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From: Klas Bergling

To: Tim Bergling

Date: 29 September 2011

Hi Tim,

嗨，Tim，

How’s it going? Have just arrived in Skillinge, played some poker with the guys, it’s fun. Tonight it’s starry skies and refreshing fall in the air. Always the same when you come back here after having been away for a while, it’s so nice, easy to forget.

你好嗎？剛到Skillinge，和伙計們玩了些撲克牌，很有趣。今晚滿天繁星，秋天的涼意撲面而來。每次離開一段時間后回到這里，總是感覺很美好，容易被忘卻。

Thinking about you a lot and hoping your inspiration is enough for this huge tour with gigs every day. I don’t think it’s such a great plan, one needs to be able to pause and breathe a little, but it’s your choice.

我一直在想著你，希望你的靈感足以支撐這個每天都有演出的巨大巡演。我不認為這是一個好計劃，人需要停下來，稍微喘口氣，但這是你的選擇。

Kisses and hugs and I hope it’s going sooooo well!

親親抱抱，希望一切順利！

Your old man

你的老爸

Without even being properly released by a record company, in the autumn of 2011 ‘Levels’ had almost twenty million views on YouTube. On Facebook, Avicii had over a hundred thousand followers, and there were more each night, while Tim Bergling toured between the college towns in the US – that was where the young people were.

在2011年秋季，盡管沒有通過唱片公司正式發(fā)布，‘Levels’在YouTube上的觀看次數(shù)已經(jīng)接近2000萬。在Facebook上，Avicii已經(jīng)有了超過10萬的粉絲，而且每天晚上都在增加，同時Tim Bergling在美國的大學(xué)城之間巡回演出——那里有年輕人。

In this country, it was important to strike while the iron was hot, something the singer Bj?rn Skifs had experienced four decades earlier. In the mid-70s, he had been on his way to becoming the first Swede ever to conquer first place on the singles chart in the US, with his cover of the song ‘Hooked on a Feeling’, but he blew it all due to his Swedish sense of obligation. The artist had been standing backstage, in full make-up, when the record company called from the other side of the Atlantic and said it was rumoured that the song was about to go number one! IN THE US! Hey, cancel everything, throw yourself on a flight! Skifs explained that it was impossible, because he was about to play a clown in a musical in V?ster?s. When he and the band Blue Swede eventually left for the USA, the temperature had cooled down and there was never any more chance of a career there.

在這個國家，趁熱打鐵非常重要，這是歌手Bj?rn Skifs四十年前曾經(jīng)體驗過的。在70年代中期，他曾經(jīng)憑借翻唱歌曲Hooked on a Feeling在美國單曲榜上取得第一名的成績，成為了首位征服美國單曲榜的瑞典人，但由于瑞典人特有的責(zé)任感，他失去了一切。當(dāng)時，唱片公司從大西洋的另一邊打來電話，說這首歌即將在美國登頂！在后臺化了濃妝的藝術(shù)家聽到這個消息時，他立刻取消了所有的計劃，準備趕上一架航班！然而，Skifs被解釋說這是不可能的，因為他即將在V?ster?s的一部音樂劇中扮演小丑。當(dāng)他和Blue Swede樂隊最終啟程前往美國時，熱度已經(jīng)降溫，再也沒有機會在美國發(fā)展事業(yè)了。

Avicii would not make that kind of mistake. He would be touring intensively to take advantage of the momentum that ‘Levels’ had created. Malik Adunni and Malik Adunni were two Americans who had been hired to act as tour leaders and production managers and to make travel more efficient. The crew zigzagged across the continent, at a pace that dissolved day and night. Just take this October week of 2011, which had begun on Monday in Covington, Kentucky. Then they went to Gainesville, Florida, before flying all over the country to San Diego, making a stop at Jesse Waits’ club in Las Vegas and finally ending up in Bloomington, Indiana, where Tim had just done Saturday night’s first gig. Now they were on their way to an arena in New Jersey to make the evening’s second appearance.

