Avici (01): Remembering Avicii and the State of EDM

Himali Thakur, Class of 2019

Last Friday, a shocking piece of news hit social media: Avicii had passed away. His representative released a statement later, which read: “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii…. He was found dead in Muscat, Oman this Friday afternoon local time, April 20th.” Bergling’s family has refused to reveal the cause for his demise, but foul-play has been ruled out by the Gulf Sultunate’s police. Regardless of the reason, there is no doubt that the European and American dance music scenes have lost a revolutionary with this incident.

In the 2000s, dance music producers began to carve out a space for themselves with the global audience. The phrase “Electronic Dance Music” (often abbreviated EDM) became a buzzword in the 2010s with the coming of progressive and electro house producers such as David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, and Tiesto. Many of these artists had been producing tracks for well-known singers such as Black-Eyed Peas and Flo Rida, but didn’t rise to prominence until the late 2000s.

Avicii rose to prominence with this wave of EDM. He was picked up by the Dutch house producer Laidback Luke, after Avicii won a production competition hosted by BBC Radio One’s Pete Tong. Avicii’s 2011 hit, “Levels” peaked in dance music charts in UK, US, Germany, and Netherlands, among other countries, catapulting him to global fame. He was soon nominated for Best Dance Recording at the Grammy Awards: “Sunshine” with David Guetta (nominated 2012) and “Levels” (nominated 2013). In 2013, he also released “Wake Me Up”, the lead single from his debut album, True (2013). Despite the album’s departure from the “Big room house” sound that was all the rage in EDM at that point, True was well-received among fans and critics. In December of that year, Avicii even made his mark in India with a multi-city tour. Avicii followed his debut album with Stories (2015), and, most recently, the Avīci (01) EP in 2017. Around this time, he co-produced Coldplay’s hit songs “A Sky Full of Stars” (2014) and “Hymn for the Weekend” (2016).

The dance music community gave Avicii plenty of love, if his social media following and DJ Mag ratings are anything to go by. Avicii’s rise, however, did not take place in isolation. When he was rising, EDM, too, was soaring. If rap, punk, and rock were the pop of a decade ago, the happy burst of electronic music became the new anthem. In early 2010s, there were hosts of new producers like Hardwell, Afrojack, Martin Garrix, and KSHMR creating chart hits. The term “EDM” was made to embrace more than just the house and trance genres — it included deep, techno, dubstep, and trap.

Concurrently, festivals were getting bigger and bigger. India had mainstream producers like Armin Van Buuren, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Above & Beyond headlining Sunburn, Supersonic, and EVC. Last year, Ultra Music Festival made its advent to India with the Road to Ultra installment; the Delhi edition was headlined by The Chainsmokers. Tomorrowland has been testing the waters with live screenings of its Belgium installment in major Indian cities since 2016. EDM has been gathering more fans, and more content to please every fan, waving its P.L.U.R. (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) banners everywhere.

But what is the toll of all these gargantuan festivals? There are drug overdoses and drunken altercations haunting these “happy” places. Avicii becomes a segue to understanding the neon-coloured “live fast, die young” message of EDM. Back-to-back sets at big festivals, and the bigger parties every night eventually caught up with Avicii. Rumours of substance abuse were making the rounds on the Internet when Avicii cancelled some concerts in his 2014 tour. He cited health reasons — acute pancreatitis that needed immediate surgery. Apparently, alcohol abuse had exacerbated the problem. In 2016, Avicii completely quit touring, stating that it was taking a toll on his health, and he also wanted to focus on new music. Things started to look up when last week, Avicii’s 2017 EP, Avici (01), was nominated for the Billboard Music Awards for Best Electronic Album. Two days later, Avicii was found dead in a resort in Muscat, Oman, where he was supposed to be on a break.

The EDM community has a habit of generating a lot of self-loath. Every year, “experts” say that the genre has grown too big; the EDM bubble is about to burst and leave the genre(s) for dead. Whenever the controversial DJ Mag announces its Top DJ, there’s a backlash from non-mainstream producers (and in recent years, mainstream producers like Dillon Francis, Hardwell, 3LAU, and deadmau5) about how the voting is unfair and rigged, and the ranking doesn’t really make sense. But every year EDM comes bouncing back, hardly losing anything for all the criticism and the shit-flinging. Bergling’s death, however, may finally hold up a mirror to the adulterated ecstasy- and MDMA-fueled monster EDM is becoming. If nothing else, his demise should be the sign that EDM needs to become more self-aware, and look back at what it is leaving behind.