On my way home from watching The Netherlands’ World Cup game against Japan in Amsterdam late last night, I got shook up by the news of Oliver Tree sadly passing in a helicopter crash over in Brazil, amidst being on a world tour. I haven’t spoken much about the eccentric singer on this blog but Oliver Tree’s music has been with me since he released some of his first singles, ‘All I Got’ and ‘Alien Boy’, which I subsequently highlighted on my previous blog De Spotlight back in 2018. Ever since, I kept up with his releases, took a solid liking to his official debut ‘Ugly is Beautiful‘ (which features some ironic songs that become quite tough to listen to now, knowing he’s gone), and went to his gig in Amsterdam back in November 2019. For many years now, his music has been a staple in many of my playlists and two solid handful of songs are very frequently played here at home still to this date. After a few years, I slowly got more and more out of touch with Oliver Tree’s new stuff as he grew more and more popular and I shifted my music taste a little further away from the style he was pursuing. I’ve always known the artist that was Oliver Tree as a very original and creative singer/songwriter – starting off with his alternative moniker Mr. Tree or simply Tree, with which he even legitimately and very solidly managed to cover ‘Karma Police‘ by Radiohead, and later by breaking through the mainstream barriers with the quirky and peculiar persona he’d created – and I’m saddened to see him pass away in this tragic accident. Being only 32 years of age, I’m sure he would’ve been capable of creating many more fantastic and unorthodox pieces of content that would be enjoyed by many all over the globe.