Avicii不會犯那種錯誤。他會進行巡演，利用Levels制造的勢頭。Malik Adunni和Malik Adunni是兩名美國人，被聘用擔(dān)任巡演領(lǐng)隊和制作經(jīng)理，以便使旅行更加高效。團隊在整個大陸穿梭，以一種忽略白天和黑夜的節(jié)奏前進。就拿2011年10月的這一周來說，周一他們在肯塔基州科文頓開始，然后前往佛羅里達州蓋恩斯維爾，之后飛往圣迭戈，在拉斯維加斯的杰西·韋茨俱樂部停留，最后在印第安納州布盧明頓結(jié)束了周六晚上的首場演出?，F(xiàn)在，他們正前往新澤西的一個競技場，準備進行當(dāng)晚的第二場演出。

As usual, Tim sat immersed in his screens, drinking champagne from a plastic glass.

像往常一樣，Tim沉浸在屏幕中，從塑料杯中喝著香檳。

He had started chatting intensely with Emily, the girl he had met in Washington, DC, a few months earlier. Via WhatsApp, they sent quotes from the TV series Arrested Development, shared pictures of cute sloths, discussed the Game of Thrones books and joked about Disney movies. One meme led to the next, the topics of conversation never ended, everything was intense and fun. They were from different parts of the world, but Tim already felt that he had found a kindred spirit. Emily was not only funny, she also had good taste – when she suggested the TV series Archer, Tim downloaded it immediately.

他開始與幾個月前在華盛頓特區(qū)認識的女孩Emily熱情地聊天。他們通過WhatsApp發(fā)送《逮捕令發(fā)展》電視劇的語錄，分享可愛樹獺的照片，討論《權(quán)力的游戲》的書籍，開玩笑談?wù)摰鲜磕犭娪啊Ｒ粋€表情包引發(fā)下一個，話題從未結(jié)束，一切都是那么的濃烈和有趣。他們來自世界不同的地方，但Tim已經(jīng)感到他找到了一個志同道合的靈魂。Emily不僅幽默，她還很有品味——當(dāng)她建議看電視劇《特工狂花》時，Tim立刻下載了它。

In tandem with this, unfortunately, the job never ended. Filip Holm at least had a sense of humour when he emailed all the new commitments.

與此同時，不幸的是，這項工作永遠不會結(jié)束。Filip Holm在發(fā)送新的承諾郵件時至少有一點幽默感。

Interview No. 7888444 URGENT.

采訪編號 7888444，緊急。

Another interview request from another student magazine. It was not that Tim did not want to talk about his music, but to answer the same fifteen questions over and over again was more tiring than they seemed to realise on Styrmansgatan.

又是來自一本學(xué)生雜志的采訪請求。Tim并不是不想談?wù)撍囊魳罚遣粩嗷卮鹉峭瑯拥氖鍌€問題比他們在Styrmansgatan意識到的更加疲憊。

Did he drink his coffee with or without milk? Did he ski? What were his favourite songs when he cleaned? Those questions were meaningless but at least they were different. Most were far more generic:

他喝咖啡的時候加牛奶嗎？他滑雪嗎？他打掃衛(wèi)生時最喜歡聽哪些歌曲？這些問題毫無意義，但至少它們不同尋常。大多數(shù)問題都更加普通：

Had you expected all this success?

你預(yù)料到了這一切的成功嗎？

Would you like to collaborate with Swedish House Mafia?

你想和瑞典浩室黑手黨合作嗎？

What kind of music do you play in the clubs?

你在俱樂部播放什么類型的音樂？

It was a Slovenian newspaper that wondered about the latter.

那是一家斯洛文尼亞報紙對此產(chǎn)生了疑問。

‘Fuck this, they should at least know that one,’ Tim wrote to Filip. Why did they want to write about him when they did not even know the most basic things?

“去他媽的，他們至少應(yīng)該知道這個，”Tim寫給Filip。他們?yōu)槭裁聪雽懰?，卻連最基本的東西都不知道？

Do you have any habits before you go on stage?

