“This Is What It Feels Like” by Armin Van Buuren (ft. Trevor Guthrie)
The logical presumption would be that the addressee is a romantic interest of the vocalist’s. The ‘feeling’ referred to in the title, which he is now learning how to deal with, is that of said individual being absent. Or put more simply, the vocalist is lonely and depressed without the woman he loves, ‘not even knowing how to survive’ even. And it isn’t necessarily as if he’s begging her to come back or anything like that. Rather, more to the point is this suffering being a real, palpable emotion.
Trevor Guthrie
This song officially features the vocals of Trevor Guthrie. He is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He is famous for being a member of the Canadian pop band, soulDecision.
This marks Guthrie’s first official collaboration with Van Buuren.
Was “This Is What It Feels Like” a single release?
Yes. It was the 2nd single released from Van Buuren’s “Intense” album on April 29 of 2013.
Credits
The song was written by Armin and Trevor with support from the following:
- Benno de Goeij
- Jenson Vaughan
- John Ewbank
Music Video
As of April 2022, the official music video to “This Is What It Feels Like” has over 118 million views on YouTube.
Genre(s)
- Progressive trance
- Progressive house
- Dance-pop
Grammy Nomination
In 2014, the song was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Dance Recording” category. That category was also made up of the following songs:
- Duke Dumont and KABBA’s “Need U (100%)”
- Calvin Harris and Florence Welch’s “Sweet Nothing”
- Kaskade’s “Atmosphere”
- Zedd and Foxes’ “Clarity” (WINNER)
Notable Use
This is one of the songs that appeared on episode 38 of Season 3 of British reality series, “Love Island“.
“This Is What It Feels Like” is a Top-10 Hit
- US – 96
- UK – 6
- Scotland – 2
- Netherlands – 2
- Israel – 8
- Hungary – 9
- Canada – 6
- Belgium – 7
- Austria – 7
- Australia – 2
Covers
In 2013, English singer, Jasmine Thompson, released her version of “This Is What It Feels Like” to moderate success. Another relatively popular version of this song is Beth’s 2013 cover. In 2014, singers Jake Coco and Ali Brustofski also dropped a solid rendition of this hit tune.
The “Intense” Album
Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren dropped “Intense” as his fifth studio offering. On May 3 of 2013 this project was officially made public through record label Armada Music. Seven singles, including “This Is What It Feels Like”, were used to promote this album. “Waiting for the Night” was issued, as the album’s lead single, on January 21 of 2013. It featured Australian singer Fiora.
“Beautiful Life” and the project’s title track were, respectively, released in September and November 2013. The rest of the album’s singles were all released in 2014 as follows:
- “Save My Night” (January 6)
- “Alone” (February 11)
- “Humming the Lights” (August 21)
“Intense” peaked on the Billboard 200 at #65. It got to #37 on the main albums chart in the UK. It reached #2 and #7 in the Netherlands and Poland, respectively.
