Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Announce New Album ‘This Unruly Mess I’ve Made’
After debuting three songs during the last half of 2015, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have announced their second joint album together. This Unruly Mess I’ve Made will be self-released on February 26th. Watch the trailer above.
Macklemore announced the follow-up to 2012’s The Heist with an Instagram post revealing the album cover. He also released a dramatic album trailer on his official site, which features the Seattle rapper discussing how the album came together and his motivation for making the new music.
“There is creativity for validation, and there is creativity for survival,” he says over clips of the pair working in the studio. He then details how he had to leave Seattle and go to “the middle of nowhere” to find inspiration and “[make] music not because we had to, but because we got to.”
The Heist was a huge stepping stone for the independent artist. It went platinum, produced hit single “Thrift Shop” and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 2014. In between then and 2015, Macklemore not only had his first child, but he also relapsed into drug use following his sudden rise to fame, as he detailed to Rolling Stone.
The new album was first previewed in early August with Ed Sheeran collaboration “Growing Up (Sloane’s Song)” dedicated to the rapper’s daughter. It was followed up soon after with the eccentric “Downtown” featuring Eric McNally and rap vets Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee and Mellie Mel. Most recently, the pair were joined by new soul star Leon Bridges for a performance of the emotional “Kevin” at the American Music Awards, a track which tackles addiction.