Reviews

• “With this meticulously researched authorized biography, Swedish journalist Mosesson relies on interviews and thousands of electronic texts to explore the short life of Avicii /…/ Mosesson vividly details Avicii’s personal relationships, his collaborations with musicians (Chris Martin of Coldplay; Mike Einziger of Incubus), and his stress-related decline, which Mosesson posits led to Avicii’s alcohol and opioid addictions, pancreatitis, and retirement from touring in 2016. The book ends with Avicii’s triumph over opioid addiction, his obsession with marijuana and meditation, and his depression-related suicide in early 2018. VERDICT: Mosesson’s poignant demonstration of the tragic costs of superstardom for an introverted, highly creative, anxiety-ridden young man will resonate with anyone interested in popular culture. Highly recommended.”

• “Tim: The Official Biography of Avicii retells Bergling’s story, adding considerable context and lashings of pain: parents Klas and Anki Bergling are major sources. /…/ The book succeeds in fleshing out Bergling, an elfin poster boy for hyper-commercial EDM who wanted to be taken seriously as an artist. Mosesson is very good on the path to fame and the wider ecosystem around Avicii. /…/ Mosesson had access to Bergling’s rehab journal and almost everyone in his life – ex-girlfriends, childhood pals, fellow superstar DJs, psychotherapists. The author was also privy to Bergling’s digital life – texts, emails and messageboard posts; a level of intimate access biographers must surely have only dreamed of until now. /…/ There are no kneejerk conclusions here, just candour and context: pressure, both external and internal, absolutely played a role in Avicii’s unravelling, as did the US prescription opioid scandal. As the book draws to its harrowing ending, Mosesson offers up a series of factors at play in 2018.”

• “The story reads like a gripping novel about a teenager who becomes the most popular DJ in the world. Mosesson’s eloquent descriptions of places and famous people from the dance scene are evocative and recognizable.”

• “The book presents a detailed picture of the life of world-renowned DJ Avicii, between producing mega-hits and battling his inner demons. The biography really captures the flip side of a shiny medal, that ‘glamorous’ life of a DJ.”

• “Mosesson writes well about how the fear of disappointing the audience, the stress of being very young yet responsible for the income of a steadily expanding crew, and of how the pursuit of constantly evolving all quickly combined to become a devastating mix for Avicii. /…/ Mosesson also writes candidly about how Bergling himself was involved in running his own health into the ground, he was by no means a weak-willed puppet in all of this. /…/ The book’s obvious strength lies in the depiction of the ultimate consequences of not getting help for fairly universal anguish – written on the basis of a very unique life.”

• “The book has a trembling drive which makes it difficult to put down. Mosesson is an effective narrator, and the level of detail is impressive. /…/ Like all good biographies, Mosesson has the ability to both zoom in on individual details as well as raise his gaze to place Tim Bergling in a historical context. The book delves into both Swedish music history and the American opioid crisis. Where the documentary Avicii: True Stories from 2017 largely pointed to the pressure of the manager and the apparatus around Avicii as the reason to why he in 2016 announced that he would stop touring, Tim paints a more complex picture. It is obvious that Bergling’s family wanted to tell as honestly as possible about their son’s mental challenges, which had followed him since he was young. /…/ This is a book that should be read out loud in the classroom or be placed under the Christmas tree as a gift to the eighteen-year-old in the family. In the right hands, Tim can be an important book that opens up for conversations about intoxication and mental health, especially among young men. The story of Avicii has become an intelligible, thorough and unfathomably sad book.”

• “The biography about Avicii paints an intense picture of an overwhelming life, which the author Måns Mosesson hopes will help young people who are struggling. /…/ Mosesson tells us about the people around Avicii, the choices he made and the ones he didn’t, his strengths – but perhaps more importantly, his weaknesses. The more I read, the more I realize that the story about Avicii isn’t the classic story about fame and addiction. On the contrary, I get to know a vulnerable, complex, and impatiently seeking human being, who simply lived too fast and too intense. I have a hard time seeing anyone not feeling the tears pressing on once the final sentence is read. The parents’ shock, loss and grief are portrayed with sensitivity and depth. ‘Yet the voice repeated the same thing again, saying words that should not exist.’ This reinforces the purpose of the book: namely to contribute to the conversation about mental health and suicide. I hope it will. In any case, I am left with a truth that flashes at me in neon letters: If you are constantly looking for a ‘quick fix’ for pain, be it physical, mental, or spiritual, then the crisis will eventually occur in one form or another. So, whether you are a fan of the artist Avicii or not, there will likely be something regardless to take with you from his biography. Tim Bergling can teach you something valuable about yourself.”

• “Måns Mosesson’s biography Tim is at its best when the world around Avicii becomes disenchanted. /…/ Tim is sometimes just as bold as its main character’s music. Following Bergling’s path into pop music is goosebump-inducing. It’s a fantastic story about how limitless and exuberant that world can be. /…/ In the book we get so close to [Tim] that you only sense the contours of everything that pushed him over the edge. That is how a good biography works. It is the personal and the intimate that sticks.”

• “Thanks to extensive research, with hours of interviews, text messages, emails and notes, Måns Mosesson manages to paint a portrait of a seeking and fragile young man so vividly that it almost feels like you are inside the main character’s own mind. It’s impressively detailed. And it’s nice that Tim’s own language is given room, in dialogues or small things like his childhood friends being called ‘the bros’ throughout the book. But it is also a solid piece of music journalism because in parallel with Tim’s life, the story about the EDM wave, of how the house music took over the charts and how the DJ suddenly became the new rockstar is depicted. The knot in one’s stomach really tightens when the trip to Oman is brought up and you know what is coming. But Mosesson is careful not to go into details around the suicide itself and it never gets sensationalistic. It’s a worthy portrayal of the artist Avicii, but most of all of the person Tim.”

• “Tim Bergling was an involuntary entertainer. One of his happiest moments was when he announced to his fans that he would stop touring. That was in 2016. Already then, he knew what he needed. But it is not always enough to remove what is wrong. The dark void inside can remain and that was what finally overpowered Tim Bergling. His death became a wake-up call for many young men in the business who up until then hadn’t allowed themselves to struggle. Måns Mosesson’s book is a heavy reminder of that. But it’s also a worthy biography of a dedicated musician who was snatched away far too soon and a fantastic fairytale about how a pimply boy with poor self-esteem as by a flick of a magic wand, became the biggest, best and most beautiful in the world.”