''Stories'' is the second studio album by Swedish

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

producer

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first re ...

, released on 2 October 2015 by PRMD Music and Island Records. It was produced by Avicii along with

Salem Al Fakir Lars Salem Al Fakir (born 27 October 1981) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He regularly collaborates with Vincent Pontare as the songwriting and production duo Vargas and Lagola. Together, they have worked with man ...

Alex Ebert Alexander Michael Tahquitz Ebert (born May 12, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. He is best known for being the lead singer and songwriter for the American bands Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. On January 1 ...

Carl Falk Carl Anthony Falk-Gramer (née Falk; born 17 August 1980 in Stockholm), is a Swedish songwriter, record producer and musician and has worked with artists such as Demi Lovato, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Nicki Minaj, Ellie Goulding, Mado ...

, Kristoffer Fogelmark,

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

Dhani Lennevald John Dhani Lennevald (born 24 July 1984 in Stockholm) is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and formerly a Pop/ R&B dancer and singer. He was a member of the Swedish pop band A*Teens from 1998 to 2004, and briefly pursued a solo recording ...

, Ash Pournouri, Albin Nedler, and

Vincent Pontare Fred Vincent Pontare (born 13 May 1980) is a Swedish songwriter, producer, and singer. He is also known by the mononym Vincent. He regularly collaborates with Salem Al Fakir as songwriting, producer, and duo Vargas & Lagola. Together, they have ...

on several tracks. ''Stories'' was released to mixed to positive reviews from critics. Four singles were released from the album: " Waiting for Love", "

Pure Grinding "Pure Grinding" is a song by Avicii, released as a single in 2015. The track appears on his album ''Stories'' and on his two-track EP ''Pure Grinding / For a Better Day''. It was written by Tim Bergling (Avicii), Kristoffer Fogelmark, Albin Nedler ...

", "

For a Better Day "For a Better Day" is a song by Swedish EDM producer Avicii featuring uncredited vocals by American singer Alex Ebert, released as a single in 2015. The track appears on his album ''Stories'' and on his two-track EP ''Pure Grinding / For a Better ...

", and " Broken Arrows", along with the promotional singles "Ten More Days" and "

Gonna Love Ya "Gonna Love Ya" is a song by Swedish EDM producer Avicii featuring Swedish singer Sandro Cavazza. It was released on 1 October 2015 as a promotional single from the album Stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative ...

". ''Stories'' has sold one million copies worldwide as of November 2015,PRMD Music (2 November 2015
PRMD Music on Twitter
twitter.com and was the fourth most-streamed album of the year worldwide on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Background

In July 2014, Avicii told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' that he had worked on 70 songs for his next album and would include collaborations with Jon Bon Jovi,

Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for ...

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Uni ...

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

and

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American reggae singer, rapper, beatboxer, and alternative rock musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing soun ...

. Describing the album, Avicii said: "It's going to be a lot more song-oriented." On 2 March 2015, Avicii performed live at Australia's

Future Music Festival Future Music Festival was an annual music festival featuring Australian and international artists held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in Australia and as of 2012 also Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The festival was usually held in ...

. A lot of songs were leaked onto the internet from Avicii's UMF 2015 set. These songs include " Waiting for Love", "

", "City Lights" and "Sunset Jesus", leaked under the name "Attack".Middleton, Ryan (19 April 2015
Avicii Releases Ultra Music Festival 2015 Live Set Filled With New 'Stories' Songs
musictimes.com A complete track listing of the set can be found on Avicii's SoundCloud page. On 22 May 2015, Avicii premiered his first single from ''Stories'', " Waiting for Love". The track was co-produced by DJ and producer

. Almost a month later, Avicii communicated through Twitter that he had finished the album after two years of work. On 4 August 2015, it was announced on iHeartMedia Summit that Avicii's next single from ''Stories'' was "

", featuring singer

. On 28 August, he released his next two singles, the other being "

Singles

" Waiting for Love" is a song featuring Simon Aldred of

Cherry Ghost Cherry Ghost were an English music group which began in 2006, first as an alias for singer-songwriter Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Their debut album, ''Thirst for Romance'', was released in July 2007 and ente ...

