Uplifting Trailer For ‘Avicii – I’m Tim’ Doc Features Chris Martin, David Guetta: ‘In Such a Small Time He Completely Killed It’

The life and times of beloved Swedish DJ/producer Avicii are celebrated in the first official trailer for the upcoming Netflix doc chronicling his life, Avicii – I’m Tim. The nearly two-minute preview of the film due out globally on Dec. 31 opens with an image of Avicii (born Tim Bergling) posted up behind his decks in front of a massive festival crowd as towering pyro flames fill the frame and the audience shouts “AVICII! AVICII!”

Featuring voiceover narration recorded with the late global superstar before he died in 2018 at age 28 by suicide, the trailer flips through images of Avicii in his youth, landing on a snap of a teenage Tim strumming an acoustic guitar as he explains, “I’ve always loved music. I knew that whatever I wanted to do later in life, I wanted to do something creative.”

He describes working on his music at home, constantly sending his tracks out in the hope that someone would notice. “In such a small time, he completely killed it,” says fellow global DJ superstar David Guetta. The focus then shifts to a series of pics and video clips of Avicii in the studio with stars including Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Chic’s Nile Rodgers and others, as Martin recalls that it was Avicii’s signature 2011 hit “Levels” that introduced him to Bergling’s music.

“I had that feeling that I get when I really love something,” Martin says about the inescapably catchy, Grammy-nominated house tune that topped the charts in the DJ’s native Sweden and became his signature hit. The trailer also hits on one of the most audacious, and successful, chances Avicii took in his life when he got booed after debuting the genre-busting Aloe Blacc collab “Wake Me Up” at the Ultra Music Festival in 2013 with a live band — including a banjo and two guitars. The song would go on to be his biggest hit, and his only top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 4 in October 2013 on its way to more than three billion streams.

At the time, Avicii was “really broken about it,” according to the doc, with a voiceover noting that the constant jet-setting touring was “really taking a toll” on Bergling. “I was running after some idea of happiness that wasn’t my own,” Avicii says. “I didn’t like being a persona.”

Avicii struggled as the line between performer and persona got blurred, and in a poignant moment at the end of the sneak preview, the interviewer wonders what his answer would be if someone asked “What’s your story? Who are you?”

Haltingly, Bergling confirms, “I’m… Tim.”

The doc directed by Henrik Burman premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year also features interviews with Avicii’s parents, friends, colleagues and fellow artists. Along with the documentary, Netflix will stream Avicii’s final performance at Ushuaïa Ibiza in August of 2016, his final live set before he stopped touring at 26.

Watch the trailer below.

If you or anyone you know is in crisis and/or experiencing suicidal ideation, reach out to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988 or visiting the website. Confidential support is available 24/7, 365 days a year.