2017 was a big year for A2—not that he's slowed down any since then—and a big part of his wins that year could be traced back to a single he released at the tail end of the year before, "X2 (Dbl)".

Of course, he'd been putting in the work for quite a few years before and early releases like 2012's Hennessey Thoughts and 2013's Faded Photographs stand as admirable early indicators of the kind of thoughtful, diary-like writing we could expect from him in the years to come. Chronically averse to self-promotion, he can at least be certain that it was always the music that brought him his success.

Here he is performing that fan favourite for COLORS Berlin. Frustratingly, he has a habit of deleting some of his releases, but thankfully he's so far elected to keep this online. Should that change, hopefully this intimate, simmering performance will remain.