Superstar DJ Tim Bergling aka Avicii Has Died

I tend to not comment on high-profile celebrity deaths, mostly because I feel like certain things are too sacred for the fickle online world of social media. Plus, I find outpourings of grief from strangers a little disingenuous.

Lately as well, there have been so many random celebrity deaths, often in bizarre circumstances or due to drug or alcohol abuse, that I guess you sort of become desensitised, as sad and heartless as that sounds.

However, when news broke that superstar EDM DJ Tim Bergling, or Avicii if going by his stage name, had passed away I was so shocked I actually thought it was a hoax. When I found out it wasn’t, I couldn’t help but share the news on social media and text my friends about it.

I’m not sure why I’m so affected by the news. I mean there’s the obvious reason in that 28 seems far too young to die. A cause of death hasn’t yet been confirmed and while there have been vague hints of past issues with alcohol, this is speculation. Given that drugs and the dance/rave culture go pretty much hand in hand, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that drugs were also at play but again, who knows?

So yeah, it definitely is shocking news in general. Even if Avicii’s death was due to a pre-existing medical condition, being a multi-millionaire you automatically assume people with that much fame and fortune have access to the best medical care, and therefore have a better chance of recovering from any health issues.

I guess when you’re a fan of an artist’s music, news of their passing is going to hit home. Music has a way of connecting people universally and evoking certain feelings, especially nostalgia when you associate a certain time and feeling with the music. It’s also often a reminder at how fast time goes by, when you look at the year that the song came out.

I remember first being introduced to Avicii’s music when he was using the name Tim Berg, and a workmate of mine sent me a link for the original, longer version of the song "Seek Bromance".
Shortly after, I found a shorter edit of the song without the vocals which, along with its edgy music video, is still one of my all-time favourite house tracks:

After that, I’ve always been able to recognise a song as an Avicii track because of his signature sound. For example, parts of the David Guetta song "Lovers on the Song" sounded suspiciously like an Avicii track and what do you know? When I looked it up online, he was listed as one of the producers.

Whilst I generally like some of his bigger hits such as "Levels", "Wake Me Up" and "I Could Be The One", it’s songs like "Seek Bromance", "Silhouette", "Dear Boy" and "Heart Upon My Sleeve" (the last two taken from his Album True) that make me feel some type of way when I listen to them; songs that affect you on a deeper level.

I guess it’s something about those melodies that remind me of trance music from the early noughties, and take me back to that specific time in my life when I was a teenager, hanging out in my sister’s flat with her Polish boyfriend, who I guess first introduced me to European house and other electronic music by playing Tiesto and Armin van Buuren.

At around the same time, I met a girl at college who was also into trance which was odd, as being a Bengali girl like me…well let’s just say, we’re not the typical target audience for that type of music.

Being estranged from her family, she also happened to live in flat right by me and a song in particular that stands out from that time is Reflekt’s "Need to Feel Loved", which featured in the film It’s All Gone Pete Tong, and takes me back to hanging out in her flat, eating junk food and watching episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Incidentally, it was a result of winning a competition run by BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong that led Avicii down the path to stardom.

It’s weird how the music and entertainment industry is all linked, especially when you look at certain genres or a specific time that work was released.

I don’t know if news these days just seems more crazy or shocking, or if it actually is because the world, the people in it and the choices they make are going downhill fast, but either way RIP Avicii: it was great to see someone with a genuine talent for producing unique and quality music become successful in a notoriously difficulty industry to crack.

Often, artists with such a worldwide appeal are successful due to constant exposure and as a result, the music quality is often compromised. In Avicii’s case, in addition to creating popular and catchy tunes that became worldwide smash hits, he also produced some darker, lesser-known songs which resonated with fans and critics on a more artistic level - his death really is a loss to the music and entertainment industry.