Many of David Guetta‘s hits have been reworkings of past tracks, and his current one, “Forever Young,” is no exception — but this one has led him to a milestone chart record.
“Forever Young,” credited to Guetta, Ava Max and Alphaville — the German band who originally wrote and recorded the song in 1984 — is #1 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. According to his record label, it’s Guetta’s 17th #1 on that chart, the most by any artist since the tally was introduced in 2003.
Guetta debuted “Forever Young” last summer during his residency in Ibiza, Spain. Ava flew there in September to join him in performing the song to a huge crowd. But as she told ABC Audio, she had no idea that the song had been a hit before she sang on it.
“It’s funny. My uncle texted me and goes, ‘You know, when I was a young teenager back in Albania, we fell in love with … the original “Forever Young” record,'” she told ABC Audio. “And I texted him back and I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s been around for so long!’ And it’s incredible that it’s hitting every generation.”
Prior to the David Guetta version, “Forever Young” had been remade several times by other artists, including Jay-Z in 2010. Ava thinks its appeal is due to its universal message.
“We all want to be forever young. And that means physically, internally, mentally — it’s whatever you may resonate with,” she said. “Everybody wants to feel their best. And we kind of associate that with being young and sharp and having those memories and having fun.”
Ava recently mourned the fact that Palisades High School, where she shot the video for her song “So Am I” five years ago, just burned down in the LA wildfires.
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