. Avicii released it on the 22 May 2015. "

" is a song featuring Alex Ebert. Avicii released it on 28 August 2015. "

" is a song featuring Kristoffer Fogelmark and

Earl St. Clair Earl Johnson II, better known by his stage name Earl St. Clair, is an American record producer, vocalist, and songwriter. Early life Earl St. Clair was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up between there and Alabama. Musical career St. Clair beg ...

. Avicii released it on 28 August 2015. " Broken Arrows" is a song featuring

Zac Brown Zachry Alexander Brown (born July 31, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and co-founder and lead singer of the country–rock Zac Brown Band, as well as electronic dance music group Sir Rosevelt. In 2019, Brown released a pop su ...

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukul ...

. Avicii first released it on 29 September 2015, three days ahead of the album release as a pre-order single. It became an official single during October 2015.

Promotional singles

"Ten More Days" is a song featuring

Zak Abel Zak David Zilesnick (born 1 March 1995 in London), better known as Zak Abel, is an English-Moroccan singer, songwriter and musician. He has also been an English Cadet national table tennis champion. Early and personal life His father, who had ...

. Avicii released it on 30 September 2015, two days ahead of album release as a pre-order single. "

” is a song featuring

Sandro Cavazza Alessandro Michele Cavazza (; born 11 September 1992), mostly known as Sandro Cavazza, is a Swedish songwriter and former singer of Italian origin. Besides his solo career he was also a member of the pop group Estraden. He names his musical infl ...

. Avicii released it on 1 October 2015, one day ahead of the album release as a pre-order single.

Critical reception

The album received positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the album received a score of 64, indicating favourable reviews. David Jeffries from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

gave the album a positive review, stating that "the pleasing, alive, and diverse ''Stories'' is a fine reason to think of Avicii as a producer of attractive music, with EDM, pop, and all other genres on a sliding scale." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''s Maura Johnston says that "''Stories'' drags a bit at the end, the low point being a reggae-lite track starring former Fugee

and the fusion-minded

, but when it hits, it hits big." Michaelangelo Matos, from '' Billboard'', gives the album a mixed-positive review, praising "Talk to Myself", "Touch Me" and "City Lights", saying they "are more or less direct Daft Punk homages, with a filtered, boogie-disco feel, playful effects and found-sound cut-ups".

Track listing

Personnel

Vocals

Simon Aldred Cherry Ghost were an English music group which began in 2006, first as an alias for singer-songwriter Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Their debut album, '' Thirst for Romance'', was released in July 2007 and ent ...

(track 1) *

Sterling Fox Brandon Lowry (born November 2, 1983), better known by his stage name Sterling Fox, is a songwriter, record producer and recording artist. He has written and produced multiple #1 songs. Life and Times Brandon Lowry grew up in Stoystown, Pennsylv ...

(track 2) * Celeste Waite (track 3) * Zak Abel (track 4) * Alex Ebert (track 5) *

(track 6) *

(track 7) * Avicii (track 7) *

Noonie Bao Jonnali Mikaela Parmenius (born 9 August 1987), better known by the stage name Noonie Bao, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and record producer. She has written songs for artists such as Don Diablo, Ava Max, Katy Perry, Zara Larsson, Charli X ...

(track 8) * Jonas Wallin (track 8) * Kristoffer Fogelmark (track 9) *

(tracks 9, 14) *

(track 10) *

(track 11) *

Daniel Adams-Ray Daniel David John Adams-Ray (born 18 August 1983 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a Kenyan-Swedish singer and fashion designer. Background Daniel Adams-Ray was born in Kenya to an Indonesian mother and a father of Swedish/ Scottish heritage. His mother ...

(track 12) *

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including "World of O ...

(track 13) *

(track 14) *

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

(track 15) *

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, best known as the lead singer, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers. In addition to his ...

Background

Singles

Promotional singles

Critical reception

Track listing

Personnel

Vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References