Original subtitles

Give it up for Avicii!

The first four or five years, everything was awesome...

because you get a kick out of it, the same thing you're...

If you're jumping out of a plane, you get a kick, too.

Because you're playing with the feeling of almost dying.

And when you're up on stage,

I have been playing with the feeling of being...

special, and finding a connection with people in the sense of being accepted.

The way I went into DJing was I'm-- I'm gonna give it 100 percent,

no matter what happens.

And I kept giving 100 percent all the time.

It was all around, in general, that sense of more and more and more.

I didn't give myself enough time to really figure out

what about the touring didn't I like.

The only time I had was... a few-- a few weeks here and there,

and-- and then I was out on the road again.

And the few weeks I had,

I never really got to get home anywhere, and I was out for eight years.

So that meant, after four years, when I started to come home,

it didn't even feel like home anymore.

I just know that it got to a point where I didn't like it anymore.

And it got to a point where it's too much.

After that, I just decided: "Fuck, I'm gonna quit."

I grew up in Stockholm.

My whole childhood up till I was, like, 19 years old

was in between, like, five blocks.

Like, all my schools that I went to were all in the same-- same area of Stockholm.

I knew that whatever I wanted to do later in life,

I knew that I wanted to do something creative.

A friend of mine told me about FL Studio.

And I remember I downloaded it, so I started playing around with it.

It was very easy because-- 'cause you could, like, draw out the notes.

He had his studio in his bedroom, which was his apartment.

It was only one room.

And it was like a bed, I remember, that was supposed to be folded,

so you got more space, but it was always down.

It was, like, covered in plates with, like, old spaghetti and pesto.

That's all we could afford.

We always met, you know, around noon,

then when I looked at the clock, one o'clock in the night,

I would say: "Yeah, maybe we should see each other again tomorrow and continue",

and he was like: "Ah, we need to finish now.

It's better to finish now, then-- Then we can do a new song tomorrow."

He worked during the night, basically, and then when he had sleep,

he often walked up to his roof and slept in the sun.

And he was like: "Yeah, it's so smart, because then I get a tan,

I get sleep, and then I can go back to-- to work."

The first half year was me just trying to rip off other people's sounds.

And once you've done that a thousand times, you start improvising.

Maybe I can do these two chords first but then go to that chord and that, you know.

That's when I started coming up with... unique stuff.

And then I just sent my music out to blogs.

I remember I went to Laidback Luke and I went to his forum

and I contacted him, sent him a bunch of my demos.

I could already tell his melodies were awesome

and the way he combined bass lines, chords, and-- and leads,

it was alre-- already in there.

He really liked 'em, and he started feedbacking me on them.

And from that moment on, I sent every new track I did,

I sent to Luke.

I remember not getting one demo a week but at least five every week.

And every track, and I got better and better and better

until they started playing some of the tracks.

That was the biggest thing for me ever.

He was one of the reasons I got into house music.

Hi, this is Tim Berg.

Uh, I'm just doing some, uh, final, uh, touches

on my, uh, upcoming single on Joia Records...

When he made his first few tracks,

we were a bunch of people at his place. We must have been around 18.

We were dreaming about, like, what would happen if we made it big?

We were super into Entourage back then.

We forced him to, like, sign this really shitty, like, contract

we-- we hand painted with crayons or something.

"Hereby, I, Tim, solemnly swear that if I ever make it big,

I'm gonna bring all my friends to L.A.

and we're gonna live in a huge mansion, and it's gonna be awesome."

That's-- That's kind of around that time when I met Ash, initially.

I followed some blogs, that was part of my job,

and there was this kid that was not really that hyped on any blogs or anything,

but I-I fell for something.

He sent me, like, um, like, a message on Facebook,

saying: "Hey," uh, "my name is Ash Pournouri,

and I have some friends in the industry.

I'm a promoter in Stockholm. Think I can help."

So I kind of went to the meeting, you know.

I-I didn't know what to expect.

It was this, you know, like, 26-year-old Persian guy

and I'm-- I'm, like, a 17-year-old, you know, kid.

I think he had Coca-Cola or something,

um, and he brought his friend 'cause he was too scared to meet me alone.

He said, like: "Name one Swedish D.J. that you think is big right now."

I remember naming someone.

He said: "I'll make you bigger than him in one year."

Um, and my ambition level was-- was to make him not a D.J.,

not a producer, but a-- but an artist.

