We all anticipated that Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd would eventually cross paths, but no one could’ve been prepared for the day it would actually happen.
As Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello graced a Brooklyn-based warehouse for their pre-show performance at the VMAs, no one was realistically forecasting any musical bombshells from Swedish House Mafia beyond them playing out “It Gets Better” and “Lifetime” just as they did on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In typical, unpredictable Swedish House Mafia fashion, the performance didn’t end there. The Swedes capped things off with a 25-second sliver of an impending mega-crossover with none other than The Weeknd, summoning instant chaos across Twitter as well as the trio’s subreddit and discord channel. One month and a handful of teasers later, Swedish House Mafia’s hall-of-fame worthy alliance alongside The Weeknd has been let loose as “Moth To A Flame” becomes the third tracklist member of Paradise Again.
Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd on shared title didn’t happen as a coincidence by any stretch of the imagination. When the Swedes inked a new management deal with Sal Slaiby back in April, the concept quickly adjusted from an improbable longshot to a meeting that seemed all but guaranteed. Right off the bat, the artwork for “Moth To A Flame” is a treasure in itself, with The Weeknd sleekly posed with the Swedes’ trademark three dots subtly scattered on his sunglasses. Saying that a collaboration is a dead-on split isn’t something that can be claimed about a majority of them nowadays, but Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd painlessly balance each other out from the second that the first chords strike and the latter’s already iconic opening line hits. “Moth To A Flame” truly feels like Swedish House Mafia’s golden house touch of the 2010s properly molded into modern times alongside The Weekend’s stamp of untouchable vocal work, amounting to another invaluable, necessary leap in the trio’s musical evolution that hopefully further quiets those who continue to unjustifiably plead for a second coming of “Greyhound” or “Don’t You Worry Child,” which Sebastian Ingrosso they’d left behind on Paradise Again. If Swedish House Mafia hadn’t already done so at Ultra 2018, on their brief reunion campaign in 2019, or with their first pair of album singles this past July, “Moth To A Flame”—along with the jaw-dropping reveal that they’ll return to Coachella in 2022—is the Swedes surefire response to any ambiguity surrounding them “being back” from a larger audience that expectedly hasn’t been paying as close of attention to the group’s reunion narrative from the past three-plus years.
If “Moth To A Flame” wasn’t enough Swedish House Mafia activity for a single week, the Paradise Again tour—which had already been confirmed in Billboard’s original masterwork of an article—is officially in play as well. On top of the Coachella reveal, the Swedes started to have their name appear throughout venues and cities around the world in the past week, including Metlife Stadium just outside of New York, London, Amsterdam, San Diego, Chicago, and Miami’s FTX Arena among countless others. To pair alongside the single’s release, Swedish House Mafia have disclosed the entire schedule for their coinciding album run. Tickets go on sale on October 29 and more information—including an album CD that ships next April—can be found here.
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA 2022 TOUR DATES
Fri Jul 29 – Miami, FL – FTX Arena
Sun Jul 31 – Orlando, FL – Amway Center
Wed Aug 3 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
Fri Aug 5 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Sun Aug 7 – Montreal, QC – îleSoniq Festival
Tue Aug 9 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Wed Aug 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Thu Aug 11 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Sat Aug 13 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Wed Aug 17 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Fri Aug 19 – Minneapolis, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Sun Aug 21 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
Thu Aug 25 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Fri Aug 26 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sat Aug 27 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Tue Aug 30 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
Fri Sep 2 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena
Sun Sep 4 – San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena
Tue Sep 13 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Wed Sep 14 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Fri Sep 16 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Thu Sep 29 – Manchester, UK – AO Arena
Fri Sep 30 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro Arena
Sun Oct 2 – London, UK – The O2
Thu Oct 6 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
Sat Oct 8 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena Birmingham
Mon Oct 10 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena
Fri Oct 14 – Madrid, Spain – IFEMA Madrid Live
Sat Oct 15 – Lisbon, Portugal – Altice Arena
Tue Oct 18 – Milan, Italy – Mediolanum Forum
Wed Oct 19 – Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
Fri Oct 21 – Krakow, Poland – Tauron Arena
Sat Oct 22 – Prague, Czech Republic – O2 Arena
Tue Oct 25 – Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena
Thu Oct 27 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
Sat Oct 29 – Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
Mon Oct 31 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Thu Nov 3 – Vienna, Austria – Stadthalle
Sat Nov 5 – Frankfurt, Germany – Festhalle
Sun Nov 6 – Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena
Tue Nov 8 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclaycard Arena
Wed Nov 9 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
Fri Nov 11 – Oslo, Norway – Telenor Arena
Sun Nov 13 – Tampere, Finland – Uros Arena
Featured image: Luciano Picazo
