Levels (Avicii song)

"Levels"
Single by Avicii
Released	28 October 2011 (2011-10-28)
Recorded	2010–2011
Genre	Progressive house EDM electronica
Length	5:38 (original version) 3:19 (radio edit)
Label	Universal Music Group
Songwriter(s)	Tim Bergling Arash Pournouri Leroy Kirkland Etta James
Producer(s)	Avicii
Avicii singles chronology
"Collide" (2011) "Levels" (2011) "Silhouettes" (2012)
Music video
"Levels" on YouTube
Audio sample
file help

"Levels"^[a] is a song produced by Swedish DJ Tim Bergling as Avicii. The song initially premiered as an untitled track on Pete Tong's Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 on 11 December 2010. Bergling promoted "Levels" through live performances throughout 2011, building anticipation for the song by the time Universal Music Group issued it as a single on 28 October 2011 on iTunes. Musically, "Levels" is a progressive house, electronica, and EDM track built around a motif, consisting of a synth lead and a chord progression, that is asynchronous with the bass and vocal motifs. The song lifts vocal samples from Etta James's "Something's Got a Hold on Me" during a brief intermission; Bergling says he discovered the sample in Pretty Lights' "Finally Moving" and created "Levels" to incorporate the sample.

Following its release, Avicii regularly performed "Levels" in his live performances. Additionally, the song had a music video posted to YouTube on 29 November 2011. Petro Papahadjopoulos served as director, conceiving the video's concept after a phone interview with Avicii about the symbolism behind "Levels". The video is about a businessman who inexplicably starts dancing at his workplace, where he is tased unconscious and sent to the hospital. There, upon waking, he influences the hospital's inhabitants to inexplicably dance as well. The music video was nominated for "Best Electronic Dance Music Video" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.

"Levels" has received critical acclaim for its composition. It was nominated for Best Dancing Record at the 2012 Grammy Awards and for Best Electro/Dance Song at the 2012 Grammis Awards, winning in the category of Best Song in the latter. The song has been commercially successful, topping charts in Sweden and Norway and peaking within the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it has received platinum certifications in multiple countries, including being certified eight times in Sweden by the GLF. It reached one billion streams on Spotify in September 2024. "Levels" served as Bergling's breakout hit and signature song, in addition to being one of the first commercially successful songs released during the 2010s mainstreaming of EDM music in the United States.
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