From that moment on, he kind of started, you know...

he kind of started being my manager.

And soon I found a project for us, I-I found a remix.

The first big remix I got was from, uh...

uh... Roger Sanchez.

It was the first big remix I got to do from a-- for a big artist.

And then we did another remix, and that went even better.

He made a remix for a Bob Sinclar record, and I heard it,

I was like: "Oh, my God. This is so amazing!"

Uh, but he wasn't-- He wasn't, like, a big producer yet,

you know, and I was shocked, and I, uh, I got in contact with him

and I think I've asked him for a remix, too.

He was making amazing mash-ups.

Like, every week, he would send me a new mash-up, and I really liked his style.

I really loved all his tracks. I started playing them every week in my show.

My first Avicii show was in Miami

for, uh, Laidback Luke's "Super You and Me" party.

It was then and there I, uh, I met a-- a very shy

and-- and just a held-back type of a kid.

It's, like, a 200-people, 200-capacity club.

He was just so nervous. He had prepped his set and everything,

and, um, in the end, he ended up opening the night for three people.

Then, towards the end, people started coming.

I didn't mess up, I-I survived. Everything went okay.

I started doing small shows here and there. It was single clubs.

It was, you know, whatever Ash had been able to bring in.

At this time, it wasn't many, so he was coming with me to most of the shows.

Are you ready for Avicii?

He's never managed anyone before.

He'd been a promoter, he loved the music. He-- He had a wife and kids.

You know, like, he knew that

he didn't really have the time to pursue being a D.J.

I was doing one or two shows a month at this point.

I was mainly still focusing on the music.

We spent a summer together in Ibiza.

He was staying in my house, he was playing before me every week.

And, um, yeah, he was very into-- into, uh, to music and producing.

He really developed his own sound,

and, uh, and then, a little later, when we'd been to the studio together,

I was like: "Wow, okay, this guy is very serious.

Like, he's really, really special."

My first track that really started getting buzz was "Alcoholic",

and then "Bromance" came,

which was the first song that I think got, like, commercial attention.

We'd found a clip, um, of Etta James singing the hook...

And Tim tried to place it over different, um, songs, and we couldn't really find

anything that sounded quite right, and then Tim had this, um, loop.

It had the right energy, the right uplifting melody,

um, that-- that we were looking for.

All of a sudden, it just made sense for that vocal to be there.

That's kind of when things really started kind of taking off.

Seeing that people come to your show to hear your songs,

like, when they knew the songs.

And I remember the first time I ever heard that

was when I played Governors Island in New York.

Give it up for Avicii!

And I remember that they were singing along to every single one of my songs.

I was just blown away 'cause this, like, never happened before.

And "Levels" just started spreading.

Avicii! Avicii!

Eventually, you know, uh, it was discussion with Ash,

who has-- has been my main challenge

when it comes to discussing the deals for "Levels" and Avicii.

I'll send you the big, you know, the big rough outline of

whatever it is I'm looking for

and what I have on the table, and then we can take it from there.

There is no person like Ash. His obsessiveness of taking Tim

to the next level, or to three, four, five levels up.

Uh, I think he will continue to be very successful

because he is obsessed of having success.

I'm not sending-- I'm not sending the vocal to anyone.

"Just tell him we will match EMI's offer."

Every day I'm hustling!

Fuck you!

And but the-- the impact of the song, as just an instrumental song,

was so huge at the club scenes, at YouTube.

So we just felt this is gonna be huge.

- Hey, it's Ash. - Hello.

Advance has been put in at 500,000 euros.

Um...

Okay, thank you very much, everyone. And, uh, speak on e-mail.

- Listen, thank you. - Thank you, bye.

- Bye-bye. - Thank you. Goodbye.

I'm the fuckin' boss.

He is a-- He is a warm family man, hardworking,

and, um, I mean, uh, I call him a friend, yeah.

Like, everything has gone in steps.

With "Levels", everything just kind of, really took off.

We got these opportunities that we'd never been presented with before.

Like, headlining Ultra was one of the first dreams that really come true.

Avicii is the headliner on the main stage. He's coming up right now,

and, as you can see, there's a lot of hype around him. There he is!

Tim, Tim!

There is a major surprise appearance...

For her to come to Ultra Music Festival

just kind of shows how far dance music has come.

- Hi. - Hi, I'm Tim. Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you, too. - An honour.

It's a big honour, obviously, to share the same stage as Madonna.

