Swedish House Mafia tell on 2012 split: “We needed to miss making music together again”

Swedish House Mafia are seriously gearing up for their return in 2022, this time sitting down with BBC News for yet another truthful interview about their split in 2012.

It has been ten years now since the group originally split up, which saw them embark on one of the greatest world tours in electronic music history. On June 24 of 2012, a message appeared on their website, which read: “Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last,” it reads. “We came, we raved, we loved.”

The entire industry was simply in shock. How could this happen? At the time, electronic music was just beginning to explode in the United States and ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ was arguably the song of the year across the globe (and is still relevant today). However, rumours began to surface that the trio’s relationship was falling apart.

All was told in 2014 when they released their second documentary Leave The World Behind, which captured the tour in its entirety and exposed some of the rumours circling around; Sebastian Ingrosso declared “We’re not best friends anymore, and that’s the truth.”

Despite the fact that each of them went their own separate ways, the end of Swedish House Mafia left a sour taste in the mouths of the millions of fans worldwide. It just didn’t feel the same for a while there.

In their recent interview with BBC (which you can read in full here), Swedish House Mafia reflect on what once was, and how their split unfolded. In reference to the announcement of their split, Axwell and Ingrosso tell:

“We just decided on the spot that it was the time to release that statement. We didn’t even know during the show that we were going to do it.”

“You can’t pick a great time to deliver bad news. We’d had loose discussions about it but [after that show] we decided, ‘OK. let’s wrap this up.”

Talking about the Leave The World Behind documentary and what was said at the time, the boys confirmed that it was all a true recollection:

“We were drained, we were tired. So, of course there was tension and irritation.”

“I mean, if you move in with your best friend, you will have tension with him too. That’s how it works.”

“Now that we’re a little bit older and wiser, we look back and realise we needed a break. We needed to miss each other. We needed to miss making music together again.”

After their surprise performance at Ultra Miami in 2018, it’s fitting that the band is finally getting back together. They’ve been busy in 2021, releasing three singles, announcing a mammoth world tour for next year as well as announcing a brand-new album too. We’ll be sure to keep you posted with further updates!

Image Credit: Therese Öhrvall for Billboard.com