Macklemoreis reflecting on his journey with addiction.
The Grammy-winning MC, 39, released his latest single, “Faithful,” on Friday, giving listeners a glimpse into his past struggles with addiction and remembering the friends he lost early on. The song, featuringNLE Choppa, was written after Macklemore says he was faced with a “familiar darkness I naïvely thought I had escaped"two years ago.
“It’s a personal song for me, reflecting on my struggles with addiction,” he shared in a release. “As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be clean, and yet the disease I have is always present, it always follows me. The record explores the presence of addiction in every facet of my life, and how pervasive and insidious it can be.”
NLE Choppa and Macklemore.Jake Magraw
The musician previouslyopened up to PEOPLE earlier this yearabout his relapse during the pandemic, which came 12 years after he first started his recovery journey in 2008, when his father helped get him into treatment after drug and alcohol abuse.
“It was really painful for myself and for the people who loved me. I stopped doing the work,” he told PEOPLE of his 2020 relapse. “When I have to be still and exist within my own head, that’s where my disease lives… [But] I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t need to pretend like I’m some perfect dude in recovery.’ I am not at all, and there’s no shame.”
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Macklemore is also proud of how he’s been open about his journey, especially with his kids. As he revealed, his elder daughter has known about his road to recovery since she was 3 or 4 years old. “Why would I hide it? It is who I am,” he said. “In terms of Daddy’s sober meetings that he needs to go to, she’s well aware and has been for quite some time.”
Macklemore’s next studio album,BEN, is set to arrive on March 3, following the release of singles “Chant” with Tones and I and “Manic” with Windser.
source: people.com