你上臺前有什么習(xí)慣嗎？

‘I always take a shot of J?ger before I go on. I have Ti?sto to thank for that ritual!’

“在上臺前我總是喝一口野格。這個儀式我要感謝Ti?sto！”

Pancakes, waffles or crêpes – choose one!

煎餅、華夫餅或可麗餅 - 選一個！

‘Crêpes.’

“可麗餅?！?/span>

What makes a party perfect?

什么讓派對變得完美？

‘I would say good music, good people and J?germeister.’

“我會說好音樂、好人和野格利口酒?！?/span>

What does the name Avicii mean?

Avicii這個名字是什么意思？

‘Fuck this one too, the answer is already found 5000x on Google.’

“他媽的，這個也是，答案在谷歌上已經(jīng)被查了5000遍了。”

Production manager Felix Alfonso began to understand for the first time how uncomfortable Tim could become around people one Sunday in Boston. Before that night’s gig, they had decided to see the latest Transformers movie.

在波士頓的某個星期天，制作經(jīng)理Felix Alfonso第一次意識到Tim在人群中會感到不適。在那晚的演出前，他們決定去看最新的《變形金剛》電影。

Felix noticed that Tim was behaving differently as they walked towards the theatre. He seemed to not be in the conversation, walked quietly and stared down at the ground.

當(dāng)Felix和Tim朝劇院走去時，F(xiàn)elix注意到Tim的行為有些不同尋常。他好像沒有參與對話，默默地走著，低頭看著地面。

‘What’s up, bro? You good?’

“你怎么了？還好嗎？”

Tim hurried forward under his hat.

Tim戴著帽子匆忙前行。

‘I’m okay. Just anxious. There’s so many people here; feels like everybody is staring.’

“我沒事，只是有些焦慮。這里有那么多人，感覺每個人都在盯著我看。”

Felix was a little put off, did not know what to answer. Of course, there were people who saw that it was Avicii – he was dressed exactly the same as in the press photos. The same T-shirt from American Apparel, the same check shirt, the same cap.

Felix有些不知所措，不知道該怎么回答。當(dāng)然，有人看到了這是Avicii——他穿著與新聞?wù)掌贤耆粯拥囊路?，同樣是美國服裝公司的T恤，同樣是格子襯衫，同樣是一頂帽子。

‘No one is recognising you,’ Felix tried. ‘Just keep on walking and you’ll be fine.’

“沒有人會認出你的，”Felix嘗試說，“向前走，你會沒事的?！?/span>

Inside the box office, it was crowded with people.

售票處里面人山人海。

Now the pressure spread across Tim’s chest, his whole body feeling tense. He tried to persuade himself that nothing terrible could happen, he was just out with his friends for a few hours. He tried to focus on breathing deeply and quietly.

此時，壓力蔓延到Tim的胸口，他整個身體感到緊張。他試圖說服自己，沒有什么可怕的事情會發(fā)生，他只是和朋友出去幾個小時。他試圖集中注意力深呼吸并保持安靜。

But the air did not come down his throat, it was too thin. He had to sit down.

但空氣并沒有進入他的喉嚨，太稀薄了。他不得不坐下來。

‘I think I’m having a panic attack,’ he said.

“我覺得我在經(jīng)歷一次驚恐發(fā)作?！彼f。

From a distance, Per Sundin had watched as house music swept the US. ‘Levels’ was changing everything for Tim; it was visible on YouTube, where happy people sang along to the synth riff in club after club. The record company manager had been vying with Arash Pournouri since the spring to buy the rights to release the song – at the manager’s thirtieth birthday party, Sundin had even agreed to be spanked by some burlesque dancers in the hope it would help him secure the deal.

