The American rapper Macklemore (39) is back with a new single. For the song "Faithful" the musician has teamed up with rap colleague NLE Choppa (19). Before that, the 39-year-old had been quiet for a long time, his last album "Gemini" was released in 2017. Macklemore has been fighting his alcohol and drug addiction for years. In April 2020, he suffered a relapse and then went into rehab.

But this year the comeback: In August the new single "Maniac" was released and in September the musician from Seattle was on stage at the Superbloom Festival in Munich. In an interview with the news agency spot on news, he reveals why he didn't release any new music during the corona pandemic and why he thinks social media are harmful.

Macklemore: My relapse was in 2020. Luckily it only lasted a few weeks. Covid-19 messed up my schedule. I didn't want to release music in the middle of the Corona crisis. The pandemic set back the album more than anything. I just didn't want to release music unless I can get in front of people and play the songs live.

Macklemore: Yes, that's right. Probably at least half of the album I've been working on was made before the pandemic. Actually, my album would probably have come out in 2020.

Macklemore: I was just thinking about it. Maybe I should have released the music earlier, during the pandemic. I think it was just hard to say. Albums matter when it comes to how we consume music. I still make a point of giving people a whole body of work.

Macklemore: Being on stage is what fulfills me the most and I feel like I was born to write songs and perform.

Macklemore: I wake up with ideas and I go to bed with ideas. Not all of them are good. I love being creative. I like to think about design, music, textures and text styles. I love colors and artwork. This is the time when my brain works. I was never good at math, never understood science. But I understand the language of art and how it connects to the heart.

Macklemore: "Thrift Shop" has sold 12 million copies in the US. I never had any expectations of the song. I think that in the studio you make the best music you can make. If I'm happy with it at the end of the day, then I've done my job. And from that point on, the universe decides what it's going to do.

Macklemore: The song I haven't written yet.

Macklemore: I just write songs. If they feel balanced on the album, that's how I select them. I might write three versions of a very similar song and then decide on the best one.

Macklemore: My three children keep me busy (laughs). Then I have Bogey Boys, my golf apparel business. That also keeps me on my toes. And then of course the music, the golf and my wife.

Macklemore: No, not really. I'm not on TikTok and Co. much. It's easy to get bogged down and scroll all the time on mobile. But I try to avoid that. So I have a pretty healthy relationship with it.

Macklemore: Oh yes. I probably delete Instagram from my phone at least three times a year. For me, the most damaging thing about social media, aside from the amount of time we spend doing it, is comparing ourselves to other people and feeling inferior. When we're all caught up in this, whether consciously or unconsciously, it's important to log off and be thankful for what's in front of you.

Macklemore: Definitely. I think that a toxic relationship comes with people who aren't healthy. There have definitely been times in my life in various relationships where I wasn't healthy, neither was my partner and it got toxic quickly as a result.

Macklemore: I have friends and family here. I associate it with stories, memories and nostalgia. I think those things are really important and the foundation of who I am.

Macklemore: Yes, maybe a little bit. I was just in L.A. taking photos with fans. It's not a big deal. If I'm in a tourist area of ​​Seattle, that can happen, too. But otherwise I can move about freely, sit in a café and take my children to school.