It had been a decision that shook the electronic dance world, and one Tim Berling, then 27, didn’t take lightly. Before Berling, the Swedish DJ and producer knew as Avicii, declared his retirement from touring only five years following his 2011 song Degrees launched his meteoric rise, he’d to announce the news to people closest to him. He’d to describe to buddies, handlers and business partners why, to achieve happiness, he’d to alter his definition of success. He was thankful for the chances and conveniences of his lucrative career, he composed.
Swedish DJ Avicii Became An EDM Star:
Then he had to explain to his fans.
“Two weeks ago, I took the time to drive across the U.S. with my friends and team, to just look and see and think about things in a new way,” the musician wrote in an emotional letter on his website in 2016. “It really helped me realize that I needed to make the change that I’d been struggling with for a while.”
However, the lifestyle was exhausting, leaving too little left for the life of a real person for an artist. Avicii had cancelled tour dates in the year 2014 after having his gall urinary bladder and appendix removed, and had been hospitalized twice in the preceding two decades for pancreatitis, according to Billboard. He did leave the door open for a possible return to the EDM scene. Maybe more than these words resonated with his fans Friday. They had been devastated by the information that Avicii, 28, was found dead in Muscat, Oman. The reason for the death hasn’t yet been released.
He did leave the door open for a possible return to the EDM scene.
“I will however never let go of music,” he concluded. “One part of me can never say never, I could be back . . . but I won’t be right back.”
His lover’s unswerving dedication had made Avicii reluctant to withdraw from touring, despite his popularity. Wake Me Up, Hey, Brother and Levels are among the greatest songs of the decade, with been streamed on Spotify more than a billion times. Back in 2012 and 2013, Avicii was nominated for best dance recording. Fans on Friday wrote a heartfelt tribute on their social networking reports and shared vibrant videos of the times they saw him play. Some said that following his retirement was declared by Avicii, they’d held hope they’d see him on stage.
“I was nervous when I made the announcement, mainly that I would look ungrateful,” Avicii told the Hollywood Reporter shortly after. “But I’ve gotten so many supportive texts from friends in the industry, other DJs, other artists. The fan response has been incredible. And even the press response has been incredible. So yeah, it’s been a lot better than I expected.”
However, his choice to leave the spotlights light transmitted the pressures he felt as a face of electronic dance music, a business he helped bring to prominence. A documentary about the DJ published 6 months before, Avicii: True Stories, gives an unvarnished look at Avicii’s increase in popularity, based on a Variety review. The movie reveals how managers and agents can risk a celebrity’s health and friendship to make the most of their publicity and endurance, and comprises minutes when Avicii – who about this time was the world’s 6th highest paid DJ, making about $19 million annually – is dreading his second plane ride or headline collection.
“Young people can learn from this movie,” Levan Tsikurishvili, the director and a longtime friend of Avicii, told Variety in September. “That life can look exciting and glamorous on Instagram and social media, but you don’t really have any idea what’s going on behind that.”
“To me, it was something I had to do for my health,” he said about the decision to quit touring, according to Billboard. “The scene was not for me. It was not the shows and not the music. It was always the other stuff surrounding it that never came naturally to me. All the other parts of being an artist. I’m more of an introverted person in general. It was always very hard for me. I took on board too much negative energy, I think.”
Health scares made things tougher. Before his gallurinary bladder and appendix surgeries in the year 2014, he learned which he’d acute pancreatitis, that he explained was in part brought on by drinking, Billboard reported. But that did not mean he wanted to forgo success, Tsikurishvili told Variety. Avicii worked hard during his years touring a documentary scene shows him working out of his hospital bed.
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“But I think he didn’t really know from the beginning [at age 19] what it means to be that successful,” Tsikurishvili said. “No one knew that he could be that successful. It has been a weight for him. He’s had to find himself.”
