Late Swedish DJ Avicii's dance song "Tough Love", which features sounds from India, released this week. Avicii's first posthumous single, 'SOS' featuring Aloe Blacc, was released in April, one year after his death.
"Tough Love" was produced and written by Avicii (Tim Bergling), Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir (Vargas and Lagola). Al Fakir and Pontare are longtime collaborators of Tim and worked with him on "Silhouettes", "Hey brother", "Without you" and more.
In the spring of 2017, after Bergling had been exploring music from northwest India, he played a melody loop for the two.
"Oddly enough, the Indian influences fit perfectly into a song we were working on, something that was so typical of Tim," Pontare said in a statement.
"He was a melodic genius."
Bergling was particular about vocal sounds and phrasing. He always heard the finished result in his head and then in the studio, he coached guest singers on how to produce what he was hearing.
In his notes, Bergling wrote about "Tough love": "This one needs to be a duet. Coolest thing would be a real couple. Or a couple that have worked together enough to be almost considered a couple!"
When Bergling died, the recording was 80 per cent completed. Adhering to his wishes, Pontare asked his wife, Swedish artist Agnes, to sing the song with him as a duet.
When Bergling passed away on April 20, 2018, he was close to completing a new album. He left behind a collection of nearly finished songs, along with notes, email conversations and text messages about the music.
The songwriters that Bergling was collaborating with on the album have continued the process to get as close to his vision as possible.
The song is from his upcoming album "TIM".