Answer Addiction

Tag: musicians & sobriety

  • EDM Star Illenium Pens Message About Heroin Addiction Struggles

    EDM Star Illenium Pens Message About Heroin Addiction Struggles

    The producer and EDM artist became sober after a heroin overdose six years ago.

    Producer and electronic dance music (EDM) artist Illenium revealed to fans his struggle with heroin dependency that helped to inspire his current single “Take You Down.”

    The open letter, which was posted on his Twitter feed and website, detailed the impact that his dependency had on his career and personal life, as well as an overdose that occurred six years ago.

    Having gained sobriety after the overdose, Illenium wrote that he hoped listeners that might be going through similar issues “find peace in their struggles” and thanked those that had shared their experiences with him.

    Born Nicholas D. Miller in Chicago, Illinois, Illenium has enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom, beginning in 2013 with a self-titled EP and later, his studio album debut with 2016’s Ashes.

    It was quickly followed by a second album, Awake, in 2017, and collaborations with fellow EDM artists Kill the Noise and Mako on the single “Don’t Give Up on Me,” and with Excision (“Gold (Stupid Love)”). Miller issued the statement about the song and his experiences on August 1, two days before the official release of “Take You Down.” 

    In the letter, Miller cites stories from his fans about their own personal struggles as the impetus for sharing his experiences with them.

    “Some of you have said my music changed your life, helped you through depression, addiction, a lost love one, the list goes on,” he wrote. “Honestly, I feel bad because you don’t know how much that truly means to me, because I’ve been there, too… In the depths.”

    According to Miller, his issues with opiates began at a young age, and culminated in an overdose six years ago—approximately a year before the release of his self-titled EP. “I was trapped in [dependency], no passion, no direction, and truly hated myself,” he wrote.

    But with gaining sobriety—which came after the overdose—and the ascent of his career, came a sense of salvation through his music. “I’m not telling you to preach or say how I found some magical cure or that everyone needs to live like I do,” he wrote. “I’m just sharing my story and relating because music saved my life, too.”

    Although he noted that “Take You Down” is about his dependency, Miller also wrote that the track is about the toll taken on families and those who love the individual who is in crisis.

    He also stated that the song is also about his mother, who “never gave up on me and always continued to see the good” in him. Miller concluded the letter by thanking his fans for sharing their lives with him, as well as the fervent hope that they know “that anything can be overcome.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Florence Welch On Sobriety: "Performing Without Booze Was A Revelation"

    Florence Welch On Sobriety: "Performing Without Booze Was A Revelation"

    “Before, I thought I ran on a chaos engine, but the more peaceful I am, the more I can give to the work. I can address things I wasn’t capable of doing before.”

    Florence Welch, the voice of Florence and the Machine, is at a different pace in life. She’s more at peace, less afraid, and sober as well.

    The singer admitted that she was “drunk a lot of the time” in the band’s last phase. “That’s when the drinking and the partying exploded as a way to hide from it… The partying was about me not wanting to deal with the fact that my life had changed, not wanting to come down,” Welch said in a recent interview with the Guardian.

    The English singer and songwriter decided as she approached the 10th year of her illustrious career that she would sober up.

    “When I realized I could perform without the booze it was a revelation,” she said. “There’s discomfort and rage, and the moment when they meet is when you break open. You’re free.”

    Welch admits that every now and again, she’ll be tempted to go back to her old ways. But it never lasts. “It’s still there. This, ‘What if I could take a day off, a break from this magical energy?’ But, it passes,” she said.

    Sobriety went hand-in-hand with inner peace. “Before, I thought I ran on a chaos engine, but the more peaceful I am, the more I can give to the work,” she said. “I can address things I wasn’t capable of doing before.”

    Through self-reflection, Welch also came to terms with her eating disorder, addressing it for the first time in the single “Hunger” from the band’s upcoming album High as Hope. “At 17, I started to starve myself,” she sings.

    She said the terror of admitting this to anyone, let alone the whole world, inspired her to sing about it. This terror, she says, has been with her for most of her life, fueling some of the “self-destructive” behavior that she’s now working on undoing.

    “I learned ways to manage that terror—drink, drugs, controlling food,” she told the Guardian. “It was like a renaissance of childhood, a toddler’s self-destruction let loose in a person with grown-up impulses.”

    Welch admits she’s “still figuring it out,” but is learning more than ever how music can be invaluable to her self-discovery journey, by helping her realize that she is not alone.

    “I’ve realized that that nugget of insecurity and loneliness is a human experience. The big issues are there however you address them,” she said. “The weird thing is, that as personal as it feels, as soon as you say it, other people say: ‘I feel like that, too.’”

    View the original article at thefix.com