Written by Maya-Rose Torrão
Illenium has just shared his latest song today, titled ‘Take You Down’, a beautiful song with a very heartbreaking side to it. When Illenium played the track for the first time ever at Global Dance Festival earlier this month, he told the crowd that it was a very personal song for him, but the talented musician’s fans were not sure why until this week.
On Tuesday, Illenium opened up to his fans and wrote, “Six years ago I overdosed on heroin.” Although many were shocked to hear about this artist’s dark past, the letter that Illenium wrote for his fans ultimately spoke about how music saved him, and how he felt like he could share this difficult piece of his past with his fans because of how they have shared pieces of their lives with him. Find the original post here.
Illenium also opened up about ‘Take You Down’ on Tuesday, explaining how the song is about the difficulties that the people around him had to also face when the musician was using. The track is even more specifically about his mother, “and how no matter what, she never gave up on me and always continued to see the good even though all I was doing was fucking up,” which is a truly personal and special thing to share.
‘Take You Down’ is a song of powerlessness and love; Illenium sings “I don’t want to take you down with me”, sharing the complicated feelings of being addicted to a substance that is destroying your loved one’s lives, as well as your own. It’s also such an important song for 2018 as it forms part of a bigger discussion being had world-wide about stigma and addiction, especially with musicians in the public eye like Demi Lovato struggling with very similar issues. People the world over struggle with addition and can also overcome these addictions; it’s sharing stories like this that’ll give all addicts hope, whether they’re famous or not.
Listen to Illenium’s special new track below.
