The New Avicii Documentary "I'm Tim" Is An Incredible Behind The Scenes Look at a Genius At Work

This might sound weird because I consider myself more or less knowledgeable about pop culture and music, but I didn't realize quite how influential Avicii was on music until I watched this documentary. I would say EDM is my least-listened to genre of music, but I still know the hits and the popular DJs enough to get by. And I knew Avicii was a world-wide phenomenon and one of the biggest DJs in the world. But I did not realize just how important he was to music as a whole, nor what a prodigy he was. Watching the "I'm Tim" documentary sort of reminding me of watching "Free Solo", a behind the scenes look at the best in the world at their craft. In "Free Solo" we are transported inside the brain of the greatest climber to ever do it Alex Honnold, and in "I'm Tim" we are given inside access to the brain of Avicii, who I now will call the greatest DJ to ever do it.

If you're like me and love watching prodigies at work, this documentary is for you. Watching him put together songs so easily and naturally is I assume what it would be like to watch Picasso paint or Beethoven conduct. Some people are just born to do certain things and were going to be successful in that field no matter what, and Avicii was born to make music. But like with most geniuses, he became being tortured by his success. I feel like you see this all too much, the extremely talented person with the sicko brain is also tortured by that very same brain. 

I don't want to give too much away in the blog, but if you're like me and know Avicii through his songs like "Levels", "Wake Me Up", "Hey Brother", "Without You" and the other massive radio hits but didn't really know much about his background or life, I cannot recommend this documentary more. As I said above, I'll never get tired of learning about people transcend their field, whether it's someone like Steve Jobs in tech or Riggs in golf, I find them so fascinating. To be that much better and that much smarter and that much more gifted, it's truly a blessing and a curse. 

Give the documentary a watch, it's well worth the 90 minutes.