Stories

Lmao who added this 3 Think it's ok for this list because to me it perfectly describes what was popular in 2015. But do you have to listen to it? No. I would be surprised if you hadn't already. Though it was sad how it ended in 2018

Never heard of them and and as a bloke who's nearly 50 there's a reason why, but I have to give this 5 stars as it was absolutely superb!

God knows what amazing music Avicii would've still made. Died way too young. Amazing album

I have a deep soft spot in my heart for EDM. I think it's an undervalued genre, and I think part of that stems from being in college when it was at it's peak. I always get wistful thinking about those times, and EDM was usually the backdrop of the (few) college parties I attended. I asked my brother-in-law (big, big EDM fan) what he thought of Avicii and he said this is the definitive album. And out of respect for him, I'll keep some of the snark. Aside from one point: a lot of these singers sound like they got lost on the way to a Chris Martin soundalike competition, and it's hilarious to me that I thought of that before realizing he's on one of these tracks. I said to my BIL that it's nice you can tell an Avicii song is his. Glowing pianos, gently propulsive bass drums, some guitar. He tends to mix it up a little bit but still keep the style "his". The Matisyahu track is a HUGE swing that I don't think lands, but it's fun thinking that it exists. The track with Zac Brown works well in a weird country/EDM mashup that would (was?) be popular further down the line, but it is still strange. It's still, also, Avicii. I do like the fact that it's trying to be something more than generic EDM. That being said, at certain points, this music returns to the background for me. It's good work/workout music, but the lyrics are a bit cheesy (if earnest) and the music does occasionally homogenize. Again, it sounds like Avicii, for better or worse. Favorite tracks: "Broken Arrows", "True Believer"

I met a big fat Austrian guy at the pub once who controlled the jukebox with Avicii every song. We were playing decent rock music and all he did was put on Avicii songs. He was very annoying and he wasn't any good at pool. I don't see the appeal of Avicii. It's vaguely catchy, but it seems cheesy and annoying. 2/5.

Solid collection of the worst musical trend of the 2010s. EDM was primed for the internet age, an entire genre of zero patience and instant gratification – the longest verse on this LP can’t be more than thirty seconds, the entire production rushing to get to the drop and deliver another dopamine hit for maximum addiction. Theres little (if any) dynamic contrast, meaningful melodies, creative instrumentation, or anything that would push this into the category of art rather than product. It’s the kind of music that was made to be background noise to YouTube influencer videos, and I found plenty of examples when I searched the track tags to confirm that hypothesis. I love electronic music because it provides a palette beyond the limits of physical instruments – modern DAWs can make just about any noise you can imagine and have nearly infinite options. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see cookie-cutter, default synth setting work get big and mar people’s perception of what electronica can be. Listen to some progressive house, DnB, complextro – anything that takes more than one brain cell to appreciate and doesn’t just push your lizard brain reward circuits for an easy hit.

Saw what you will about the Swedes but they can craft some platinum level pop

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Talk to myself, Ten more days, Waiting for love, Pure grinding

I enjoyed listening to this… a bit of variety with even some country and reggae tinges. Good stuff!

It takes a special kind to not choose true as the avicii album to put on here (maybe it was taken already idk) but god damn we really did have it good in the early 2010s with him. Not all of this was amazing but overall it’s really solid edm that’s just light and kinda optimistic in that 2015 way. Maybe that’s just nostalgia goggles though.

Avicii made some bangers no doubt. Through a whole album things start to feel a little similar to me but if this is your thing hell yea

This kind of thing doesn't generally do a while lot for me; this wasn't an exception. Pleasant enough listen, interesting range of vocalists, felt more like a compilation than a cohesive album to me.

Okay, fair enough. This wasn't really my thing, but this is a solidly representative album for recent EDM/dance-pop, with an interesting roster of vocalists. A catchy and pleasant crowd pleaser, if not super groundbreaking or memorable. Fave Songs: Waiting for Love, Touch Me, Ten More Days, Talk to Myself

Really well produced. Shame what happened to him. Seemed quite decently talented.

EDM, dance-pop, house, progressive house, tropical house. Ni fu ni fa.

Poor Avicii, I can’t remember how he died but I always think about the line “I took a pill in Ibeza to show Avicii I was cool”. I enjoyed listening there were some really unique songs in here.

Solid EDM album by Avicii on which some other genres are touched (fusion, reggae, blue grass). There’s a thin line between being catchy and generic/inoffensive. That line is sometimes crossed and the bland lyrics do not help. Overall an ok effort.

Nostalgia bait

There is a great conspiracy about how he died in Oman involving a party, a young royal, and a wine bottle. That is not to make light of his death. This album had a couple of great pop songs and a lot of generic ones too.

Yeah, just not my thing sorry. 2 stars.

