"I hate that term," Tim Bergling shouts to me as I joke that it’s time to interview an EDM "icon." Meanwhile, club security and his bodyguard try to part a sea of people in order to clear a path for him to exit the DJ booth at Marquee Day Club. The fact that there is clearly something more to this talented 23-year-old producer than being able to turn out dance tracks like “Levels” becomes apparent as we make a beeline toward the club’s closed Boom Box Room, which has been set up as a makeshift green room.
Fans lose their minds as Bergling passes by. Legions of women try desperately to grab a moment of his attention by waving and giggling; one women, overcome by his presence, can only chant, “He’s so hot.” Even guys get in on the action by calling out his stage moniker, “Avicii,” in cadence.
Two nights earlier he sold out the same nightclub — an impressive feat given it was mid-week (a night the venue is normally dark). To understand the true magnitude of his reach, you need only have attended his performance at the Electric Daisy Carnival, where he served as the master of ceremonies to more than 80,000 fans at the festival’s main stage.
Marquee partner and club czar Jason Strauss explained the draw saying, “We’ve seen him evolve — he’s putting together unbelievable songs and hits that resonate with our younger, hipper demographic.” And it’s precisely this younger, hipper demographic that has made him so successful. Corporate brands have been quick to recognize this. He’s the face of a Ralph Lauren line; has raised millions for the charity he founded with his manager, House For Hunger; and he branded his own pop-up hotel at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival.
Avicii’s rise hasn’t always been easy. Misunderstandings have plagued Bergling in the press, and he has been the subject of tabloid fodder. A story in April’s GQ left many of his fans feeling that he was portrayed in a less than favorable light. Though he may appear larger than life, one only need spend a brief period of time with the young Swede to see that he is shockingly normal, grounded and even somewhat shy. After his sets — including the New Year’s bacchanal he hosted at XS Nightclub (where Avicii has a residency) — he prefers to hang with friends rather than drinking and partying.
But Bergling has learned to take most criticisms stride. I spoke to him about the recent controversies, his skyrocketing fame and his upcoming album, True, which is due out September 17th.
David Morris (DM): At Ultra, there was some criticism about your sound evolving to become more country. Do you think that people are just surprised that you’re producing something they didn’t expect?
Tim Bergling (TB): I think a lot of it has been mixed up. I’d say it’s more folk-influenced than country, first of all. For me there are two types of country: There’s the shoot-yourself-in-the-head country and then there’s really good country music. There are definitely some cool inspirations to be had from that. When I sat down and decided to do my album everything kind of happened organically. A lot of what I was listening to at the time, personally, was Of Monsters and Men, Mumford and Sons and stuff that my manager, Ash [Pournouri], presented to me. That really helped shape the artistic direction of the album.
My dad has always been a big Ray Charles fan, and I’ve grown up listening to all kinds of music. I went to the studio with other songwriters like Mike Einziger from Incubus, who plays amazing guitar. With Mike, I played him a reference track and was like "F*ck, let’s try to do something like this. Let’s try to fuse this with electronics. Let’s try to fuse acoustics and organic feeling melodies with scale. Let’s turn this music into house because no one’s ever done that."
DM: Tell me about your new album. TB: The album is going to be called #True because over the course of the last couple of months, I’ve tried to remain true to myself and the music that I have made with all these different people. It feels like whatever people like to say about it, with all the controversy surrounding it, I’ve been true to myself. This is what I like. I mean, it’s very personal to me; this album is for me more than for anyone else.
DM: Did you hear [legendary EDM producer] Pete Tong say [on his Sirius radio show] that when your new album comes out, the people in Nashville will be line dancing in the streets to Avicii? TB: [Laughs] Yeah, I heard that. I didn’t remember until you said it. I mean it’s, like, the way I look at it, it’s very up-tempo music, it’s very upbeat music that’s very dance-forward. I actually haven’t sampled anything on the album. Everything — all the melodies, all the vocal melodies, everything has been written by me and/or together with a singer or another songwriter.
DM: What song are you most excited about on the album? TB: It’s really hard to say. They’re like my children. I produced about 30 tracks over the course of a couple of months and then fine-tuned it down. Right from the start we said that we wanted an album with nine songs on it. We had to cut so many songs, so many that I think are good songs but we ended up with just nine and a lot of them have not been heard yet, not even in promo mix. It was really hard to choose! Obviously, I really like the first single “Wake Me Up,” but what comes next is going to be really cool. I’m going to London to record vocals for one of the songs with a real legend. I can’t say who yet because it’s not 100% done, but it’s really exciting!
DM: Your laptop was stolen halfway through recording this album? TB: Yes. Fortunately, I had all my MP3s and had worked enough on the tracks so they were fresh in my mind. The first tracks that I had started were kind of done already, so I had sent the .wav files to my manager, so those were all backed up. What wasn’t backed up were my project files, but then we found out who took the computer. An Apple Store guy in Vegas had a girl who came in with a computer and said she wanted to unlock it. It said Tim Bergling on the login, and he recognized the name and Googled it. He saw that I had lost my laptop and called the police. I actually ended up getting everything back.
