Demi Lovato struggled with “survivor’s guilt” in the wake of Mac Miller’s death.
The “Skyscraper” singer relapsed after six years of sobriety in June 2018, and the following month, she was rushed to the hospital due to an opioid overdose. Lovato is now sober.
Reflecting on her experiences in a new interview for Apple Music 1’s “The Zane Lowe Show,” the star revealed that the song Dead Friends on her eighth studio album Holy F### is about the emotional toll of losing pals to drug abuse.
“I’ve made friends of all ages. I’ve lost friends that were around my age, and those hurt so deeply because we’ve been in the trenches together,” she said. “I had a lot of survivor’s guilt after my overdose because… right after that, Mac Miller died, and it just put everything into perspective for me of, ‘That could have been you, that almost was you, and how are you going to live your life now?’ And it affected me a lot.”
Mac Miller battled addiction and substance abuse. The rapper died from an accidental drug overdose at 26 in September 2018.
Elsewhere in the chat, Lovato noted that she has a lot of issues with teenagers being signed to major record labels.
“In your teens, people who aren’t in the spotlight are still trying to figure themselves out. They’re going to parties. They’re making mistakes,” the 29-year-old continued. “And it’s like, if you’re a 15-year-old and you’re making mistakes, it’s magnified. I don’t know. If I were to have kids and they came to me and said, ‘Mom, I want to be in the industry,’ I would have to say, ‘Please wait until you’re 18.'”
Holy F### was released yesterday (August 19th).