EDM music was such a weird phase of music but some people really loved it. Other just loved going to clubs and this music was everywhere. I always thought it was the turning point of musicianship being more computer based than talent based. Overall this isn’t anything I care to listen to but it’s not bad. I’d imagine decades from now this kind of music will be forgotten. 4.7/10

His passing was tragic, and I hope he and his family are in a better place now. That said, this album is so goofy and made me laugh a few times. The opener is that "monday left me broken" song that I've heard in the most brainrotted memes, no idea that was Avicii. So much of this sounds like Fortnite original music or something, the kind of EDM that a guy like Porter Robinson set out to pastiche. I did enjoy a couple times, sometimes I too am a sucker for positivity. But overall, strange pick. I don't really see the appeal. 2.5/5

Well, there was one keeper here at least. Strange how some of these tracks were more "country" tinged than EDM

Was massive at the time, and a huge influence on modern day music, but not a good influence in my opinion really so find Avicii annoying. Shame what happened mind you.

Avicii was one of the poster boys for a wave of EDM that has just never really been my thing - it’s fun in the right setting but just not something I enjoy listening to on my commute or whatever. The big single on this album is Waiting For Love, which is an alright club banger but not on the level of his previous tracks Levels or Wake Me Up. Elsewhere the album is a bit more adventurous, playing with a country sound on quite a few songs rather than just recycling the same EDM tropes. It was more varied than expected and I appreciate what it was going for, just not one for me

There are tracks that are outside the concept of electronic music and are the ones that hinder the album, since they are not well made and are boring as hell. The beats and music are the strong points of the album, but as soon as Avicii wants to sing more than he should, something goes wrong. It lacks strength 1 1/2 stars.

I just couldn't get through this.

I hate this electronic DJ shit. I really do.

Leaving a contribution to allow Alexander to run this app without ads is very nice. I wish I had the means set up a monthly payment myself. The thing is, when someone reviews only 15 albums in the first half of January 2025, and then suddenly stops, it gives you the nagging feeling that this person who was allowed to submit a first album before finishing the project -- thanks to their early contribution -- doesn't really have the chops to defend their choice in the grand scale of things yet. Too soon, young Padawan, too soon... I sincerely hope that this person is OK now, that nothing too serious distracted them from using the app, and they they just suddenly got bored with the whole thing. But if it's the latter, I don't really see why we should pay much attention to this particular album dabbling in a genre so stale and inoffensive it *does* become offensive after a short while, quite paradoxically. Hey, if you're reading this, whoever you are, let us know you're doing OK at least. Leave a review, once in a while. It would be nice. And if you're not OK, my heart goes out to you, very sincerely. Going back to *Stories*, I readily admit that its first two tracks are pretty effective in the EDM genre, thanks to some fun spiky synthetic flourishes that are not wearing you out yet at this early point. But then the whole shebang quickly goes down the drain, owing to an overabundance of cheesy arrangements and tepid chord progressions -- so predictable everything soon becomes a borefest. If you want electronic pop that's as "effective" and catchy as it is layered and daring, you can take your pick between acts as different as Jamie xx, Dua Lipa or Charli XCX. In comparison, there was nothing daring in Avicii's music, god rest his soul: it's just surface gloss filled with hooks that cross the grating line a little too easily. And to be honest, it's not that catchy either. Chances are that this thing will age as badly as Scritti Polliti or ABC -- the bad taste of the eighties (at least part of them) still has an imprint on today's mainstream commercial output, I imagine, as vastly different as the electronic genres involved are from one decade to another... Another point of contention is how perfunctory and devoid of true soul all the guest vocalists sound in this record. Looks like 2010s-era Chris Martin is surrounded by like-minded performers here, which certainly brings... cohesion to the whole project! Some vocal hooks slyly copypasted from older pop songs are also annoying as hell 2Pac's "California...!" even makes a sudden appearance at some point, too discrete to be a real homage, but also too obvious not to raise eyebrows. And speaking of hip hop influences, Wyclef Jean's featuring in one of the "deep cuts" from the tracklist -- some sort of half-baked reggae song -- is probably one of the most embarrassing things the man has done (and he has done quite a few since the end of the Fugees!). So all of this is obviously part of a very manufactured formula, like with the fistful of glossy "acoustic" country-rock-ballads-oriented cuts also recorded for this project. Oddly enough, those innocuous tracks actually made me want to explore the already gargantuan output of Zach Bryan, that I am not very familiar with, in an admittedly close range of "modern" countrified pop music harboring gentle and accessible melodies. Because anything sounds at least a little "authentic" compared to Avicii's music. Even the most streaming-friendly stuff out there. One track stood out in the album's second half, though, thanks to a more "extravagant" feel and a bouncier, far more original rhythm pattern. A little campy, maybe, but campy implies having something akin to taste instead of total blandness at least. That song is "Somewhere In Stockholm", and very ironically, its chorus, "I left my backbone/ Somewhere in Stockholm", sums up everything I think about the vast majority of the other songs, all interchangeable and lacking personality, and all written in "committees' to boot (but also quite logically, if you think of it). Because let's be honest for one second: where is the "backbone" indeed on this thing? Was the "real" Avicii a flesh-and-bone person, only a producer, or just a brand? Well the jury's still out on this one. But what it comes to stating whether this album deserves to be in this list, I'm afraid the jury has reached an unanimous decision here. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums 6/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 0 for now Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 2 Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 2 (including this one)