She's the queen of pop.

- Are you ready? - I am ready.

This is the first time I'm headlining, so I'm nervous.

- Your first headline? - Good?

- Yeah, the first one. - Cool.

Are you ready for Avicii?

And then, after that, I-I could afford a tour manager.

We're doing a lobby call at 2:00 a.m. in the lobby.

- 2:30 in the lobby and then...? - 2:00 a.m. in the lobby.

I didn't have to fly coach everywhere by myself.

The only thing that makes sense is just making the flying and the travelling

as comfortable as possible.

I was young, I was single, I was partying. Every show was a big party, you know.

It was really a big party.

It was amazing. I didn't even realise before that you could actually do Monday,

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you know?

But then, once that opened up, like, you could tour a whole year,

and that's kind of what we did.

Avicii!

Yes! Yeah.

Make some noise for Avicii!

Avicii! Avicii! Avicii!

Avicii! Avicii! Avicii...

At the time, Tiësto was staying with me.

So I walked into my bedroom,

there's, like, cigarette butts on my counters and beer cans.

I'm, like, shaking off little spit, like, chew tobacco, the snus bags.

And there was this guy in bed with these two girls

and I was like: "You know, who the fuck are these guys?"

I'm like: "Show 'em the door, get 'em out."

Another month goes by, I-I walk up with Tiësto to the D.J. booth

and I see this guy playing and he looks over at me and, like, stops DJing

and starts apologising to me, that was the guy in my bed.

And then since then, we, um, we just became, you know, best friends.

In my eyes, best friends.

And with somebody like Tim, he was very innocent and naïve

and really genuine.

I love Tim.

He is the most natural, melodic music writer that I've ever met.

Electronic music has gotten to the point where you don't have to sample it anymore.

You can just make it new. Do you know what I mean?

- Yeah. - Okay.

Such a different experience to be a part of the whole process.

I've worked with Tim. We walk into the studio, we have nothing.

We walk in, it's like: "Yo, man, what do we do?"

You can go like...

And I play a little idea, and he'll go: "What are the notes in that chord?"

It's-- It's adding an octave along with it,

- so it's not taking away... - Okay.

This creative process, this ebb and flow, as we call it, is what we live for.

That's the exciting moment.

I mean, I could play you-- I could play you a bunch of the shit I've done so far.

Yeah, let me hear where you're coming from.

This is one I did with Al. This is like, I don't know, country folk.

This has a lot of, like, acoustic elements throughout.

Yeah, I like it a lot. It's great.

A mixture of the acoustic element, then going into, like, kind of blending

- into the electronic vibe. - Nice, it's cool.

It's obvious to nobody that Tim and I would mesh together like that.

I don't think anybody would have said, like: "Oh, you're gonna get,

you know, like, this guitarist from a rock band

and then this, like, electronic music producer/D.J. together

and then, like, this cool stuff is gonna happen."

We're very different musically

but we have a similar philosophy in, like, sort of putting songs together

and taking elements from different places and seeing how they can fit together.

He probably got here at about four o'clock in the afternoon,

and by about like seven or eight o'clock at night, we had "Wake Me Up".

That was the first thing that we did, was we wrote "Wake Me Up".

I think every artist of any kind, like, the ultimate goal,

is to find your own mark,

something that makes you stand out from all the rest.

♪ Not afraid to close my eyes ♪

Or-- Yeah, those ones, yeah.

Yeah. ♪ Not afraid to close my eyes ♪

I wanna be there and be a part of writing the vocal.

I wanna make a song from the ground up, basically.

It's more like you don't expect it.

- That's the one you want? - ♪ Eyes... ♪

He's so specific about what he likes and what he doesn't like.

- ♪ All this time I was finding myself... ♪ - When you find somebody like Tim,

who absolutely knows what he wants, things get done.

Don't jump straight to, like... ♪ All this time, I was finding... ♪

♪ All this time, I was... ♪

♪ All this time I was finding myself and I... ♪

Yeah, something like that.

♪ I was lost ♪

There you go. I really like it.

Well, we can perfect this, but I love that.

At like 4:00 a.m.,

I got an e-mail from him saying: "It's-- It's all together, check it out."

I remember opening it up, listening, and being like: "Fuck me, this is awesome."

This is so good.

- This is hot, man. - Yeah.

We did so well with the musical side

and everything went so fast from that point on.

