It’s been nearly four years since Macklemore & Ryan Lewis began their plan to take over the world one cute video at a time with The Heist, and now it seems as if they’re primed to do it all over again. Announced—how else?—with a short cinematic clip posted to their YouTube account, the duo have officially unveiled their sophomore record, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, which will drop on February 26th. For those to whom 2 minutes and 48 seconds is too long too long to wait, Macklemore also posted the album artwork to his Instagram:
In the video the rapper says he had to get out to “the middle of nowhere”—”nowhere” reportedly being an area near Spokane, Washington, where they filmed their video for this record’s first big single, “Downtown”—to get away from the success of The Heist. “Being comfortable is what kills artists,” he says in the clip. “There is creativity for validation and there is creativity for survival … I didn’t know what I wanted to say. Didn’t know how the ink would stick to the page, how to let go of the anxiety or the suffocating fear that latched onto my vocal cords. I had to figure out how to use my voice again.”
This Unruly Mess I’ve Made is out on February 26th.