Tim Bergling — Avicii — created modern party music, but also controversy. What is a musical genius?

(Written by: Benedicte Hilde Tandsæther-Andersen)

((The AMX Avicii Concert in 2011. Photo: Steve Hall, on Flickr.))

Music has entertained humanity ever since we — probably millions of years ago — discovered what rhythms could do for our moods, social lives, and our mental state. And for just about as long as we have had a fondness of music, there have been certain “principles of composition” — which don’t make it all that unthinkable that a bearded caveman may have discovered some of the same rhythms which thousands of years later would entertain decadent upper-class people in the 17th century France. And symmetry has gradually become one of the most important “tricks” for a good composition.

The success: A breach in logic

When Tim Bergling died on April 20, 2018, millions of young people and adults worldwide lost a musical idol. Thousands of articles, memorial words and images have been made about Bergling, which has been given the honor of having lifted the EDM genre to the heights it is at today. At the same time, Bergling has also been criticized for the music he made: Several online debaters have met Avicii fans with comments such as “the music is not logically composed” and that “his music has the same rhythm all the time”. The story of how a teenage boy in a hoodie could create songs that captivate millions all over the world — without studying music theory — nevertheless fascinates more than it annoys.

The public domain “nobody” acknowledged

Symmetry can be added to a song on both micro and macro levels, and is in music theory described as crucial when making a hit. It is a timeless instrument, as easy as it is difficult to implement. Our brain remembers music better when it goes into a form of “loop”, which means that both melodies and lyrics are composed so that we can hum to songs even if we just remember the chorus. Only a few songs today are completely free from symmetry, and our minds must be held responsible here as well. Even though we both like the predictable and to be surprised, a middle road is the very best. We would like to be surprised by a new song — it should not be quite the same as the previous one we heard. At the same time, we want the “peace of mind” of the song being comfortable to our ears: Unpredictable music does not necessarily bring that much joy, when the listener has to be prepared for anything.

Today, you are just as likely to hear Avicii’s biggest hits roar through the streets on a Saturday night in Ibiza, as in a children’s room populated by stuffed animals and LEGO. Avicii has become a “public domain”, but such as often is the case with both people and things that are “mainstream” — until recently, far from everyone dared to admit they were fans. It is only now that they are coming out of the shadows, for example during a dinner party with the in-laws: “It was so sad to hear that Avicii died,” the mother-in-law says, before everyone around the table nods thoughtfully.

To become Avicii — without music theory

In the online debates about Avicii — most of them from several years before his death — music experts, fans and other civic-minded people have immersed themselves in the most famous songs. “It’s quite clear that he knows music theory, he’s making new hits all the time!”, someone wrote in one of the debates before another commented that; “Not even Avicii himself thought he knew music theory”, and that; “All the songs have the same rhythm”. In the Netflix documentary True Stories, shortly before the news of Avicii’s death were made public, the allegations of the online debaters were confirmed — to some extent. His manager, other artists, people in the support groups and his circle of friends talk of a perfectionist who gladly spent a whole night awake, in order to finish a song. In essence, he had no other musical experience than the one he got by playing around with the digital music software Fruity Loops, where you can record and mix sounds and sound effects. With this software, Avicii made international hits – based on what he thought “sounded cool”.

Avicii never studied music theory, and some critics have used this as an argument to emphasise that he didn’t know anything about it. At the same time, such an argument forgets that Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky and several other composers never formally studied this — as the academic field of music theory didn’t exist in their lifetime. Music was considered a craft, more than an academic field. It has also been noted that the world-famous composers apparently didn’t “need” music theory – because they already knew how to make music. Several of the composers are today declared musical geniuses, and nobody cares that they didn’t study music theory at the academic level.

When talking about the legacy of Avicii, one song is often singled out to “prove” that he understood the importance of symmetry: Le7els – or Levels. The actual melody is composed so that one part goes in a “loop” the entire time, but with additional sound effects which make the melody develop. Excerpts from Etta James’ jazz vocal on “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” constitutes the song’s vocal. Le7els became Avicii’s breakthrough song, and is considered one of the very best he has made — and one of the best within music in general, from our time.

Avicii onstage, at CounterPoint Festival in Fairburn (2012). Photo by Mark Runyon | ConcertTour.net. Used under the Creative Commons license.

A musical genius for our time

So what is required in order to be considered a musical genius? More than redefining the EDM genre and creating some of the most internationally famous songs in the last decade, if we were to believe some of the online debaters. The unofficial definition of a musical genius is a person who has musical ideas of high quality, as well as the ability to implement these ideas at a high level. Ideally, a musical genius should both communicate his message in an original and creative way. Some online debaters who are in support of Avicii also draw upon the iconic composers: Mozart was not born a musical genius, but he had the abilities that made his skills possible — and a father who gave him the opportunity. Thousands of hours later, he was one of the most talented composers of his time. The countless nights Avicii spent “nitpicking” on melodies to make them truly perfect — long after his friends have suggested that they “could finish the song tomorrow”  — was perhaps his real study time in music.

The legend status – radical and accepted

It might be radical to argue that Avicii had what was required to become a musical genius, but he still had an appeal far beyond the EDM genre. Just hours after Avicii’s death had been made public by the media, pop star Charlie Puth wrote a tribute to him on Twitter: “@Avicii was a genius and a music innovator, and I can not believe he is no longer with us. RIP to the very best”. Kygo, who was supposed to perform at Coachella on the same day, said in his tribute that Avicii has been crucial to making his own career possible: “Avicii was my biggest musical inspiration, and he was the reason I started making music. He was a true musical genius.” Avicii is remembered by several as the “Mozart of our time” — a comparison that is as hard to grasp as it is true — for many of his greatest fans.

A debate about whether or not Avicii’s music will be played, interpreted and admired for several centuries into the future is a debate we all are doomed to lose. None of us know who will win the definition “struggle” for what will be the classics of the future, what people in the year 2300 would think it’s cool to listen to, or which music genres we have by then. But we — who live here and now — know relatively much about the kind of music which strikes a cord within us. And 23 million monthly Avicii listeners on Spotify cannot be wrong: the music resonates within something in many of us. Symmetry — which Mozart, among others, was so famous for using in its own compositions — is among the elements that make his melodies appeal today. Several centuries after Mozart’s death, we still hear what fascinated his first fans. And perhaps the same legendary status is awaiting Avicii, in a future not so far away. On Spotify’s own “most popular” page for Avicii’s hits, the legacy has been summarised briefly: “Thank you Avicii. Your music will live on forever”.