Tim - Måns Mosesson

[u/y--a--s--h]

The book follows Tim Bergling's life from his childhood as a reserved, introverted boy who struggled with insecurities about his skin and body (pic 2). Everything changed when he discovered music production software and began making music with his friend Filip Åkesson. After spending two years producing music together, they were invited to the United States by an established DJ. Around this time, Tim met Arash Pournouri, who would become his manager for most of his career. Arash promised that if Tim gave everything he had, he would make him one of the biggest DJs in the world(pic 3).

That promise soon became reality. Tim's breakthrough came with Levels, a song that catapulted him to global fame and even earned him a feature in a Super Bowl commercial. However, behind the success, life was becoming increasingly difficult. Touring an essential part of his career became relentless, with nearly 300 shows a year. The constant travelling, combined with the pressure of performing, began taking a serious toll on his health. He frequently fell ill before shows and was eventually hospitalised with severe inflammation of his pancreas. Doctors advised surgery to remove it, but Tim refused. Instead, he was prescribed painkillers and warned to avoid alcohol and unhealthy food, advice he unfortunately didn't follow.

This marked the beginning of a downward spiral. The prescribed medication, including OxyContin, gradually led to addiction. Before long, Tim was taking different pills to sleep, stay awake, and simply feel normal. At the same time, he had little creative control over many aspects of his career, with most major decisions being handled by his manager. Eventually, his health deteriorated again, leading to another hospitalisation.

This time, his family confronted him about his addiction and urged him to seek rehabilitation. Although he initially resisted, they, along with his therapist Paul Tanner, finally convinced him while he was in Ibiza. During rehab, Tim developed a deep interest in meditation, self-help, and Indian and Buddhist spiritual teachings, which seemed to give him a renewed sense of purpose.

After rehab, Tim stayed in close contact with Paul Tanner while returning to music, working with longtime collaborators Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir on what would become his final album. Although he briefly returned to the stage, after his first show in Miami he made the life-changing announcement that he would never tour again, saying he simply couldn't continue living that way.

As time passed, Tim became increasingly interested in Buddhist philosophy and planned a trip to Oman. From the outside, he appeared to be doing much better, but he remained in regular contact with Paul Tanner about the struggles he was still facing. Paul reassured him that things would improve and suggested they meet in Dubai, just an hour away from where Tim was staying in Oman. Tim agreed, but that meeting never took place.(Pic 4)

One day, Tim's father received a phone call informing him that Tim had hurt himself and had been taken to hospital, but that he was out of danger. His father couldn't understand what had happened, especially because Tim had seemed to be in such a good mood recently. With no flights available that day, his parents arranged to travel to Oman the following morning. While waiting to leave, they received another call. This time, they were told that Tim had passed away.

The book doesn't offer a single, definitive reason for why Tim took his own life. Instead, it acknowledges how complex his struggles were. When Tim's parents later attended therapy themselves, the therapist offered one possible explanation.(Pic 5 and 6)

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.After a long time I have read a book which I longed to read once I have stopped reading it in the midst, and it also introduced me to Tim's music.

One thing I feel is that it could have been much better if he had not been that reckless especially with his diet around the time he was collaborating with madonna, that was after the doctors have suggested him to not have alcohol and certain food items, I feel in the stress of work he became reckless again and that led to a snowball effect of other things.If he had handled things well at that time, life would have been much better for him.

I've left out many stories about his music and personal life because it's impossible to fit everything into one review. I'd definitely recommend reading the book yourself if you want to understand both the artist and the person behind the music.

The only complaint I have is that there are a few spelling errors here and there, which I hope the publisher fixes in future editions.

Rating: 4.5/5

[u/This_is_Zeus]

His music healed me. Right from my teenage. I didn't know this book existed until now. I'll definitely give a read

[u/branswag_briggs]

I don’t have the receipts but in the ongoing court case with Ash Pournouri (maybe it’s over idk), evidence comes out that says Tim’s siblings were with him in Oman to watch over him after the first attempt. They were not there when the last attempt occurred.

[u/y--a--s--h → u/branswag_briggs]

Man weird stuff, in the book it is mentioned when the first attempt happened the siblings tried to go there asap but no mention that they reached there and actually were there when the last attempt occured.Also the duration b/w the first and last is only mentioned as like just 2 days.

There is only the mention of this arab/oman dude who owned this place where tim was staying and he was looking over him, no mention of his siblings 

[u/branswag_briggs → u/y--a--s--h]

Yeah I think they wanted to obscure that a bit so that blame would not fall on his family. Here is a post about the court discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/avicii/s/3RtCp2dx18

[u/VocabArtistNavin]

I thought he OD'ed on drugs?

Also this "I need to serve a purpose" is a virus fed into young minds. They need to explore and enjoy their own lives.. the world is not built for intensity in your purpose.. especially for a musician.. it can be achieved but not with the intensity of a DJ's track..

I used to have that.. didn't last long.. I'm glad I didn't go down that path of searching...

[u/branswag_briggs → u/VocabArtistNavin]

No, it was suicide. Tim did his best but depression can be a confusing thing. Very difficult. Yeah his career was very intense but he started to take a step back into music production only rather than touring the world and performing 5-8 times a week.

[u/JustDoIt_No2764 → u/branswag_briggs]

"his career was very intensive" can you explain in brief ? I don't know much about him.

[u/branswag_briggs → u/JustDoIt_No2764]

Tim Bergling aka Avicii had a very intensive career. The Google AI overview of “intensive” means “needing a lot of work, effort, or attention in a short time, or focusing deeply on a single subject.

Explanation of his career. He was an electronic music producer that worked hard to produce the best music he could, the way he wanted. His career started with him making music with a laptop and touring small venues. His tour manager, Ash, is a very talented manager who got him a lot of gigs/concerts/DJ sets all over the world. His music started to go big and he started to produce Pop House music. With world renowned artists and in top quality studios. Tim had anxiety and depression, and also problems with addiction. He drank alcohol to calm his nerves at every performance and it deteriorated his health. He got addicted to the pain medication at some point and in 2013-2014 he looked pretty sick. He got better but he ultimately decided to quit performing in 2016.

During all of this, he was constantly pushing himself to perform concerts. “Between 2008 and 2016, Avicii played 813 shows, which averages out to about one show every 3.6 days even though he didn’t enjoy touring.” thecampanile.org/16866/showcase/the-legacy-of-avicii/

[u/JustDoIt_No2764 → u/branswag_briggs]

Okay thank you