Steve Angello speaks about how Avicii’s death has effected him

In a recent interview with Swedish publication Aftonbladet, Steve Angello took the time to discuss many facets of the electronic music world, including the tragic death of Tim Bergling to the rise of the toxic social media environment that shunned many fans to the mental health of Avicii. In a “Power Hit Radio” segment Angello talks about how hard it can be as an artist to navigate through the industry across many years. He discusses stress, managing a life while on tour, and the taxing effects of constantly being in the limelight.

Staging the interview, the reporter asks Steve “How did the Avicii situation affect you?”. He responds by discussing how hard it would be as a parent. To Angello, Tim was a friend like any other, however the thing that hurt Steve the most was the lasting effect it will have on Tim’s parents. As a parent himself, Steve can’t even fathom the thought of losing one’s son. What effects Steve the most is the horrible tragedy the parents of Avicii have had to face. Angello discusses how:

For us Tim wasn’t an artist, he was a friend, so it’s a bit different when you look at this “just the artist” situation. For me its more about thinking about the siblings, the parents losing their child. I can’t even imagine how that can feel.

The reporter asks Steve if after watching the documentary “True Stories”, it was clear that people could have seen how he was truly feeling. Angello declares how “we artists, don’t feel well, we are a bit unstable and crazy, I know how tough and taxing it can be when you are coming from 60 gigs, meeting your family, barely had anything to eat in 2 months, it gets a bit unhealthy in general”. Steve had been in the industry man years before Avicii entered in the late 2000’s, so it would be accurate to say he would have had time to develop heuristics for staying healthy both mentally and physically while on tour.  Angello illustrates how:

I also think that social media can be a bit scary because suddenly you have direct contact with your fans, which can be a beautiful thing. The problem is when it’s something negative they can reach you directly. You have to build a kind of alter-ego, and make a distance between that. Just look at the hip-hop world, I just notice how they are dying one after another. Something has happened, it’s easy to pretend that everything is okay when you are posting nice photos on social media, while in reality it might not be that way. People that aren’t close to you might not notice it all the time. However it’s a hard thing, even if you know that someone isn’t feeling well, it can be hard to take that step and walk up to someone and ask how they are feeling.

Angello states how even in our own lives it can be hard to gauge someones mental health even when you directly ask them about it, he notes how hard it can be to get a direct answer from someone.  Steve Angello has been a very strong advocate lately and has held nothing back discussing the music industry online. From modern rappers to the surge of artist and fan feuds, Steve Angello believes that “fans have the power to change the attitude of artists and the way they think by showing love and support”.