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Illenium Shares the Story of Addiction, Loss & Love Behind His Track ‘Brave Soul’

Written by on November 5, 2024

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Three years after its release, Illenium is sharing the emotional backstory behind his track “Brave Soul,” the closer from his 2021 album Fallen Embers.

In a video posted to YouTube Monday (Nov. 4), the producer tells this story alongside Jordan Hamilton, the CEO of Choice House, the Colorado addiction and mental health treatment center for men where Illenium (born Nick Miller) got sober more than a decade ago after an opiate addiction.

“I met Jordan when I was on my long trek of rehabs,” Miller says in the video. “Jordan had two years sober at the time. I had gone through treatment a couple years before that and was just trying to figure out how to live life.” Watch the complete video below.

The pair became friends, with Jordan’s sister Emma, a singer-songwriter, getting introduced to the group. Together, they eventually wrote a song that turned into “Brave Soul,” with this music written in memory of Jordan and Emma’s late brother Braden, who they lost to an overdose in 2018.

“Emma and I shared the love of [being] able to speak through music and heal through music,” Miller says in the clip. “I think that’s a really impactful thing to give back to a person that you love, and give back to yourself.”

Illenium debuted the track at his Trilogy show at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on July 3, 2021. “It was so sick having you there and having Emma there and being able to give your brother the words from beyond,” Miller says in the video.

“To hear 40,000 people respond to that and to hear his memory, it was a super special special moment,” Hamilton continues of the song, whose lyrics honor his brother memory by saying “here’s to your brave soul/ you fought but you lost hold/ and now I’m alone to face the truth.”

Illenium opened up about his journey of finding sobriety and going on to became a stadium filling artist in his Billboard cover story this past March. Of how addiction effected his relationship with his mom, he said, “Watching that relationship get torn by the s–t you keep doing — at first, it’s like, ‘Why are you on me so much, I’m not even that bad,.’ Then it goes into ‘OK, I can’t stop’ and then it goes into, like, “F–k everyone. I can’t live without it.’ And then you’re just breaking down.”

“For anyone who’s in that place, it feels so horrible in that moment,” Hamilton says in the video, “but if you’re willing to ask for help and take some steps, that’s the jumping off point of where we get better.”

If you or anyone you know is struggling with substance abuse, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s website for resources.

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