Avicii's ex-girlfriend has posted a heart-breaking tribute to the late DJ

'I don't want it to be real.'

The music world is still in mourning after it was announced that Swedish music producer Avicii had passed away last Friday and the tributes have been rolling in. His friend Kygo closed out his Coachella set with his favourite track by the DJ just hours after discovering the news, church bells rang out in Sweden to the tune of his most popular songs and now his ex-girlfriend Emily Goldberg has taken to Instagram in an emotional series of posts.

The couple dated for two years and Goldberg posted a gallery of photographs of the two, documenting their former relationship. She captioned it, ‘“Come on babe, don’t give up on us. Choose me, and I’ll show you love.” Those are lyrics from a song Tim wrote for me. I wish I could have lived up to them. For the two years we were together, he was my closest confidante, and my best friend.’

The photos range from romantic shots of the two kissing through to candids of Avicii (whose real name is Tim Bergling) with her dog Bear. She continued, ‘Now I can’t look at Bear without knowing I’ll never see his face again. I’m still collecting my thoughts and thank you for all your kind words and texts. Wake me up when it’s all over, because I don’t want it to be real.’

She later posted a screenshot of texts between the two, posted with a heart emoji and the hashtags #ripavicii and #avicii.

Bergling’s publicist confirmed last Friday that the DJ of Levels fame had passed on April 20 while holidaying in Muscat, Oman. She said, ‘It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii.’

The DJ was 28 years old. While the exact cause of death has not been revealed, Oman police have ruled out foul play following two autopsies. His family are currently in Oman and his body will be returned to his home country, Sweden.

Bergling had retired from public life after a long battle with alcoholism and health problems, which saw his appendix and gallbladder being removed after complications. He was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and later announced he would stop touring in 2016, though he continued to create music and was nominated for a 2018 Billboard Music Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album just days before his death.

He previously told Billboard, ‘The scene was not for me. It was not the shows and not the music. It was always the other stuff surrounding it that never came naturally to me...It was always very hard for me. I took on board too much negative energy, I think.’