Tribute to Tim: The legend, The saviour, The man.

So an artiste I really love died two years ago today on the 20^th of April 2018. He slit his wrist with a broken wine bottle. His name was Tim Bergling before he was ever called Avicii. I loved him, I still love him, now more than ever. Tim’s music really changed my life, it literally saved me from drowning in the depths of depression. Days that I thought I would finally let go and kiss the stars, I would plug in my earbuds and just dance and dance like a white girl to the upbeat sound of his music while crying and smiling and feeling myself transcend through dimensions of bittersweet bliss.

I am currently writing this while playing the very first song I ever heard from him (about 7-8 years ago) on ossicle-damaging volume, I can faintly hear my mum screaming for me to tone it down, but I’m not budging because she has forgotten she did the very same thing when Whitney Houston died.  The song is called ‘Levels’ and it’s basically three minutes eighteen seconds of pure EDM (electronic dance music).

Tim died at the young age of 28 but he had accomplished a whole lot; back to back hits, awards, countless gigs and tours. He was a Legend; He really did put the elite genre of EDM on the map, hell he made me (a dead guy from Okigwe) come to appreciate melodies and the ecstasy that comes from EDM.

He became Avicii for the world but he really was just Timid Tim from Stockholm, Sweden. He had struggled with a lot of anxiety and he was very open about it in his documentary (Avicii : True stories). He had health problems (acute pancreatitis) from the amount of alcohol he had consumed to somehow drown the pain from being the touring, ‘always ready to party’ Avicii that the world knew and loved. He even had his gall bladder and appendix removed at some point. He finally found the courage to quit touring in 2016. He didn’t have a support system because from the documentary you can clearly see his management literally milking poor Tim.

We, his devout fans, thought everything was finally fine when he quit touring in 2016 but he sadly took his life while on vacation in Muscat on the 20th of April 2018. It doesn’t feel like it was two years ago. I can only imagine what was going through his mind, how he felt in those final moments.

Yes Tim, I remember you for the life you lived, I love you, I see you, I miss you, I hope you found the peace you wanted. Legends never die, Yes, You are alive in me and in millions of people all over the world you impacted with your music.

I am thankful for Kygo for walking in your footsteps, for your family for setting up the Tim Bergling foundation to raise awareness about suicide and mental health, for ‘the beat 99.9 FM’ for putting me on to your music and for everyone making sure your flare and love for music never dies.

Till we meet again,

Rest on.