Who remembers the “Cascada and Friends” remixes Vol. 1 album from 2008? It’s been 16 years since we’ve had an official Cascada remix, but finally, the wait is over with Natalie Horler recording vocals for the Jax Jones and Zoe Wees’ collaboration, titled “Never Be Lonely”. Could we finally be getting a sequel to the 2008 remix album? Could Vol. 2 finally get dropped? The release of this single follows up Cascada’s collaboration with Timmy Trumpet and Harris & Ford on the 2021 single “Never Let Me Go” as well as the original of “Never Be Lonely” by Jax Jones and Zoe Wees.
Written by Ina Wroldsen, Mark Ralph, Rebecca Claire Hill (Becky Hill), Sophie Frances Cooke (Frances), Timucin Lam (Jax Jones), and Tom Demac whilst it was produced by Jax Jones, Mark Ralph, Tom Demac, and Neave Applebaum, “Never Be Lonely” is an addictive dance track that is empowered more so with Natalie Horler’s flawless vocals. Known as the vocalist of Cascada, Natalie Horler has one impressive voice and this song only allows her to emphasise it more so.
Heart-filled and passionate, Natalie Horler connects effortlessly with the song’s lyrics, plunging her upbeat soulful voice into the fierce dance track as Jax Jones rearranges the track to an uptempo mix that brings with it that Cascada polished energy that we all know and love. The credits don’t specifically mention any involvement of the other two founding members of Cascada, Manuel Reuter (Manian) and Yann Peifer (Yanou) however Natalie Horler has always been the face of the dance act and has been touring non-stop under the name, so we’re sure Reuter and Peifer are proud of how this remix turned out with Horler dominating on the re-recorded vocals.
Originally the song features vocals from Zoe Wees, and Jax Jones is showcasing that he is a superstar DJ and producer as he has kept her full credit on this remix version, even though Horler’s vocals have replaced the original. Released on February 9, 2024, the Zoe Wees version wraps the intoxicating beat around her R&B vocals, bringing a whole new dynamic to the UK and German dance scene—Jax Jones is a British DJ and Zoe Wees is a German singer-songwriter; is it any surprise that German-British dance act Cascada jumped on for a remix?
Vocally soulful and full of emotion, Zoe Wees showcases the incredible rising talent that she is by bringing a lower register to the table that has an inspired touch from all those incredible ’90s black female dance artists, mixed around a modern sound.
While we don’t expect Zoe Wees to focus in on the dance scene with her awesome R&B vocals, she is definitely a rising star who isn’t afraid to experiment with her sound and show versatility and dynamism. She has been hitting up DJs lately, what with her collaborations with Kygo from 2021 titled “Love Me Now” and Felix Jaehn from 2022 titled “Do It Better”, so we expect to see more of her in the EDM realm although as a solo artist, she has been making awesome waves around the world within R&B. We can’t wait to see how she conquers 2024.
A music video for the original was dropped alongside the release of the song, which has already gained over 4.5 million views. The visual was filmed in connection with Pokémon, where Jax Jones and Zoe Wees can be seen performing “Never Be Lonely” in a stadium that is part of what looks like a space station in a futuristic universe, above what looks like Earth with another planet nearby—the planet has a ring like Saturn but looks more like Neptune.
There are intercut scenes at the beginning of Pikachu sleeping on some grass in what looks like a park as there are buildings in the background as well as trees and bushes. A light appears in the park, which awakens Pikachu, and as the light grows, Pikachu steps into the beam of light which elevates him up to the stadium concert where he hangs out with Jax Jones and Zoe Wees and has a brilliant time—wouldn’t we all if we got to hang out with Jones and Wees? Also, Ceruledge makes a brief appearance in the music video, so keep your eyes peeled.
Back to the Cascada remix, there’s no denying the strong transformation that the song has gone through for this version. What originally had a ’90s-inspired R&B tone, Jax Jones and Cascada have switched it up to bring some ’00s-inspired dance energy. This nostalgia theme that Jax Jones is riding on is everything we’ve wanted and more, and this Cascada remix is both full-on nostalgic and modern that we can’t help but hope that Jax Jones and Cascada collaborated on more than just this remix during their studio session.
A visualiser for the Cascada remix was also released showing clips of Jax Jones and Natalie Horler in the studio together, working on this track. Jones is all fired up, dancing away to the incredible beats he has made for this remix, while Horler is vibing away to the track as she’s sat on the chair singing the lyrics into the microphone as if her gorgeous voice and incredible vocal runs are effortless. The video clips are shown on an old Microsoft XP interface, with Microsoft WordArt that we all remember using.
“Never Be Lonely (Cascada Remix)”, by Jax Jones, Zoe Wees, and Cascada, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms, via WUGD under Polydor and Universal Music. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Cascada as they released their debut single “Miracle” in 2004. With Cascada reaching such an achievement, they are set to release their long-awaited fifth studio album, titled “Studio 24”, towards the end of this year.
The first single from the said album will be released on March 15, 2024, a cover version of the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”—we cannot wait to hear Natalie Horler’s vocals on this track!
We doubt that a “Cascada and Friends, Vol. 2” would be on its way, but who knows how Cascada plan to celebrate their 20th anniversary. We can’t help but hope that more Cascada remixes are on their way, and if they are, we need the trio to remix David Puentez & INNA’s song “The Love” since the track samples the Cascada version of “Everytime We Touch” which was originally sung by Maggie Reilly.
