Avicii’s S.O.S.: A psychobiographical approach and corpus-based discourse analysis on suicidal ideation

Abstract This study explored the linguistic patterns and discourse on suicide of the Swedish artist Avicii. Focusing on key events in his life, career, and compositions, a triangulation of data sources was employed grounded on psychobiographical research framework and corpus-based discourse analysis. Texts with reference to suicidal risk factors were then evaluated based on the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide to establish linguistic representations of emotional distress and suicidal ideation. The findings suggest that lexical features associated with mental health struggles, that is, high volume of first-person deixis and death-themed linguistic references, were evident in his writing. There were substantial implications of his predisposition to mental stress and his call for help, his S.O.S. This study helps in further understanding the language and discourse of artists like Avicii on the immense dislocation of emotions and the complexities of navigating (inter)personal relationships.