“Let’s Ride Away” by Avicii finally saw the light of day. When AVICII FOREVER released on May 16, fans around the world pressed play with reverence. The 20-track compilation gathers beloved anthems like Wake Me Up, Hey Brother, and Levels, tracing the evolution of a genre-shaping artist. But nestled between familiar echoes is something new entirely—Let’s Ride Away, a long-rumored Avicii track that, until now, lived only in whispers and leaks. Believed by many to be a demo abandoned before Avicii’s death in 2018, its official release marks a staggering moment.
Now completed by longtime collaborator Carl Falk and brought to life through Elle King’s searing vocals, the track feels like a time capsule cracked open, its light still intact. It’s more than a song. It’s an echo. A message. A memoir.
Let’s Ride Away, Built from an Avicii Memory
Let’s Ride Away opens with no hesitation. Elle King’s voice steps into the silence like someone crossing a familiar threshold—steady, worn, full of knowing. Take my hand, let’s run / I’ll bring my arrows, you bring your gun sets the scene. This isn’t escape—it’s commitment. A pact made in dust. The arrangement pulses with dusty folk imagery layered over Avicii’s unmistakable rhythmic instincts. Trumpets rise like desert suns. Synths shimmer like heatwaves off canyon walls. There’s movement in every bar, but it never rushes. Instead, it rides—outward, upward, away.
In true Avicii style, the chorus repeats like a vow: Let’s ride away. But it’s the second half of the song that draws the breath. As Elle King sings, Hold on tight to what we have / When it’s this good, you don’t look back, it doesn’t feel like nostalgia—it feels like instruction. Then, tiny doves on the horizon—a lyric so delicate, it silences the track’s thunder for just a moment.
Echoes of Farewell and Renewal
The triumphant brass lifts the first verses skyward, disguising a quiet ache flowing beneath every kick. Elle King’s sharp, resolute cadence tightens the emotional screw early on. By the outro, her voice doesn’t just carry words—it carries weight. Hold on tight to what we have lands like a plea scribbled in a tour‑bus notebook. The next breath paints tiny doves on the horizon, somehow signaling peace, hope, and renewal breaking through grief’s shadow. Placed so late, the lyric feels like a final journal entry—raw, trembling, yet unafraid. Avicii’s synths stretch those words across canyon‑wide reverb, letting their optimism glow even as the arrangement dissolves. As the last trumpet fades, listeners sense an unspoken goodbye and a whispered promise to keep moving forward—unfinished business transforming into boundless possibility.
If This Is the End, It’s a Beautiful One
Let’s Ride Away on AVICII FOREVER was definitely an unexpected surprise. It feels like the final page of a book he never got to close himself. Though Tim Bergling didn’t finish this song in his lifetime, every choice made posthumously respects his vision. His fingerprints are on every downbeat, every rise, every unshed tear. If there are more unreleased tracks to come, only time will tell how and when. But if Let’s Ride Away is the last of them—if this really is Avicii’s final gift to dance music—we are grateful. It’s a song that doesn’t look back, but keeps riding forward.
Listen to Avicii Forever here.
