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Avicii

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  • Awesome Music:
    • "Levels" is arguably one of the best EDM songs of all time. It has a catchy synth, a great beat drop, and euphoric vocals.
    • "Wake Me Up" starts a great acoustic guitar riff, and its strong synth gives it more momentum.
    • "Hey Brother" pulls off mixing Dan Tyminski bluegrass vocals with Avicii's synths.
    • "Silhouettes" has a hazy melody and ethereal vocals provided by Al Fakir which combines EDM and pop elements.
    • "What Would I Change It To" has great vocals from AlunaGeorge, backed up by a strong beat with some decent synth.
    • "Tough Love" is a great combination of EDM and Indian music.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Quite a few examples after his sudden death by suicide from self-inflicted injuries in April 2018 at only 28:
    • The title of "Wake Me Up", after his sudden death in April 2018 at only 28. Even one of the lyrics counts: "Wish that I could stay forever this young".
    • Not to mention the first line of the Mike Posner hit: "I took a pill in Ibiza to show Avicii I was cool".
    • Even though Rory Kramer gives the opening dialogue in "The Nights" music video, it's still pretty tear-jerking to hear after Avicii's death.
      Rory Kramer: When I was 16, my father said, 'You can do anything you want with your life. You just have to be willing to work hard to get it.' That's when I decided, when I die, I want to be remembered for the life I lived—not the money I made.
    • "Somewhere in Stockholm" arguably counts with lines such as "There's a black hole deep inside of me" and "Right where I was founded/ Is right where I'll be found dead". Sure, he wasn't found dead in Stockholm, but he was still found dead rather than passing away surrounded by friends and family.
    • "The Days" is an absolutely optimistic song, but the first lyrics include the line "We made a promise to never get old" and are about looking towards the happy moments in your life.
    • "SOS" with Aloe Blacc released on his posthumous album Tim sounds in retrospect like a cry for help.
  • Mainstream Obscurity: He's one of the biggest EDM names in the world, with all of his major studio releases being best-sellers in album sales and very popular on digital streaming, but mainstream audiences will be hard-pressed to name a song of his that isn't "Wake Me Up" (with "The Nights" and "Levels" being possible exceptions), and his dedicated fanbase and discussion regarding his music are considerably small by comparison.
  • Memetic Mutation: Monday left me brokenExplanation
  • Posthumous Popularity Potential: He had initially hit it big with songs such as 2011's "Levels" and 2013's "Wake Me Up", with even more songs such as "Addicted to You", "Seek Bromance", and "Hey Brother" becoming very well-known songs in the electronic music world. However, Avicii's career and reputation had hit a low point after the release of his sophomore album Stories, with few artists mentioning him, and with outspoken critics such as deadmau5 criticizing his lack of variety in his work. After his tragic suicide at the age of 28 in April 2018, however, Avicii's popularity skyrocketed once again, with many people praising his influence in the dance music industry (in particular, the way he combined electronic music styles with country music on his debut album), and how he passed away too soon. In late April of 2018, "Levels", "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother" re-entered the UK Top 100 Singles Chart.
  • Retroactive Recognition: Simu Liu can be seen as an office worker in the background of "I Could Be The One"'s music video.
  • Signature Song:
    • The EDM community mostly knows Avicii for "Levels". At one point, Bergling released a video titled "ENOUGH WITH LEVELS ALREADY!!!", trying to remind people that, as great as "Levels" is, he has other songs.
    • Among general music listeners, "Wake Me Up" holds this title, becoming a number one hit in much of Europe and peaking at number 4 in the United States. It was even used for a Google Doodle released on what would have been Bergling's 32nd birthday.
  • Sophomore Slump: Even though the thematically associated but separate The Days / The Nights built up anticipation for it, Stories was heavily criticized in many aspects, with deadmau5 citing a lack of variety in its music despite attempting to experiment with more genres than True did. It also saw a considerable drop in sales compared to True, with the only song that got close to his previous hits being "Waiting for Love." By contrast, Avīci (01), while nowhere near as successful as True, was critically acclaimed, with all of its songs (including outside of hits "Without You" and "Lonely Together") being regarded as worthy in their own right.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The instrumental parts of "Wake Me Up" sound pretty similar to those of Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California."
  • Tough Act to Follow: "Wake Me Up" was one of the biggest hits of 2013. Not only was it, at the time, the biggest EDM radio hit in American history, but was also notable for an uncharacteristically slow decline down the charts. His next single, "Hey Brother" (a folk-tinged tune featuring Dan Tyminski) struggled to rise up the charts as radio stations were reluctant to move on to the new song. Simultaneously, "Wake Me Up" vocalist Aloe Blacc released "The Man", which took off thanks to its placement in a Beats ad. The song also got the cold shoulder from radio executives. Once both songs peaked around April-May, radio stations dropped them faster than a hot potato and went straight back to playing "Wake Me Up". Neither artist has hit the U.S. Top 40 since, and Avicii died by suicide on April 20, 2018.
  • Vindicated by History: When his songs came to North America, almost all his songs bombed the charts, with two exceptions: "Levels" and "Wake Me Up". When "Wake Me Up" became a top 40 hit, Americans started praising him as a popular dance influence, subverting their poor initial reception of him. By the time he died by suicide in 2018, he was widely regarded as one of the most influental EDM artists ever.

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