I love him as a person. He's really humble, super nice person.

I'm also, like, super shy in reality.

So I have this kind of balanced personality.

He also has this, I think, you know.

Like, getting a little nervous and things like this, you know, I'm also like this.

In the beginning, I was too afraid to drink 'cause I didn't wanna screw up.

But then I realised how stiff I was when I wasn't drinking,

so then I-I found... the-- the magical cure

of just having, like, a couple of drinks before going on.

It's very easy to go that road,

especially if, like him or me, you're a little bit of an anxious person.

But I think, to a part, that-- that's what kind of

helped me be able to do all those shows without feeling completely exhausted.

For an artist, it's very easy,

uh, to be tempted to use something to get away from the pressure a little bit.

I saw how other D.J.s drank

and I saw people like D.J.s who's been in this industry for-- for ten years,

and they're still drinking, like, you know, every show that they're doing.

I started getting stomach pains on my way into Australia,

and I had about three or four more hours to go until we landed.

Touring around Australia with Future Music Festival,

he had to pull out of Brisbane and Perth last weekend,

uh, 'cause he was taken to hospital.

There's no sense in sending you if we're not doing the show.

Yeah, we'll make a final call, and then tomorrow morning, if we're not going,

we will just reroute your flight back to Sydney.

Um, he's-- Yeah, I mean, he's all right, but he's at the hospital right now.

Yeah, tonight's not gonna happen, and we'll see about tomorrow.

Um, all right, I spoke with some of the nurses in charge of the area.

They don't think you're well enough to do the shows.

- Yeah. - But if you wanted to do them,

they would discharge you and give you pain medication.

Pancreatitis, notoriously, is very painful.

When the pancreas becomes inflamed like this,

some of these enzymes can leak out of where they're supposed to be

and start digesting the body, essentially, from the inside. Uh--

If-- If I'm able to do the show without worsening the pancreatitis...

The show won't worsen it. It's whether you can physically do it,

- whether the pain will limit you. - Yeah.

It's the worst stomach cramp you can imagine, pretty much.

It feels like someone's stabbing you in-- in the stomach

and the back simultaneously, at the same time as it's escalating.

For me, definitely, the-- the most pain I've been in.

You can't do anything about it. You just need to not drink water and not eat.

And to be able to survive the pain, they give you pain medicine.

What's up?

This is ketamine, just to... Want me to change any syringes?

You know, I've took on a mentor role with him that doesn't stop anywhere,

whether it's his personal life or if it's his-- his career.

I felt that I had to guide him,

so that he wouldn't even have to think about anything but the music.

Now, the reason Ash rates Australia higher than Ultra...

We're missing both Ultras, though?

Then there's no way he would rate-- The second Ultra is main stage.

The reason they're saying to you now...

The first Ultra doesn't really matter the same way.

He wouldn't have to think about anything else.

That's a freedom I think a lot of people would appreciate, myself included.

If they also said, based on how I've been feeling today,

and the pain levels I've been at t-today,

they don't think I'm gonna be fit for...

- The shows that-- - The shows this weekend, anyways.

That's what they were saying.

So they were-- they were saying, if you're gonna miss these shows anyways,

we might as well take your gall bladder out now and have you ready for...

I guess that's what I'm for, to guide him into

making the right decisions and... doing the right things.

A conventional teaching and professional wisdom, worldwide,

is to take the gall bladder out before you go home, on admission,

the reason being that you don't get an attack in the meantime.

Yeah.

But I understand your situation, that you're in the middle of a world tour,

and there are things you need to do.

We, um, think at some stage you need your gall bladder out.

Whether that be, you know, while you're here or on tour or when you're home

is up to you, is what we're saying.

I would be there for him to tell him, this is the way you have to do it

and then you'll be successful.

How long have the crew been here for? Two days?

No, the crew's been here since Monday. It's Thursday now.

- They flew in Monday morning. - Oh.

- The show is tomorrow? - Tomorrow.

- What time? - Your set's 9:30.

Suits.

So, we'll be picked up for like 8:00, 8:30.

Future is asking if there's any chance you could do a, like...

phone interview... with...

What they're asking for is a 30-minute, for one o'clock,

for a couple of different radio stations just to call you,

to show that you're back on track, coming out.

Yeah, sure.

But... would you be up for them in like two hours, 12:30?

When we on stage, man, it's like a fantasy.

We are gods.

In a strange way, that feels like our reward.

