Macklemore Explains How His Sobriety Journey Inspired New Song ‘Faithful’: Watch

Macklemore is allowing himself to be completely transparent in his music. The rapper released his new song “Faithful” featuring NLE Choppa on Friday (Oct. 28), which sees him grappling with his sobriety journey. The 39-year-old sat down with Billboard News to discuss the track and shed light on the series of events that led up to him penning the song.

“Recovery has been a huge part of my life the last 14 years. I first went to treatment in 2008. I’ve always had the allergy, the disease of addiction was present from my first drink of alcohol,” Macklemore explained. “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 a sudden that’s stripped away from us and I relapsed. I relapsed in 2020.”

He continued, “I think I wrote ‘Faithful’ shortly after that and it came from a dark spot, and 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.”

The “Thrift Shop” rapper also revealed that his wife was an integral part in choosing the single, so much so that she offered to be a part of the video for “Faithful.”

“My wife, she heard the whole album and was like, ‘Yo, I want to do it. I want to direct the music video. ‘Faithful’ she felt passionate about and I love the record. I think the record is great. She saw a vision so I said, ‘I gotta go with wifey on this one.’”

Watch Macklemore’s interview with Billboard News above.