He famously dated superstar Taylor Swift – one of the biggest-selling country music stars around.
Now Scots DJ Calvin Harris is making an unexpected foray into the genre in which his ex-girlfriend made her name.
Dumfries-born Harris – real name Adam Wiles – has given fans a glimpse of an upcoming song he is due to release – with critics quick to pick up on its country music style.
The star posted a short clip of him singing the new track – titled Smoke the Pain Away – on social media, stating that the track will be released this Friday.
The song, which his team is marketing as ‘genre-blending,’ marks Harris’ first major return to vocals after several years and is a far departure from the electro hits that brought him to fame.
Much of the Scots star’s early work, including his 2007 debut album I Created Disco featured his own vocals.
However, after deciding to stop singing live in 2010, this is the first track to feature his voice since 2014.
In an article about Harris’s change of direction, Music Radar wrote: ‘It’s a known fact that country music is hotter than ever and, always willing to ride a genre-mashing bucking bronco, here comes Calvin Harris, fresh out of the stocks on yet another new style.’
Calvin Harris is sporting a new long-haired look ahead of his foray into country music
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris attend the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada
The pair dated for a period of 15 months before things took an acrimonious turn
The new song already has a couple of famous fans, including Harris’s wife – Radio 1 DJ Vick Hope, who responded to the post of the song clip, writing: ‘Those vocals. YEEEESSSSS!’.
Similarly, TV presenter Davina McCall wrote: ‘I love it when you do the vocals.’
Harris and Swift dated from February 2015 till May 2016 after they met at the Elle Style Awards.
During the relationship they were spotted shopping in Nashville, where Taylor has a home.
In July 2016, after their 15-month relationship came to an end in May of that year, Harris laid bare the acrimony between him and Swift in a series of increasingly angry tweets.
The DJ initially complimented his former flame on her ‘amazing’ ability to pen smash hits after she confirmed she’d written the lyrics to his track This Is What You Came For, sung by pop star Rihanna, while they were dating.
However, his tweets quickly took a turn as he accused Swift of trying to question his credibility and of being ‘hurtful’ by exposing her involvement in the track following its worldwide success.
At the time, he told his 7.8million followers on social media that Swift had chosen to use a pseudonym on the credits for the song.
He said: ‘I wrote the music, produced the song, arranged it and cut the vocals though. And initially she wanted it kept secret, hence the pseudonym.
Harris with his wife Vick Hope. She has already praised his new country song online
‘Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage though.’
In another tweet he sarcastically urged Swift to focus on her then blossoming romance with English actor Tom Hiddleston, 44, who starred in the recent BBC hit drama The Night Manager.
Hiddleston and Swift were an item for a matter of months in the later part of 2016.
At the time, Harris wrote: ‘I figure if you’re happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of ‘Trying to tear your exbf [boyfriend] down for something to do.’
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