producers trying to get their break.
The decision to not renew the agreement with NCS for my old catalogue of songs has nothing to do with not wanting to work with them as a label or YouTube Channel. This is a decision solely about taking control of my own music and creations.
I can assure you that anyone out there who's enjoying Force, Fade, Spectre in their creations on YouTube will not get a copystrike - not today, not ever!
NCS has played an important part in my life and career - and the extraordinary community of creators have given me friends for life. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the joy and excitement you've brought to me and other producers out there.
I wish NCS the very best for the future and will continue to be a loyal subscriber and supporter.

## Description

The song is set in common time and has a tempo of 90 beats per minute. It is written in the key of Eb minor with a chord progression of Ebm-B-Gb-Db.

## Trivia

* **Fade** is inspired by K-391's songs, as well as Ahrix's song **Nova**, which was released on 3 March 2013.
* **Fade** is the song in which many Alan Walker-style songs are inspired by because of its popularity. One of the most notable songs is **Skyline**, which was released on 7 March 2018.
* It is the only video that was released through Alan Walker's YouTube channel in 2014.

## Video

```

```

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://edm.com/news/alan-walker-ncs-youtube-releases-removed