"I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to record something that's reached farther into the corners of the earth": Avicii hits 1 billion streams for the fifth time

Avicii's Hey Brother has become the fifth song in the late Swedish producer/DJ's catalogue to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify. 

The third single from Avicii's debut album True, released in 2013, Hey Brother brings together the artist's synth-heavy EDM style with elements of folk and bluegrass, including a rousing lead vocal from Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Dan Tyminski. One of the most successful electronic music artists of the 21st century, Avicii tragically died by suicide in 2018. 

Hey Brother's 1 billion-stream milestone has been marked by the release of a new video interview with Tyminski, embedded above, in which the singer-songwriter reflects on his contribution to the song.

Tyminski admits that he wasn't aware of Avicii's work when he was asked to contribute to Hey Brother, but soon realized the extent of the artist's popularity after running the idea past his daughter.

"At the time my daughter was 19," Tyminski recalls. "I knew that she would know who he was. I texted her saying 'have you heard of Avicii?' She responded immediately, she said: 'Swedish DJ. He's a genius. He's my favourite artist. Why?'"

"I think he wants to sing a song on his next record. I see the bubbles come up, she's texting, and it's one word: 'bullshit'... She literally said, 'if you don't do this, I'm out'."

"I ended up doing the song, and it's by far the most listened-to piece of music that I will ever have. I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to record something that's reached farther into the corners of the earth than Hey Brother. It was like a beam came out of heaven and dropped this beautiful, amazing song."

Revisit our 2011 In The Studio video with Avicii below.