Rise and demise of a superstar DJ

It’s been six years since Swedish DJ artist, record mixer Tim Bergling, popularly known as Avicii, left his fans worldwide shocked when he died by suicide while on holiday in Oman in 2018. The documentary ‘Avicii: I’m Tim’ and companion piece ‘Avicii: My Last Show’ by Henrik Burman take a peek into the life and struggles of this shy, anxious boy, who became a worldwide phenomenon. A superstar DJ, he created hit songs like ‘Levels’, ‘Wake Me Up’, ‘Hey Brother’ and ‘Without You’. Coming at the time when the genre of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) had started growing, this music lover took it to heights hitherto unimagined and made ‘Avicii’ an anthem for music lovers.

And yet, within this global heartthrob, who apparently lived a life that many would dream of, the old Tim desperately and unsuccessfully tried to cling to the boy who merely wanted to create timeless music. The documentary, with never-seen-before footage and interviews with him and others in his life, explores a heart-breaking journey where the lines between Tim and Avicii get blurred.

Beginning with his first sonogram in his mother’s womb to his last picture, Burman presents hundreds of hours of archival footage from Tim’s life. Besides conversations with parents Klas Bergling and Anki Liden, the film includes anecdotes from Tim’s associate and manager Arash ‘Ash’ Pournouri, Universal Music’s Per Sundin, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, long-time associate Filip ‘Philgood’ Akesson, David Guetta, Nile Rodgers, Aloe Blacc and Dan Tyminski, and close friend Jesse Waits. In one of the sequences, Per Sundin shares how he was shocked when Ash smartly demanded an outrageous amount of Euros€5,00,000 as Per Sundin tried to sign Avicii’s ‘Bromance’ and ‘Levels’ for Universal Music Sweden. The song recouped the entire Euros€500,000 within six weeks of its release. Then, there are moments such as the Ultra Music Fest in Miami where Tim’s experiment in debuting with ‘Wake Me Up’ falls flat and the gig ends with the audience booing them away. This was the kind of music Tim wanted to make. The chaos at Ultra Fest left a part of him shattered even though the number later became the biggest single in the UK music charts. As his career soared, so did the pressures. The kind of popularity he had achieved in such short time brought with it constant anxiety and the need to perform well. The fact that he wasn’t in the classic sense making music by singing or playing instruments made him insecure. An increasing dependence on anxiety-supressing drugs started.

With a supportive family behind him, he apparently seemed to be living an envious life. But fame came with its own complications. A point came when he no longer wanted to make music.

Unveiling the person behind the artist, the non-linear storyline captures Tim’s journey in making music — from learning EDM to producing music, understanding the art of DJing to getting a grasp of what the audience wants, to sharing the stage with artists like Chris Martin, Madonna, etc, he tried to balance it all.

From small clubs to big clubs to theatres to amphitheatres to world tours, there was so much action happening in his life that it took a toll on him and the emptiness inside became too stark to ignore.

The health issues started getting louder and he lost ‘a crazy amount of weight’. Thus began his battle with mental health.

From being a non-alcoholic and ‘super anti-drugs’, he gradually turned to the ‘magical cure of few couple of drinks to loosen up’ and substance abuse. The film documents his visits to doctors, psychiatrists, the different diets he followed.

In the film, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, Tim shares, “I was a lot happier before I was famous… I started feeling very empty and unhappy. I have just been acting in a certain way ... this is how you’re supposed to be acting… I was just on auto pilot mode.”

And then, the realisation that “I was running after some idea of happiness that wasn’t my own. I didn’t like being a persona. I didn’t like having a persona. I didn’t like having to be, and then having to be Tim”.

The Grammy-nominated DJ and producer desperately tried to learn being himself again and be honest to himself. Artists are good at creating, but then they are thrown into an environment and an industry where it’s tough business: chasing the views, comments, etc, someone rightly points out in the documentary.

A companion piece, ‘Avicii: My Last Show’, has been released alongside this documentary. The 30-minute performance film is from Avicii’s final live show on August 28, 2016, at the famous party venue Ushuaia Hotel in Ibiza.

The 95-minute documentary, which makes a case to raise awareness regarding positive mental health, is well worth your time.