Per Sundin遠遠地觀察著電子音樂在美國的興起。Levels對Tim的影響正在顯現(xiàn)，這一切可以在YouTube上看到，快樂的人們在一個個俱樂部里跟著合成器的旋律唱歌。自從春天以來，唱片公司經(jīng)理一直在與Arash Pournouri競爭購買發(fā)行這首歌的權(quán)利——在經(jīng)理的三十歲生日派對上，Sundin甚至同意被一些脫衣舞女打屁股，希望這能幫助他獲得這筆交易。

In early autumn of 2011, he and Arash spoke again over the phone. Arash said that Virgin EMI in London was also interested, and that the competing record company had given him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.

2011年初秋，他和Arash再次通過電話交流。Arash說倫敦的維京EMI唱片公司也很感興趣，競爭對手公司給他提出了一個他無法拒絕的報價。

They had offered five hundred thousand euros.

他們出價50萬歐元。

Per Sundin was shocked. An advance of around five million crowns? It was a sensational amount of money for a single song. Furthermore, the offer went against all custom in the industry.

Per Sundin感到震驚。五百萬瑞典克朗的預(yù)付款？對于一首單曲來說，這個金額是驚人的。此外，這個出價違反了行業(yè)的所有習(xí)慣。

Record companies were basically venture capitalists. They evaluated the potential of an artist and invested in the hope of getting a good return. In Sweden, the usual advance would be around fifty thousand euros – for a whole album. And then the record company also got the right to release two more records. Even if a debut album did not go as well as expected, they would still have several years to build the artist into a star. Apparently, no such option was included here.

唱片公司本質(zhì)上就是風(fēng)險投資家。他們評估藝人的潛力，并投資希望獲得良好的回報。在瑞典，通常的預(yù)付款大約為五萬歐元，用于制作整張專輯。然后唱片公司還有權(quán)利發(fā)行另外兩張唱片。即使首張專輯的銷售不如預(yù)期，他們?nèi)匀挥袔啄甑臅r間將這位藝人打造成明星。但顯然在這里沒有這樣的選擇。

Per Sundin realised that, in practice, it meant a complete shift of power. Such an extensive advance would force any record company to work extra hard to get its investment back, and if it went well for Avicii, the company would have helped build a brand that was open for everyone else to fight over even with the next song.

Per Sundin意識到，實際上這意味著完全的權(quán)力轉(zhuǎn)移。這樣廣泛的進展將迫使任何唱片公司更加努力地努力賺回自己的投資，如果Avicii進展順利，那么這家公司將幫助打造一個品牌，這個品牌將開放給任何與下一首歌進行競爭的人。

They ended the conversation quickly and Per Sundin slammed the phone down on his desk. As he sat in his office, surrounded by gold discs, he tried to evaluate what he had just heard. Sure, there was clearly a lot of buzz around Avicii. But for the rights to release Tim’s latest song, ‘Fade Into Darkness’, Sundin had paid around ten thousand euros. Now Arash wanted half a million. Surely no one was idiotic enough to offer that amount without even getting an option?

他們很快結(jié)束了對話，Per Sundin將電話狠狠地摔在桌子上。當(dāng)他坐在辦公室里，被金唱片包圍著時，他試圖評估自己剛剛聽到的內(nèi)容。當(dāng)然，Avicii周圍顯然有很多話題。但是為了發(fā)布Tim的最新歌曲Fade Into Darkness，Sundin已經(jīng)支付了大約1萬歐元的費用?，F(xiàn)在Arash想要50萬歐元?？隙]有人會如此愚蠢，甚至沒有獲得選擇權(quán)就提供那么多錢吧？

At the same time, Sundin knew that working with an imprint of Virgin EMI in London was Jason Ellis, the man who had signed Swedish House Mafia. Maybe Ellis saw even greater potential in Avicii than in the Swedish trio?

同時，Sundin知道與倫敦Virgin EMI的子公司合作的是Jason Ellis，他曾經(jīng)簽下了瑞典浩室黑手黨。也許Ellis認為Avicii的潛力比瑞典三人組還要大？

At the office of At Night, the excitement was palpable. Arash had not actually received as high a bid as he’d claimed. But what did it matter? He did not even see it as being deceptive. He could have got the money, he reasoned – the sum simply reflected what he thought ‘Levels’ was worth out in Europe.

