Macklemore Opens Up About Addiction, Premieres Video for Sobriety-Inspired New Song

When the Percs don’t work, Xannies won’t calm me down / Not enough liquor in the bar, weed growin’ in the ground / Trapped by these walls where my brain can’t get out / Wonderin’ if my mama have to put her son in the ground, Macklemore raps in his latest release, “Faithful,” featuring NLE Choppa.

A song chronicling the “Thrift Shop” rapper’s struggles with addiction and grapples with sobriety, “Faithful” shows Macklemore laying himself bare. He strips himself even more vulnerable, discussing the details of his years-long battle in a recent interview with Billboard News.

“Recovery has been a huge part of my life the last 14 years,” he told the publication. “I first went to treatment in 2008. I always had the allergy. The disease of addiction was present from my first drink of alcohol. Going into ‘Faithful,’ the pandemic happens. I was removed from my recovery community, everything’s on Zoom. I’m used to going to meetings and being a part of a community. All of a sudden that’s stripped away from us and I relapsed. I relapsed in 2020.

“I think I wrote ‘Faithful’ shortly after that and it came from a dark spot,” he continued. “I think that there is such a void of music that talks about real issues, whether it be mental health, whether it be recovery, or fighting the disease of addiction. I’m trying to go there. I don’t want to avoid it.”

Macklemore said his wife played an integral part in the song and wanted to be a part of creating its accompanying music video. Watch the “Faithful” video below.

Macklemore’s upcoming album will be available in 2023. While he didn’t offer up too many specifics, he promised, “songs that make you dance, there’s introspection, there’s some ’80s dance music, there might be some ’90s rap. I’m just all over the place. I like to have fun. I like to experiment with sounds.

“I’m excited for people to hear it.”

Photo: Courtesy High Rise PR