Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child” Joins YouTube’s Billion Views Club
The 2012 John Martin collaboration is the Swedish supergroup’s first video to reach the billion mark.
Swedish House Mafia’s video for the 2012 hit “Don’t You Worry Child” has surpassed one billion views on YouTube. It’s the first video to reach the billion mark for the supergroup, which consists of Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso.
“Don’t You Worry Child” is a collaboration with Swedish House Mafia’s countryman John Martin, whose gritty vocals grace the track, and who co-wrote it with fellow Swede Michel Zitron. The pair conceived of the song during a night spent reminiscing about youthful exploits, falling in love, and their relationships with their fathers. “We love sad songs with big choruses, and storytelling,” Zitron told Billboard in 2021. “And that’s what actually made the EDM scene. This is a song where you can cry on the dance floor.”
Upon hearing what Martin and Zitron were working on, Ingrosso was engrossed with “Don’t You Worry Child,” and the writers agreed to let Swedish House Mafia work their magic on it. The supergroup’s pulse-pounding production around the song’s emotional core added up to Swedish House Mafia’s biggest chart hit at home and abroad. In their native Sweden, “Don’t You Worry Child” became the group’s first No. 1 single. In the US, the song climbed to the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100, reached No. 1 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2013 Grammys. It’s since gone five times platinum in the States.
Though Swedish House Mafia have since reunited, upon its release “Don’t You Worry Now” was their final single before their 2013 split. Directed by Christian Larson, who’d previously helmed the Swedish House Mafia documentary Take One, the video functions as a farewell to the group. After a clip from a TV news report announcing their breakup, Larson’s footage documents the energy and release inherent to the Swedish House Mafia live show, capturing both the artists and their audience in a euphoric state. The footage was culled from the group’s final British performance at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, where “Don’t You Worry Child” had its live debut.