We feel no pain.

Tim is a hard worker, man.

I can't eat anything.

'Cause as an artist, they just want us on the beat like a machine.

Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh...

And then you burn out.

The hospital visit has stuck in my mind as

an extremely terrible experience,

but it didn't bother me as much as the pain afterwards did,

which was much less, but it's every day when you wake up.

The second you open your eyes, you're like...

Your stomach is hurting.

When you're moving, you're hurting. The pain medicine made me feel shitty.

To me, it felt like I was constantly in, like, a haze.

And you don't know how long that's gonna-- It's gonna be like that for,

and the doctors don't know how long it's gonna be.

All of a sudden, "Wake Me Up" becomes huge.

Everything took off in summer 2013.

Here we go!

My life was a dream to so many people.

I am including myself. It was a dream.

House music and-- and dance music

really had such a-- such a rise at the same time I had my rise.

Avicii! Avicii! Avicii!

Avicii! Avicii! Avicii...

You know, it was a lot of work, a lot of heavy tours,

and I just kind of went with all the punches that came along,

because I was so extremely lucky to be able to do what I am doing.

But I didn't take the time to really figure out what I wanted to do,

and how I wanted to do it.

I just kind of went along with the flow.

But I only focused on music and the touring, really,

and then I just watched everything kind of happen.

And I had to obviously do whatever I said I was gonna do.

If it's, you know, promotion, this or that,

but it was never really my plan.

I think I was-- I was running after some--

Like, another-- like, an idea of happiness that wasn't my own.

- Oh, so this vocal isn't part of... - Yeah. This is the vocal...

What I learned from Michael Jackson was the orchestra lives in his head.

His neuro fully understands every dot, and how everything should go,

so it's like an inside symphony.

So you have those that are like me, that have to physically touch the piano.

Then you have Tim, similar to Michael Jackson.

This is so important that the world understands this.

The actual symphony now lives in his entire head.

He's doing this like as Bach did what he did.

So I do think that there's something we might be missing,

the fact that we're making a separation from D.J.s and musicians.

Tim, to me, he's a hardcore music theorist,

and that's what makes a great composer.

- Let's try one more, just for sure. - Mm-hmm.

♪ Carry on, carry on, carry on, he said ♪

♪ Carry on, carry on, carry on ♪

♪ Won't be long, won't be long Won't be long, he said ♪

♪ Carry on, carry on, carry on ♪

♪ When the day will be mine Will be mine... ♪

What I think is unique about him is how he approaches the songs.

He's very innovative in his melodies.

You know, he did "Levels", "Wake Me Up".

And those two songs were not with, like, famous singers, or collabs, or...

It was just him putting something special together,

and I think he was the first D.J.

that broke into the mainstream, like that big, in an authentic kind of way.

And the American Music Award goes to...

Avicii!

Um, I just wanna say thank you to everyone who voted for me,

um, and thank you to my manager, my label.

Um, thank you so much.

I recovered from my first kind of pancreatitis.

I was off the pain medication.

Everything was fine, I w-wasn't on any medication.

- Then I got back to... - See you tomorrow, man.

...uh, Miami for the Ultra show.

My appendix ruptured and my, uh, gall bladder ruptured as well.

I need to get some sleep.

I was feeling like shit, and then the only solution that I got was...

Uh, when-- when does my next pain medication come?

I have here...

...to take, like, a medicine for it or to battle through it.

Every time I went into the hospital, it was like that.

Take this and you'll kind of feel better.

Maybe you're just used to taking the Percocet?

You've built up a tolerance.

But I've never used-- I've never taken Percocet before.

Percocet is fucking heroin!

- You're getting Percocets? - Yes, we are, but they're not helping.

Well, yeah, they will...

It didn't help my pain, that was the weird thing.

So he gave me something that didn't really help with my pain,

but if the doctor says so, I guess this is hospital,

I guess he still knows what he's doing and, you know, kind of like that.

What happened was, uh, your blood pressure started dropping.

But it started dropping when I started to add the-- all the other things into it,

when I started adding the, uh, the anti-anxiety thing for headache,

and the other headache things,

which I would be fine to try to take everything else off,

but don't take the only things that are working...

- All right. - ...for me.

This doesn't feel right.

These pains could last for a very long time, that was the fucked-up part of it.

I understood when I was in-- When I had my pancreatitis, that it...

I had to be on the medications...

during that, when I was in the hospital, when I was hospitalised.

