When Hardwell took the mic at Tomorrowland 2025 for an interview on One World Radio, no one expected him to drop a piece of EDM history that had been hidden for 15 years. Asked which Avicii track he would remix if given the chance, he didn’t pick “Levels” or “Fade Into Darkness.” Instead, he said Seek Bromance. Then came the story.

According to Hardwell, back in 2010, Tim Bergling, still releasing under the name Tim Berg, had reached out and invited him to collaborate on the original instrumental, Bromance. At the time, Avicii was still on the rise, and so was Hardwell. The two were friends, both focused on their own early breakthroughs. Hardwell explained that he didn’t reject the offer, but was fully committed to finishing his own EP, Smoke/Voyage, and couldn’t make the timing work. He told Avicii, “One day we’ll work on a song,” and left it at that.

That moment passed, and the track became what the world now knows as Seek Bromance. First released as Bromance in Sweden, the instrumental gained early traction across Europe. When Amanda Wilson’s vocals were added to create Seek Bromance, the song took off, reaching the Top 10 in the UK, Belgium, and other markets. It was Avicii’s first major chart success and played a key role in building the melodic progressive house movement of the early 2010s.

Until Hardwell’s interview in 2025, this near collaboration had never been publicly discussed. It wasn’t just an anecdote about a missed studio session. It revealed the depth of Hardwell and Avicii’s friendship during that era. The two supported each other’s tracks, appeared together backstage at festivals, and came up in the same generation of European DJs breaking into the global scene. The fact that one of Avicii’s early breakthroughs nearly featured Hardwell adds new perspective to both artists’ histories.

Hardwell later reflected on how much Avicii’s passing in 2018 affected him personally. In interviews, he’s called Avicii the most gifted melodic producer he’s ever known, and said that Tim’s death was the moment he knew he needed to step away from touring and reassess his life. That hiatus, which lasted from 2018 to 2022, came in part from grief and from recognizing the toll the industry could take.

Imagine if Hardwell had said yes. Would Seek Bromance have sounded the same? Would it still have marked the start of Avicii’s rise, or gone in a completely different direction? Either way, it’s one of the closest near-misses in EDM, and now, fans finally know the story.