I decided to write this blog not because I consider myself an expert of this topic, but because of the passion I have for music.
I was born surrounded by music. I studied how to play the piano, played in music bands and of course as almost every guy I went to discos, dance and had fun with friends.
Growing up, I got closer and closer to electronic and dance music because I liked it, it was inspiring my days and give me positive energy when I was listening it. In my mind there is no perfect music genre, it's all based on personal interests.
My story with electronic music changed during a summer day in 2011; that night we went to listen Avicii in one of his shows. I already knew who was Avicii but only at that point I just realized his music had something special.
Tim Bergling (his real name) started off by producing tracks on a laptop in his bedroom. He chose the name Avicii which comes from “Avici”, a Buddhist term for the lowest level of hell, but a level from which souls can be reborn. He added the additional “i” since “Avici” was already taken.
Initially discovered by the Dutch producer Laidback Luke, Avicii’s presence in the electronic music scene exploded with the release of his hit track Levels in 2011. Only 21 at the time of its release, he had limited experience in handling his newfound fame but was guided by his manager, Ash Pournouri.
Avicii followed up Levels with additional smash songs like Fade Into Darkness and Silhouettes, shifting the focus of EDM into where it is at today. Always aiming to set himself apart, though, he released Wake Me Up in 2013, blending folk, country, and electronic music. The song catapulted to the first slot of music charts in over 40 countries worldwide.
To me Avicii created a totally new kind of electronic music that deserves a name for itself. He created wonderful music, that you could dance, you could sing, that you could be happy with, a music for everything. I think he can be seen as a one of the most important music composers of our time: his music will never die, as all the music that great composers did during our history. Many artists worked with him, and the common factor among them was that they were impressed by his talent. He could see the way the song had to be composed, all the instruments that had to be used around the voice of the singer, the melody that had to be put together to make the song perfect. As all the great artists, he was a perfectionist, one of those few people in the world that have an imagination that goes beyond everything.

"Man, you're so talented.." (Chris Martin talking to Tim Berling during the composition of "A sky full of stars")

I don't think that the fact that great talented and visionary people usually die early is just a coincidence. I just believe this is the way it works. Of course I've never met Avicii and I've never had the opportunity to know more than you could find on the Internet, but I've read enough and watched video about him to assume that he was a genius of the music, he put all his life on music; but he was just human as all of us and humans make mistakes. And probably he just made some mistakes that didn't help him in his life. We all know that success and richness is something hard to control, if you are good and talented, people want to use you as a money generator, so that they can also be rich as well.
This is what I believe it happened. Tim was brought into something way more bigger than him, and he had to compromise his life to keep going at the rythm he was asked to go. We all know that he got sick at some point because he was drinking too much, drinking was bringing him into another dimension where he was able not to feel the stress and tiredness that all tours and new singles were giving to him. At some point, I think that if you can't control these things, you just collapse: you start seeing everyhing from a negative point of view, happiness disappear and that is when you realize that money and success don't necessarily make you happy.
When Tim decided to stop playing music live, he needed to take a break and try to recover his lifestyle that was bringing him to death. I watched the BBC documentary about his life, and I really recommend it to you. I think it has to be really bad when you don't feel happy anymore or when you can't find any good reason to be happy, even when people look at you and think that you should never be sad considering what you have!
I also still remember that day (April 20, 2018), that day was really dramatic for me. I just knew his music and that was enough to make me feel so sad when I read that Tim Berling decided to take his life away. I couldn't believe that.. can you imagine? A 28-year-old guy that created all those wonderful songs, that made so many people happy with his songs at some point just decides that can't make it with his life, he can't afford living anymore. This was a tragedy for me, I was so sorry because I realized that the society where we live sometimes can consume people, it can destroy beautiful talented people.
His death came as a shock to even those working closest with him. “All his notes were in happy mode,” said the head of Universal Music Sweden, Per Sundin, referencing their email correspondence just days prior to Avicii’s passing. He was still planning new music and collaborations during conference calls with his management team while abroad. He even stopped taking pictures with fans while in Oman. No one saw it coming.
But I feel like that when you are making so many good things in your life, sooner or later you will get everything back. And this is what happened when Tim died. Almost all the world cried with his family, the entire world realized that a genius was lost. So many artists expressed their opinion about him, they expressed their sadness in many ways, through posts, live music concerts, on TV.. People reunited in parks to pray and sing for him. This made everyone aware of the impact that Tim had on the music.
As mentioned on Wikipedia, after his death, in April 2019, it was announced that the album Tim, which Avicii was working on before his death, would be released on 6 June 2019, with the first single, "SOS", released on 10 April. All proceeds from the sale of the album go towards the Tim Bergling Foundation. Also in April, it was announced an official biography of Avicii, written by Måns Mosesson, would be released in 2020. The proceeds also going to the Tim Bergling Foundation. A second single from the album, titled "Tough Love", was released on 9 May 2019. The music video for "Tough Love" was released on YouTube 14 May 2019. "Heaven" which was released on 6 June 2019 was the last single to be released from the album. The track was co-written by Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin. Chris spoke about the collaboration on his socials citing that he co wrote the song with Avicii back in 2014 which Tim completed in 2016. The music video, called a "tribute video", which used old clips of Avicii, was released on 24 June 2019.[139] On 28 June, Billboard cited "Heaven" as one of the best dance songs of the first half of 2019.

"His passing was a great loss for the music world and for us. He was an artist who inspired so many in so many ways, and simply put, he meant so much to us and everyone in the EDM community." (The Chainsmokers)

"A really good friend who changed my life" (Rita Ora)

"I made a track for my friend. I just want to honor his memory. I want to do something right, and in my opinion it's the right thing to do." (Arty)

OneRepublic, Aloe Blacc, Tiesto, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Don Diablo, Nicky Romero, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Zedd, Kygo, Eric Prydz, Imagine Dragons, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Hardwell, Deadmau5, Marshmello and many others paid tributes to Tim during live concerts, festivals and on social networks

Tim, you left us a legacy of wonderful music that the world will never forget. Rest in peace, Tim.

"Spread positivity through my music, in message and enjoy success but not materialistic success" (Tim, 2018)

P.S.: At the time I am writing this blog, this is one of the most interesting and complete articles that I've found about his life.