That wasn't really the big problem.

The big problem is... that the pain...

the-- the pain stays with you.

For me, it was different each time.

The first time, it stuck with me for a month.

The second time, I think it stuck with me for like four months.

It-- It kept not-- It didn't stop.

I di-- I didn't see the alternatives to this.

You might feel pain free with high doses,

but your body starts-- Your blood pressure starts going down.

But we'll see, we'll try. If not Dilaudid, something else--

I wasn't even alerted that my blood pressure was...

There was no communication. No one said: "Your blood pressure has gone high."

- No, it just-- - It's just being moved and then...

Okay, we'll contact you.

- It's a code blue, okay? - Okay.

I was on all these kind of medications.

So they were saying: "You can take this, this is fine.

This is not addictive, this is not addictive."

And then I was, like, taking 20 pills of some fucking gabapentin here.

All these different medications that weren't supposed to be addictive.

And it made me feel more anxious.

This kept going and I started touring again.

Hey, guys, this is Avicii back on Capital.

I think this year is possibly gonna be bigger than last year.

So I'm really excited, um, now we're starting

to kind of come into the summer months, and kind of get back to touring.

One of the hottest acts in music

is coming to New York this weekend with troubles following on tour.

At the Avicii concert in Boston last night,

three dozen young people had to be taken to the hospital,

and many more were treated at the scene for problems related to drugs and alcohol.

- The thing is, I don't-- - CNN, Fox, CBS releasing reports saying

there's a theme on Avicii concerts with kids being sent to hospital.

And there was a theme at Led Zeppelin concerts, too.

Yeah. Yeah, and they brought EDC up.

They're like: "800 people were also sent to the hospital in EDC,

where Avicii was also performing."

Like I had anything to do... It was, like, a three-day festival.

- I was one out of 40 people. - No, no. Here's Tim...

Avicii! Avicii, get a picture with us. Can we get a picture?

How is it to be you? How is it to be Avicii?

It's weird. It's weird. I mean, obviously, I am Avicii,

but then at the same time,

people's perception of who Avicii is isn't who Tim is.

- I'm a little bit shy. - Yeah.

I don't really like being the centre of attention.

But you are. You are, Tim.

Exactly! But I am. That's-- That's the thing.

That-- That's what makes it so, so weird.

I didn't believe I could actually slow down.

I didn't believe that I could tour any differently than this.

I also looked around and I saw everyone else doing what I was doing,

and they were doing fine, you know, seemingly.

I know I-I can't read minds, but they looked like they were doing fine.

Then I started to feel... I mean, I started to feel crazy, in a sense.

Everything on the checklist is there, so I should be happy.

I didn't have time to give myself to properly stop.

What I should have done, obviously, is to fucking stop,

take four months, five months, half a year,

recover from...

recover from not just the pain medicine,

but from the fucking illnesses,

recover from all the years of touring, all the stress.

But I kept going.

After that summer, that wasn't good.

I felt... I felt like shit.

I did a concert the other day in this tiny bar...

uh, with no crew,

and when I tried to tune my own guitar on stage, I couldn't do it.

It was so embarrassing.

- It was really embarrassing. - That's perfect.

It brought it right back to the beginning.

That's great.

My passion for music was always there, so I loved making music.

That was the one thing I could come back to.

- The one above that. - Yeah, I'm gonna do...

I'd say-- I'd say, maybe one, maybe...

It just does it like a transition thing.

- Do you like it more when it gets...? - Huh?

Do you like it better when it's, like, more with the higher...?

You're so talented, man.

- Do you like the synths? - What?

- Do you like the new synth? - I love it.

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

♪ Here you come to raise me up ♪

♪ When I'm beaten and broken up ♪

♪ And now I'm back in the arms I love ♪

Really good.

Really good. I've got everything.

Time went on, and I didn't feel better.

And it kept happening, even though when I went into--

To periods of just purely taking care of myself,

it kept happening, I kept feeling bad.

And my body kept feeling bad.

There was never an end of shows.

Even when I really felt like I was gonna hit a wall or something,

I gave myself a couple of months just to kind of relax and-- and not do anything.

And even in those months, I couldn't get myself to relax,

because my mind was still focused on when I was gonna start up touring again.

Mm.

Mm.

In the beginning of the year,

I get presented with all the shows of the upcoming year,

and I have to say which I want to do and which I don't.

