Swedish House Mafia released “Don’t You Worry Child” featuring John Martin in September 2012.
Anyone who lived through the early 2010s heyday of the EDM boom likely counts “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin among the songs that soundtracked the era. Case in point: The track has now surpassed 1 billion plays on industry-leading streaming service Spotify.
“Don’t You Worry Child” marked Swedish House Mafia’s sixth single, the final from their 2012 album Until Now, and the first to pass such a milestone. Shortly after its release, it had reached #1 on Billboard‘s “Dance/Mix Show Airplay” chart and landed the Swedish supergroup a 2013 GRAMMY Awards nomination in the category of “Best Dance Recording.”
The release signified something of a crescendo for the initial upward momentum of Swedish House Mafia. Formed in late 2008 by successful solo artists Steve Angello, Axwell, and Ingrosso, the trio collaborated with Laidback Luke on early tracks like “Get Dumb” and “Leave The World Behind” featuring Deborah Cox. In 2010, songs such as “One” and “Miami 2 Ibiza” featuring Tinie Tempah exposed the group to more mainstream international markets.
It was the same year that Ingrosso came into contact with songwriters John Martin and Michel Zitron. The two had worked together on an early version of “Don’t You Worry Child,” which was inspired in part by Zitron’s parents’ divorce and even reportedly quoted his father word for word. Zitron sent a demo of the track to Ingrosso, who told him that Axwell was “lying on the fucking couch, almost crying” after hearing it, as Zitron told Billboard in 2021.
Martin and Michel, who originally wanted to release “Don’t You Worry Child” under their own electronic duo project, ended up teaming up with Swedish House Mafia on it. As detailed in the documentary Leave The World Behind, this process working together sewed the seeds of personal tension that would lead the trio to part ways after their 2013 Ultra Music Festival performance.
Swedish House Mafia reunited at the same festival in 2018 and continue to perform across the globe to this day. They also released an album titled Paradise Again in 2021 along with a live version that arrived in 2023.
