Illenium Shares The Story Of Addiction, Loss And Love Behind His Track 'Brave Soul'

Three years after its release, Illenium shares the emotional story behind his 2021 album closer 'Brave Soul' Fallen embers.

In a video posted to YouTube on Monday (November 4), the producer tells this story alongside Jordan Hamilton, the CEO of Choice House, the men's addiction and mental health treatment center in Colorado where Illenium (born Nick Miller) has been sober more than a decade ago after an opiate addiction.

“I met Jordan when I was on my long journey to rehab,” Miller says in the video. “Jordan had been two years sober at the time. I had been in therapy a few years before that and was just trying to figure out how to live life.” Watch the full video below.

The pair became friends, with Jordan's sister Emma, ​​a singer-songwriter, being introduced to the group. Together, they eventually wrote a song that became “Brave Soul,” with this music written in memory of Jordan and Emma's late brother Brayden, who they lost to an overdose in 2018.

“Emma and I shared our love [being] he can speak through music and heal through music,” Miller says in the clip. “I think it's a really important thing to give back to a person you love and to give back to yourself.”

Illenium debuted at Trilogy's show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 3, 2021. “It was so sick to have you there and to have Emma there and to be able to give your brother the words from beyond,” Miller says in the video. .

“To hear 40,000 people respond to that and to hear his memory, it was a very special moment,” Hamilton continues of the song, whose lyrics honor his brother by saying “here in your brave soul/ you fought but you lost your grip / and now I'm alone to face the truth.”

Illenium talked about his journey to find sobriety and become a stage-filling artist Bulletin board cover last March. On how addiction affected his relationship with his mom, he said: “Seeing that relationship torn apart by what you keep doing — at first, it's like, 'Why are you making me so much, I'm not even that much?' bad”. ,.' Then it goes into, “OK, I can't stop,” and then it goes into, like, “F—K everybody. I can't live without it.' And then you just collapse.”

“For anyone in that place, it feels so horrible at the time,” Hamilton says in the video, “but if you're willing to ask for help and take some steps, that's where we're going to get better.”