And then, along the lines of the year, stuff pumps up.

You know, my manager might want to push something in,

someone else might want to push something in,

then is pushing my manager to push it in. I might want to push something in.

You know, all these things kind of come in and they cause a shit ton of stress.

Tim decides to rent a big, giant villa.

He's, like, using this as his base, flying out all over Europe doing shows.

He was touring, I think it was three or four times per week.

And, uh, he was working on, uh, his second album as well.

Even though the shows got harder to do, the touring got harder to do,

there were always moments,

during the touring moments, during the shows,

when I could find a genuine happiness from music.

To be able to do the music or, uh, to be able to go out for the touring,

he was taking medication.

By this time, Tim was--

He was supposed to, like, be over all, uh, the medicines and stuff.

I went to psychiatrists, I went to doctors.

I tried so many different diets.

You know, we-- I even changed-- I changed the way I toured,

not enough at all, but I changed it,

and I-I thought I did enough, you know.

But by my standards, that was a chilled schedule.

But then the other five days was working on the album.

When you start, you just wanna make... cool beats and have fun, you know?

You're not thinking like: "Oh, I need to have a hit record."

You make those cool beats, you have fun, you wanna play those-- those beats,

and then, it's just positivity, it's just fun, it's just entertainment,

and sharing your love.

But then, after, when you had, like, let's say, three massive global hits,

everybody expects you to come every time with a global hit,

and this is really hard.

I've been working on Stories for forever.

In-- In my time schedule, it was forever, because it had taken two years,

and, I mean, the first album took me three months to make the majority of it,

and this was a completely different thing.

Yeah! Yeah!

He's just like a shell of what he used to be.

The guy I used to know wasn't really there anymore.

It was so over the top, 'cause I wasn't drinking when I woke up.

I wasn't-- Y-- I didn't...

I know all my ideas of a problem wasn't there.

So it didn't-- I couldn't connect my problem with my lifestyle.

Finally, when the album was done, he, uh, he had to do this, uh, promotion tour.

Hey, guys, this is Avicii.

Follow my profile to get updates from my latest album, Stories.

Hey, everybody...

Hey, everybody, it's Avicii. Check out my new single...

Mm?

"Insert artist's name."

The best thing about falling is getting up.

A-And the fact is, Tim is up.

When we were finished with the therapy, Tim wanted to go to the U.S.

Early morning, like four o'clock in the morning, we got on the plane.

We start flying over Los Angeles.

Wow, this is awesome.

We get in the cars and we drive towards Malibu.

And we kind of arrive at this insane house.

Right by the beach, green grass.

We come down and we see the sunset,

this beautiful Malibu sunset, and we're like: "Wow!"

We met up in Malibu again.

You could tell that he-- he had been working on-- on himself a lot.

He was a lot different.

He was determined to change his life.

We built a studio with the most amazing view ever.

We really took out the best in each other.

We started kind of figuring out how we were gonna plan this and that.

We shut off Tim's e-mail, we shut off his phone.

That was a really good time for him.

It was a very, very, very nice period.

I felt a lot more collected and I thought: "I've taken my time now, gone to therapy.

I've been through this and this. I feel a shit ton better."

And I wanted to get started on my new album,

so I got a bunch of my songwriting friends.

We decided to go from L.A. to Miami on a bus and stop on different places

and kind of do some sort of outdoor awesomeness studio

in the most kind of epic settings you could think of.

Mm.

My heart is beating. I can't see clear.

♪ My heart is beating, I can't see clear ♪

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nice.

I was like: "Wow, this is gonna be so great."

And then... the road trip ends in Miami.

And the Ultra gig is... is happening.

There was something wrong with the computer before the show.

- Can I have a picture with him? - Not now.

- No? - No way. Sorry. No, no way.

Yeah, I'm here.

Yeah, sure.

I'll start getting more and more nervous.

Things are becoming closer to the show.

Someone comes and tells me: "Okay, now it's time. It's like five minutes to."

So I'm like: "All right, fuck it."

Okay.

- Sorry. Can I take a picture? - No, no, no, not now. Not now.

Like, he was pushing himself for, like, every single day

for whatever how long this was,

and it felt like it was a ticking bomb and it just exploded at a show.

I thought the other one was great. There were two tracks...

I see you. I see you out there...

You good? Okay, I'll be stage right if you need anything.

I'd been away for-- for-- It's eight months, six months.

