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The announcement comes after nearly a year of musical silence from Harris, following his last album ‘96 Months‘ (2024) and a collaboration with Ellie Goulding on the track ‘Free‘. The forthcoming single is expected to blend electronic elements with country motifs, reflecting a growing trend among DJs like Avicii and Diplo, who have explored similar fusions.

Calvin Harris has been a dominant force in the music industry since his debut album ‘I Created Disco‘ (2007). He holds the record for the most top ten hits from a single studio album, with nine tracks from his 2012 album ‘18 Months‘ reaching the UK top ten, including ‘We Found Love‘ in collaboration with Rihanna, ‘Feel So Close‘, and ‘I Need Your Love‘ featuring Ellie Goulding. His most recent chart-topping single ‘Miracle’, another collaboration with Ellie Goulding, reached number one in April 2023.As the DJ embarks on this new musical journey, fans are eager to see how he will blend his electronic roots with country influences. While ‘Smoke the Pain Away’ is set for release next week, there has been no official confirmation regarding a full country-inspired album. This single may signify a broader exploration of genre fusion, but details about subsequent projects remain unknown. Fans are encouraged to keep an eye on Harris’s official social media accounts for any hints about what’s next.

The track, ‘SOS’, features vocals from Aloe Blacc, who has previously collaborated with Avicii before on the single, ‘Wake Me Up’. In a statement, Blacc said: “I feel like ‘SOS’ was a song that was probably ahead of its time for when he wrote it. He wrote these lyrics obviously about some of his battles and I think it’s a really important topic to approach and to share, especially with his visibility and his access to ears and hearts. To give people the words to be able to say ‘I need help.’  I remember when we did ‘Wake Me Up’, that was huge and that was the moment that defined the real impact that he had on music.”

Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was found dead in his hotel room, in Oman, on the 20th of April 2018. It was later confirmed that the 28-year-old DJ and producer had taken his own life. Avicii was honoured at a memorial service in Stockholm in November 2018, seven months after his death, where hundreds of fans gathered at the city’s Hedvig Eleonora Church to join his family in paying tribute to the late star.

The release comes after, last week (April 5), Avicii’s family announced details of the posthumous album. It was confirmed that a new record, titled ‘TIM’, would go ahead and would arrive, on the 6th of June 2019, featuring tracks that the producer was working on before his death. The songwriters he had been working with at the time “continued the process to get as close to his vision as possible.” 

Avicii’s parents released a statement shortly after his death that seemed to confirm that their son committed suicide. They said: ‘He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.’ The 28 year old’s parents have since re-organised his official website as an open-source memory board, and presumably approved the donation of his Steinway piano to a Stockholm museum.

Tim Bergling was very charitable during his professional success and in 2011 he founded House For Hunger, eventually donated $1 million via ticket sales to Feeding America. He also gave €1 million to Swedish charity Radiohjalpen and $60,000 to the FEED Foundation. RED was also a charity that Avicii worked close with, who raised awareness for fight the spread of, and increase the care options for those living with HIV and AIDS. Avicii found that when he started making money he didn’t need it, saying back in 2013 interview: ‘I discovered when I started making money that I didn’t really need it.’

His $17.5 million home in LA was sold and done so off-market. His mother and Father (Anki Liden and Klas Bergling) will inherit his accumulated wealth of 231 million Swedish Krone rounds out to roughly $25 million. In 2017 Avicii stopped touring and doing live performances after being diagnosed with pancreatitis from excessive drinking. He was forced to have an emergency appendectomy and have his gallbladder removed.

In his True Stories’ documentary, Avicii spoke about how he felt pressured to perform when he didn’t even want to. He even predicted he would die young after playing 813 shows in eight years. In the documentary he is seen talking to his pals and admitted: ‘ I have said, like, I am going to die. I have said it so many times. And so I don’t want to hear that I should even entertain the thought of doing another gig.’ DJ Pete Tog said Avicii’s death was a wake up call to the music industry after his struggle was revealed in his documentary.

Tim Bergling died on April 20th 2018, and made a lasting mark on the electronic music scene. Avicii created classic hits such as ‘The Nights’ ‘Levels’ and ‘Addicted To You’.

Swede Avicii (real name Tim Bergling) has been a household name in EDM and House music for years now, often being regarded as one of the best DJ’s out there. Avicii has released two studio albums, both of which performing very well commercially with his debut ‘True’ in 2013 peaking within the top ten of ten different countries and his second (and seemingly final) album ‘Stories’ was one of the most commonly streamed albums of 2015.

Even if you were not a huge fan of EDM and house music, the chances are you will have heard Avcii plenty of times before, his music often incorporated different genres, from country to pop. One of Avicii’s biggest hitting songs was ‘Wake Me Up’ which managed to peak at number one in over 22 different countries. Listen to ‘Wake Me Up’ below:

Avicii took to his website to say the following:

“Thank you for letting me fulfil so many of my dreams. I will be forever grateful to have experienced and accomplished all that I have with the help of the team around me and my beloved fans.”

“My path has been filled with success but it hasn’t come without its bumps. I’ve become an adult while growing as an artist, I’ve come to know myself better and realize that there’s so much I want to do with my life. I have strong interests in different areas but there’s so little time to explore them.”

“My choices and career have never been driven by material things, although I’m grateful for all the opportunities and comforts my success has availed me. I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform, but I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist.”

However Avicii did also say that this might not be the last we ever hear from him:

“I will however never let go of music – I will continue to speak to my fans through it, but I’ve decided this 2016 run will be my last tour and last shows. Let’s make them go out with a bang!

One part of me can never say never, I could be back …but I won’t be right back.”

So there we have it, one of the world’s leading DJ’s is retiring indefinitely for the future! Following the recent loss of Swedish House Mafia and now Avicii there is definite room for someone else to establish themselves as the be all and end all in EDM, keep an eye out for the likes of Robin Schulz, who will now no doubt be eager to move forward.