在At Night的辦公室里，興奮感彌漫著整個空間。Arash實際上并沒有收到他所聲稱的那么高的出價。但這有什么關(guān)系呢？他甚至沒有把它看作是一種欺騙。他可以得到這筆錢，他解釋道——這筆錢只是反映了他認為Levels在歐洲的價值。

Arash stood in the kitchen on Styrmansgatan and spoke about his risky move.

Arash站在Styrmansgatan的廚房里，談?wù)撝拿半U舉動。

‘I’ve hustled people to the ground with “Levels”. I mean, hustled to the ground! I’m like a scam broker,’ he smiled.

“我曾經(jīng)用Levels把人們推倒在地。我的意思是，推倒在地！我就像一個騙子經(jīng)紀人，”他微笑著說道。

Filip Holm thought that it was one of the most stimulating things about working with At Night. No one cared about any of the guidelines, because none of them had done anything like this before. If you didn’t know about the rules, it was surely a lot easier not to give a shit about them.

Filip Holm認為，與At Night合作中最令人興奮的事情之一就是沒有人關(guān)心任何規(guī)則，因為他們從來沒有做過這樣的事情。如果你不知道規(guī)則，那么不關(guān)心它們肯定要容易得多。

Per Sundin, on the other hand, continued to worry. By this time, he had been selling Avicii to his colleagues at Universal for months – this was the artist who would hopefully propel him as well to new heights. And then the carpet was suddenly pulled out from under him. Shameful and angry, Sundin started calling local executives around Europe, mostly to explain that he had lost out.

另一方面，Per Sundin仍然感到擔(dān)憂。此時，他已經(jīng)向環(huán)球唱片公司的同事們推銷Avicii幾個月了——這位藝術(shù)家有望把他自己也推向新的高度。然而，突然間他的計劃被打亂了。Sundin感到羞愧和憤怒，開始撥打歐洲的當(dāng)?shù)馗吖茈娫挘饕菫榱私忉屗斄恕?/span>

To Sundin’s surprise, his colleagues seemed ready to come to the rescue. Patrick Busschots, a Belgian veteran in particular, said that they just could not miss this artist. See what was happening on the house music scene in the US, it was really simmering over there!

讓Sundin感到驚訝的是，他的同事們似乎已經(jīng)準備好出手相助了。特別是比利時老將Patrick Busschots說，他們絕不能錯過這位藝術(shù)家。看看美國的浩室音樂現(xiàn)場正在發(fā)生什么，那里真的很熱鬧！

Arash had given Sundin a short deadline to change his mind, so Universal quickly constructed a solution where Sweden, Germany, England and the US office each took a quarter of the cost of ‘Levels’.

Arash給Sundin設(shè)定了一個短期限，讓他改變主意，因此環(huán)球公司迅速構(gòu)建了一個解決方案，瑞典、德國、英國和美國的辦事處分別承擔(dān)Levels成本的四分之一。

Humiliated but relieved, Universal confirmed that they had matched a bid that did not actually exist. Arash Pournouri had got the giant record company exactly where he wanted. Now it was not only Per Sundin and the Swedish office who needed to work hard in order to not lose money on the song, the same applied to the other offices in Europe and the US. And if they did not deliver, Arash had every right to go to another label with the next song.

雖然被羞辱但是寬慰的是，環(huán)球唱片公司確認他們與實際上并不存在的一份出價相匹配。Arash Pournouri已經(jīng)把這家巨型唱片公司帶到了他想要的地方?，F(xiàn)在，不僅瑞典辦事處的Per Sundin需要努力工作以避免在這首歌曲上虧本，歐洲和美國的其他辦事處也同樣如此。如果他們不能交付，Arash有權(quán)利帶著下一首歌曲去另一家唱片公司。

It was the record company that was in the shit, not him.

有麻煩的是唱片公司，而不是他。