Now, I've-- I've literally done everything I can.

And straight away, I still... I still get stressed out.

I still don't like this.

Thank you to all artists

who've helped me develop musically and personally.

Thank you, Semi Badreddine, for all your personal support, talks,

and helping me growing up.

I have a feeling I'd be dead if not for you, and I will always love you.

And last but not least, a thank you to every fan who's ever bought a ticket,

or snuck in...

...bought a song or downloaded it, loved...

It's your thoughts and ideas about the music that helped me evolve,

and I do owe everything I have to you.

Special thanks to everyone who's...

been a part of the team since day one.

Our journey is far from finished.

I felt shitty, I felt terrible,

because I saw how-- how happy all the fans are, and I don't fucking like it.

I'm standing up there, pretending I like something that I don't like doing.

That-- That was just it for me, because I just knew that there's--

I can't see a way for me to do this and be happy about it.

After that, I just decided: "Fuck, I'm gonna quit."

- I think I'm gonna cry. - We are very sad.

It's unfair, Avicii. Unfair.

Dance music D.J. Avicii officially retires from touring.

Very sad.

He stands out above anyone else, and that's why it's so sad to see him go.

It's been a great five years, good music, and, you know, jam after jam, nice tracks.

If this is what he has to do, then so be it.

In a letter posted on his website,

Avicii told followers he would:

"Continue to speak to fans in his music."

♪ Doo-doo-doo... ♪

Tim's life almost revolves around him

being able to create his own music.

Was he doing that part to get to the concert,

or was he doing it because he actually just loved making the music?

I think he loved making the music.

Yup.

...Legos. Our homes and lives are infused with

Scandinavian furniture and design.

Um, some of us dance and sing

to Abba and Avicii.

Hee-hee!

Even though he decided to quit with the touring,

he still had a lot of shows to do,

so he had the whole summer that he had to tour still.

He had to do Ibiza.

He had to do all these places in-- around Europe and he started with-- with Vegas.

Mm.

He, uh, he went to speak with who is the owner of the hotel,

together with Steve Wynn.

Mr. President.

Mm-hmm.

They had a great talk and understood completely,

and, uh, that was, uh, it with the Vegas shows.

When I decided to stop...

I was expecting a completely different...

I was expecting support in stopping.

I was expecting to, especially with what I'd been through.

And I'd been very open

with every-- everyone I worked with and everyone who knows me.

I've been very open with what I've been through, what I've felt, and...

what I've done.

You know, everyone knows,

uh, that I've been anxious and, you know, everything, and that I've been trying.

So I-I... I didn't expect people to try

to push me to-- to do more shows,

when it really...

When they'd seen how shitty I felt... doing it.

So-- So I did get a lot of resistance when I wanted to stop doing the shows.

Yeah!

Liam!

Anyone that-- that goes from-- from being in school

to all-- to having a career and being successful

misses a big part of growing up.

Obviously that comes with challenges. He doesn't-- You know, there's a...

What's your name?

- Tim. - Nice to meet you.

One, two, three.

I'm so happy I'm finally here.

I've had the best five days in Japan ever.

You guys have the most beautiful country ever.

Hm? Yeah, sure.

Move.

Avicii! Avicii! Avicii!

Avicii! Avicii...

Ushuaia.

Thank you so much for tonight.

Avicii! Avicii...

I couldn't have asked for a-- a better last show.

Thank you so much for tonight, you were awesome.

The-- The performance part of it

is one part of the artistic arc.

And if you cut that out of it,

you still have the life of the creative composer,

the person who puts it all together.

That is a beautiful, wonderful, rewarding life.

I watched his ups and I watched his downs,

and I can understand that because...

you know, I too had success at a very, very young age.

So, it's hard for people who don't have success

in their twenties to understand what comes with,

you know, anything you want to buy in your twenties, anything you want to have.

And then you're gonna have, like, a gang of leeches, you know what I'm saying?

Then you got people who just gonna just try to suck you up, you know what I mean?

And now, you know, it's almost like sometimes

you feel like you in a world all by yourself.

So, for you to find a way out of that and to still say: "You know what?

I'm Tim, I love music, but you know what, right now, I just need to find myself."

But now it's only been a month since I did my last show

and I feel...

I mean, like, I feel like I did when I was like 18, maybe.

I feel I'm in the same kind of spirit as I was then.

I started making music and I started DJing.

I just quit my job and I don't really have a plan yet.