Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Gabriel Olsen/Tribeca Film Festival
Topics: Documentaries, Mental Health, Music, News, Avicii
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Documentaries, Mental Health, Music, News, Avicii
A new documentary sees footage of Avicii reflecting on his worldwide fame and how he felt before his music success.
Avicii tragically took his own life in 2018. He was just 28 at the time and had been battling an addiction to pain killers as well as other mental illnesses prior to his untimely death.
It was in 2011 that the DJ, whose real name is Tim Bergling, shot to fame with his track 'Levels'.
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He went on to release several other chart-topping songs and collaborated with the likes of Rita Ora, Chris Martin, Jon Bon Jovi and Adam Lambert.
At the height of his career, Avicii was on a strict tour schedule and reportedly did 800 shows over a six year period.
With this and his mental health struggles in mind, it all became overwhelming for Bergling who admitted that he was 'happier' before becoming famous for his music.
In a new documentary titled Avicii: I'm Tim, the two hour-long film sees the late DJ reflect on his life and fame.
"I was a lot happier before I was famous than after I was famous. I started feeling very unhappy," Bergling says, as per Mail Online.
"I was on autopilot mode. I started really f***ing wondering why I was feeling like this. I had been acting away because this is how you're supposed to be acting."
Avicii continued: "I think I didn't give myself enough time to figure out if there was something I wanted to change."
The new film recently made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Part of the documentary's synopsis reads: "In 2011, Avicii took the world by storm with his groundbreaking hits, setting records and captivating audiences with his infectious electronic dance music.
"Tim Bergling’s unlikely story is handled with passion and understanding in this film directed by 2020 Tribeca alum Henrik Burman (Yung Lean: In My Head), diving deep into Avicii's meteoric rise to fame."
The documentary shows 'never-before-seen tour footage and behind-the-scenes glimpses of his creative process', allowing viewers to become 'immersed in the high-energy world of EDM and the massive concerts that became synonymous with Avicii's name'.
Elsewhere in the moving programme, Avicii's friend reflected on the run up to the DJ's death.
Jesse Waits, the managing partner of Las Vegas nightclub XS, recalled: "I realized he was taking painkillers. I grew up with family that did drugs and I saw when people do opiates their eyes change. The pin, the little black parts of their eyes."
"His eyes were wide open like a zombie, he was not there," Waits continued. "At the dinner, his demeanor changed and his eyes dilated."
Avicii sadly died by suicide on April 20, 2018.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.