THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

483-Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin-Don’t You Worry Child.

2012-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 2.40. In ‘Electronic Dance Music’ this segment is known as a ‘Drop,’ and is one of the reasons why DJ’s love doing the job.

Prior to the forming of the Swedish House Mafia (see also best songs 883) in 2008, the three founding members Axel Christofer Hedfors, (Axwell) Steven Fragogiannis, (Steve Angello) and Sebastian Ingrosso, along with Eric Prydz, had worked as solo artists, as well as collaborating together on occasions. Eric Prydz has stated that he preferred to work on his own, so declined the offer to join the other three. Axwell, and Ingrosso were both born in Sweden, while Angello was born in Greece, but lived in Sweden from an early age, it was when fans began nicknaming them the ‘Swedish House Mafia,’ that they decided to use the name on their formation. They were active between 2008-2013, but reformed in 2018, and at the time of writing they remain active. The Swedish House Mafia have been called ‘The faces of mainstream ‘Progressive House Music,’ and have been credited for ‘Setting the tone for the ‘Electronic Dance Music’ boom of the early 2010’s, more than any other act in modern dance music.’ They are also credited with increasing the popularity of ‘House Music’ in the United States in the late 2000’s.

The discography of the Swedish House Mafia includes one studio Album ‘Paradise Again,’ released in 2022, and 16 singles released between 2010-2024, there are also two extended plays, (EP’s) two official compilation Albums, and two live Albums available. In their native Sweden on the ‘Sverigetopplistan,’ (the Swedish national record chart) the Swedish House Mafia have had 13 top 40 singles, with ‘Don’t You Worry Child,’ featuring John Martin, reaching Number 1, while in the UK, they have charted within the top 40 on eight occasions, with ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ peaking the highest at Number 1. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, two of their singles have made the top 40, with ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ charting the highest at Number 6.

‘Don’t You Worry Child’ was the fourth and final single released from the Swedish House Mafia’s second compilation Album ‘Until Now,’ from October 2012, the song was co-written by the three members of the Swedish House Mafia, along with John Martin and Michel Zitron, with the production credited to the Swedish House Mafia. John Martin was born, John Martin Lindström, on August 22nd, 1980, in Stockholm, Sweden. Martin bought a guitar at the age of 13 and formed a band, he then began singing at the age of 15. In 2010 he first met Axwell of the Swedish House Mafia, and co-wrote the group’s 2011 song, ‘Save the World’ (Sweden-Number 4 & UK-Number 10.) As the lead artist John Martin has released four singles between 2014-2021, with his debut single ‘Anywhere for You,’ reaching Number 38 in Sweden, and Number 7 in the UK, he has also appeared on a further nine singles as the featured artist, with ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ reaching Number 1 in Sweden and the UK. Michel Zitron is a long term collaborator with John Martin, ever since they co-wrote ‘Save the World’ in 2011. In 2018 the pair began releasing music together as ‘VCATION.’ Michel Zitron was also the co-writer of song ‘Red Lights,’ by Tiesto,’ on which he provides vocals on, although unaccredited (2013-Sweden Number 9 & UK-Number 6.)

‘Don’t You Worry Child’ began to come to fruition in 2010 when John Martin and Michel Zitron were in Zitron’s studio. Both were reminiscing about their early lives, when Zitron started opening up about his upbringing in a broken home in Stockholm, mentioning the divorce between his parents. The pair took around a month to put the song together, then recorded a demo, and eventually decided to send it to Sebastian Ingrosso of the Swedish House Mafia, it would be a further two years before the song was released as a single. John Martin has spoken about how the song developed, ‘That song was actually written by me and Michel Zitron, my friend that I write with. We sat down in Michel’s studio on a Sunday, we were kind of hangover. We had this discussion about our relationship with our dads. We started to play around with a loop, then this melody came out quickly, and we did it in one day. You have to touch the crying nerve in music. When you mix sad melodies with euphoric tracks, there is something that happens that really works.’

‘Don’t You Worry Child’ was first performed at the Swedish House Mafia’s final UK gig, at the Milton Keynes Bowl on the 14th July 2012, it featured John Martin on vocals. In September 2012 the song debuted at Number 1 in the UK, and has gone on to sell in excess of 600,000 copies in the UK.

‘There was a time, I used to look into my father’s eyes, in a happy home, I was a king I had a golden throne. Those days are gone, now the memories are on the wall, I hear the sounds from the places where I was born.’