On 20th April 2018 the world was hit with the devastating news that Avicii had taken his own life. The pain of his loss was felt all across the world by his countless fans, his family, his friends and left a gaping hole in the music world that still hasn’t healed. Due to his passing, he left behind a lot of unreleased and unfinished tracks that would unfortunately likely not see the light of day. But in the wake of his death Avicii’s parents Klas Bergling and Anki Liden agreed that they didn’t want his final work to be locked away and that it should be released to his fans. With their blessing work began on completing what would become his final album, ‘Tim.’
A set of 16 songs were chosen to be worked on by several producers, performers and writers who had been working on these songs with Avicii or who had worked with him on previous projects to ensure his true vision for the songs was achieved. A very welcome name to see appear on the album was Aloe Blacc who would provide the vocals on ‘SOS’ which would be the first single on the album. Aloe Blacc had previously worked with Avicii on one of his most successful and most loved tracks ‘Wake Me Up’ which launched Avicii to stardom and showed his incredible talent for mixing genres. ‘Tim’ would include several other big names in music with the likes of Chris Martin, Bonn, Dan Reynolds and many of his former collaborators.
‘Tim’ was very well received by fans and was a wonderful tribute to Avicii that stayed true to his style. On several of the songs the MIDI information in the projects had been saved so you can actually hear him playing the synths in some of the songs. The album takes on a rather solemn tone for the greater part but has some moments of joy amidst it with the likes of ‘Heaven’ that provides a wonderful uplifting feeling through the amazing lyrics and fantastic delivery by Chris Martin of Coldplay. ‘SOS’ tackles a tough subject as the lyrics feel like a cry out for help from Avicii himself which is quite haunting to hear. Despite this Aloe Blacc said “I think it’s a really important topic to approach and to share especially with his visibility and his access to ears and hearts. To give people the words to be able to say ‘I need help’” which is a positive way to look at it a really good message to those out there who are struggling mentally.
This album gave everyone the opportunity to hear Avicii’s creativity one last time which was a wonderful gift that helped a lot of people in the healing process following his death. All the money made from the album went straight into the Tim Bergling Foundation which is an organisation formed by Avicii’s parents to help raise money to assist in fighting mental health issues. Fans would also get a chance to hear some of the songs from the album live at the Avicii Tribute Concert which brought together many of his former collaborators and a full orchestra to perform his music in a way never heard before. The loss of Avicii is something that the music world will never recover from, but ‘Tim’ added another chapter in his story to help ensure that his music would live forever.
