Avicii: True Stories Page #5

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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.

[string music]

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.

[jarring music]

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.

[man] 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."

[chuckles] 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...

[woman] Avicii! Avicii, get a picture

with us. Can we get a picture?

[radio host] How is it to be you? [laughs]

How is it to be Avicii?

[on phone] 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.

- [stammering] I'm a little bit shy.

- Yeah.

I don't really like

being the centre of attention. [laughs]

But you are. [chuckling] You are, Tim.

Exactly!

But I am. That's... That's the thing.

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

[chuckles]

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.

[pensive music]

I didn't have time to give myself

to properly stop.

What I should have done, obviously,

is to f***ing stop,

take four months,

five months, half a year,

recover from...

recover from

not just the pain medicine,

but from the f***ing illnesses,

recover from all the years of touring,

all the stress.

But I kept going.

[dramatic string music]

[Avicii]

After that summer, that wasn't good.

I felt... I felt like sh*t.

[playing notes]

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.

[laughter]

- 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.

- [Chris] 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.

["A Sky Full of Stars" playing on stereo]

[exhales]

- 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.

[track playing faintly]

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

- [exhales]

- [Avicii] Really good.

Really good. I've got everything.

[Avicii]

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.

[Magnus speaking Swedish]

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 sh*t ton of stress.

[serene music]

[Tisto]

Tim decides to rent a big, giant villa.

He's, like, using this as his base,

flying out all over Europe doing shows.

[Ash] 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.

[Avicii] 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.

[Fredrik] To be able to do the music or,

uh, to be able to go out for the touring,

he was taking medication.

[Ash]

By this time, Tim was...

He was supposed to, like, be over

all, uh, the medicines and stuff.

[Avicii] 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, [chuckles]

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.

[Avicii]

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.

["Sunset Jesus" by Avicii playing]

[speaking Swedish]

- [man yelling on stereo]

- [man 2] Yeah! Yeah!

[children cheering]

[sombre music]

[Fredrik] He's just like a shell

of what he used to be.

The guy I used to know

wasn't really there anymore.

[Avicii] 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. [chuckles]

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