Muso Aewon Wolf has opened up about turning to alcohol and partying to escape the "dead" feeling he had inside him as he climbed up the ladder of success in showbiz.
The A Week Ago hitmaker recently announced on social media that he would be working on one last album as Aewon Wolf before retiring the name, and detailed the struggles that saw him pull back from the industry two years ago.
The star, whose real name is Arnold Phillips, did not release a single or album as Aewon Wolf since his break, only doing limited shows and collabs.
The musician said he had grown tired of how fickle fame was and losing people in his life to industry politics.
"I hated having to navigate carefully around egos and being scrutinised by people who carry pain in their hearts and try to belittle others to make themselves feel better," he added.
The "poison" of the industry at one point became so damaging that it almost destroyed him.
"There was plenty poison that came with success, that had left me feeling dead inside, resorting to drinking and partying just to feel alive. This led me down a path of self-discovery during my hiatus. Allowing me to focus on my mental and physical well-being and just being an all round better person in a world filled with problems."
Arnold will use the time after his last album to work on his Durban creatives lifestyle centre, which was launched in October last year.
The centre, which has everything young creatives need to develop and showcase their talent kicked off with auditions in his hometown of Durban.
“We are going to help you [artists] out with fine tuning your tracks, share knowledge of the industry and we’ll have a mentor for every category who will interact with the artists,” he said at the launch, according to Ngcobo Empire.
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