New never-before-seen footage of Avicii has been released for the release of the Netflix documentary Avicii –I'm Timavailable from today on the platform. The film chronicles the life of Avicii – real name Tim Bergling – before his death in 2018 at the age of 28. The Swedish DJ and producer became a household name in EDM in the 2010s and the documentary was produced with the support of his parents.
“When I decided that he would be the one to tell this story, I thought maybe this was the way I could be close to him,” he told Billboard the film's director Henrik Burman. “Maybe this is how I can meet him again.”
“There were moments in these interviews where he would say, 'This really describes me as a person, so if a documentary ever gets made about me, you should use that to tell the story,'” Burman says of the moments he discovered amidst the footage archive. “He would say things like, 'If there's a documentary, we have to talk about alcohol; we need to talk about the bad things in my life.” I looked for clues like this: I listened to Tim for hours and hours trying to understand him and put together the puzzle of who he was as a person and who Avicii was as an extraordinary artist.”
For its release today (December 31), Netflix has released a clip from the documentary featuring never-before-seen footage of the producer working in the studio.
Earlier this year, his family released the picture book Avicii: The Life and Music of Tim Berglingwith photographs from the musician's entire career.
About Bergling's death, Father Klas told the BBC: “I miss it every minute. Obviously I talk to him every day. But, I admitted, sometimes I get angry with him. Why did you do it? Why did you leave us?”.
In the days following his disappearance, his family released a statement that appeared to confirm that he had taken his own life.
“Our beloved Tim was a person who was incessantly searching for something, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions,” they wrote. “A highly successful perfectionist who traveled and worked hard at a pace that led to extreme stress. When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be happy and be able to do what he loved most: music.”
“He really struggled with thoughts about life and its meaning, about happiness. He couldn't go on any longer. He wanted to find peace. Tim wasn't made for the entrepreneurial machine he found himself in; he was a sensitive boy who loved his fans but avoided the spotlight. Tim, you will forever be loved and missed. The person you were and your music will keep your memory alive.”
He was known to have been working on new music in the weeks before his death, including sessions with songwriter/producer Joe Janiak in Los Angeles.
A new remix by Avicii was released in February, titled Beautiful Drug. The song was originally written and released by the Zac Brown Band, with Avicii's mix remaining “in a vault” for nine years.
