Macklemore doesn’t shy away from detailing his ongoing struggles to overcome addiction on his new song “Faithful,” which features rapper NLE Choppa. A video for the track is out today, directed by John C. Peterson, who previously helmed the clip for Macklemore’s 2017 song “Corner Store.”
“I isolate between happiness and hopeless / Know what makes it worse? Still wanna get loaded / Sometimes I feel like I can’t control my choices / And something takes over and I can’t turn off the voices,” Macklemore raps on “Faithful,” which will appear on his upcoming album Ben, out on March 3.
The artist says he wrote “Faithful” after a 2020 relapse “that brought me back to a familiar darkness I naively thought I had escaped. It’s a personal song for me, reflecting on my struggles with addiction. 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’s verse is written from the perspective of a “supportive friend” who shows up “in a desperate time,” Macklemore says. “I thought the song would push him out of his comfort zone, but honestly he sounded right at home in the pocket and brought a whole new concept to the record. It’s been refreshing spending some time with him. I’m hella impressed not only by his pen, but his his perspective on life and quest for spiritual growth.”
Macklemore will support Ben with newly announced European tour dates, beginning April 4 in Dublin. The album is the follow-up to 2017’s Gemini and Macklemore’s full-fledged return to music after spending the past several years overseeing his clothing line Bogey Boys, which has made a splash in the golf world since its 2021 debut. The artist is also a co-owner of the Seattle Sounders major league soccer team and the city’s new hockey franchise, the Seattle Kraken.
“Faithful” follows the release of fellow Ben tracks “Chant” featuring Tones and I and “Maniac” featuring Windser. Macklemore visits Australia and New Zealand for three shows later this month as part of the multi-artist Fridayz Live tour, and will also play three radio station-sponsored holiday shows next month in Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta.
Here are Macklemore’s 2023 European tour dates:
April 4: Dublin (3Arena)
April 7: Glasgow (O2 Academy)
April 9: Manchester, U.K. (O2 Victoria Warehouse)
April 11: Birmingham, U.K. (O2 Academy)
April 12: London (O2 Academy Brixton)
April 16: Amsterdam (AFAS Live)
April 17: Brussels (Forest National)
April 18: Paris (Zenith)
April 21: Cologne, Germany (Palladium)
April 22: Berlin (Verti Music Hall)
April 25: Offenbach, Germany (Stadhalle)
April 27: Hamburg, Germany (Edel Optics Arena)
April 29: Warsaw (Expo XXI Hall 1)
April 30: Vienna (Stadhalle)
May 2: Zurich (Samsung Hall)
May 4: Milan (Alcatraz)
May 7: Copenhagen (Vega)
May 9: Oslo (Sentrum Scene)
