Do You Still Believe in Eminem?
After four years Eminem is back yet again with another comeback album, Revival and if that sounds familiar you’re not wrong as this is pretty much the fourth time he’s had a ‘comeback album’. My expectations weren’t very high for Revival especially after the lacklustre lead single Walk on Water and the disappointing promotional single Untouchable dropped. Let me say from the start that unfortunately, this isn’t a good album (why? read on I’ll explain), as much as I wanted and hoped that this new Eminem album would deliver – it doesn’t. You’ll get to a point on this album where you’ll ask yourself if this wasn’t an Eminem album would I still be listening to it? The answer to that question is most likely no. Don’t get me wrong there are definitely moments where Eminem shines on this album and there are some decent songs but the amount of mediocre to poor tracks that you have to make it through before you get to that gold is really not worth it.
So the album starts with the lead single Walk on Water where Eminem actually seems self-aware of all the criticism being thrown his way for the past few years, he addresses it through a minimalistic flow and admits that even he’s being doubtful of his music and has been struggling to live up to our expectations. It’s not the best start for the album and it’s been a common topic since Relapse that Eminem feels the need to keep apologising to his fan-base for his previous album and honestly at this point it’s getting tiresome. Encore wasn’t great but it did have some great songs on it (Like Toy Soldiers & Mockingbird), I actually didn’t mind Relapse I personally preferred it to Encore, I wasn’t a fan of Recovery due to its pop-rap ballads and MMLP2 was mostly okay. The main point is I don’t need to hear Eminem keep saying he’s sorry for letting us down and being stuck in the past, I just want him to focus on making the best body of work he can instead of trying to erase his discography with every new album. It’s common over time that an artist is going to have their high and low points throughout their career especially one that has been at it for two decades. Also, an artist is going to evolve and mature, I’m not expecting to hear The Marshall Mathers LP or The Eminem Show every time he releases an album.
It’s this constant doubt that results in a lack of focus and confidence from Eminem that hurts this album, instead of giving us a clear vision or theme we just got a random collection of songs that barely have a connection to one another (except for the last two tracks). Revival basically feels like a bunch of his scrapped songs from previous albums re-recorded and thrown on here, honestly, it wouldn’t even surprise me if this was the case. I guess the best thing you can say about the album is there is at least one form of Eminem’s music that should appeal to you whether you’re a fan of his Eminem Show era flow, Relapse era flow, Recovery era flow or MMLP2 era flow as it’s on here. But oh boy it makes this album a complete mess.
The only time where Eminem feels as though he’s trying something new and evolving as an artist is on the second (Believe) and third (Chloraseptic) track where he is basically attempting to imitate the trap era of rap (Migos, Future, Gucci Mane). The problem with this though is he doesn’t really suit this rap style as it limits his lyrical output, plus there is a weird balance between him parodying it and legitimately embracing it on both of these tracks, so it’s hard to enjoy the songs when you’re not sure whether you should be laughing or taking him seriously. These songs are fine, I don’t mind them compared to some of the other tracks on here and they definitely sound like a 2017 version of Eminem whereas a lot of the other tracks sound dated.
Untouchable and Like Home are the only tracks that are relevant to the cover art of this album which suggests it’s going to be a somewhat political stance on the state of America. This isn’t something new for Eminem he’s covered political topics before on The Eminem Show and Encore when George W. Bush was president, which resulted in some pretty decent tracks (White America, Square Dance, We as Americans & Mosh). On Revival though it feels like it comes out of nowhere which is ironic when you consider Revival’s cover art, the album is talking about toxic relationships, Em’s regrets and his relevance in hip-hop that whenever you hear something political it doesn’t feel like you’re listening to the same album. This is once again where the lack of a theme or vision really hurts the album, the songs aren’t necessarily bad and you can hear that Em feels inspired on these tracks but they feel out of place on an already muddled album.
River, Bad Husband, Tragic Endings, Nowhere Fast and Need Me all sound like songs that you could find on Recovery so if you were a fan of that album you’ll probably enjoy these. If you enjoyed Love the Way You Lie then you’re going to be over the moon with four more versions of that song, yeah I didn’t really like any of these tracks. River which features Ed Sheeran wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be it covers a toxic relationship that ends with an abortion which is new ground for Ed Sheeran I guess and that’s the nicest thing I can say about it. Bad Husband is basically a redo of the song Headlights from MMLP2 where he apologised to his Mum for all the stuff he wrote about her in previous songs but on this track he apologises to his ex-wife Kim… for all the stuff he wrote about her. Tragic Endings literally sounds like a leftover track from Recovery, if you told someone this was from his new album Revival they’d probably laugh at you, the track covers another toxic relationship where the male is being abused by the female, it has the worst mixing on any of the songs and is utterly forgettable. Nowhere Fast has Em rapping over a fast violin inspired beat which is different and talking about his position in the industry and the current state of the world. Finally we get yet again another toxic relationship song, Need Me which is literally a Pink song featuring Eminem, I have no idea why this is on Revival apart from being a filler track to lengthen the album, honestly the feature he had on Pink’s new album on the song Revenge would be more fitting for Revival. Look I don’t mind Eminem doing toxic relationship songs he’s done it well enough on tracks like Love the Way You Lie but all of these are dull listens, with uninspired production and bland hooks.
If you’re a fan of Eminem rapping over old-school rock beats like he did on some of MMLP2 or you enjoyed his flow on that album then you’re also in luck as that’s exactly what he does on Remind Me, Heat, Offended and In Your Head. These tracks are better than the previous five I mentioned but I probably wouldn’t re-listen to any of them unless I was listening to the album. Remind Me has a playful vibe on it and samples the I Love Rock ‘n Roll chorus poorly as its hook, the intro track before it has a way better beat and the song is also let down by some really questionable lyrics (“Your booty is heavy duty like diarrhoea”). Heat feels like an updated version of Berzerk from MMLP2 but is less enjoyable and the beat doesn’t compliment Em’s vocals. Offended is pretty much Rap God version two and is actually one of the better songs on the album but unlike Rap God the hook is forgettable and just slows the momentum of the song. In Your Head is okay, it samples The Cranberries song Zombie as its chorus and focuses on how he regrets blending the Slim Shady persona with his real life on his music.
Framed is one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album if you’re looking for some classic Slim Shady style murder stories although it’s more Relapse era than Slim Shady LP era. The song is about Eminem being held in jail because his lyrics match up to a murder scene, it’s the fun and twisted type of storytelling from Eminem that he does so easily and effectively with such a killer flow. The only thing that holds it back from being great is that he kind of overkills the chorus (“But hey man, I was frameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed”) but it does grow on you, it’s the playful Eminem that you enjoy hearing and I’ll definitely be re-listening to it. There is also an interesting well sung interlude called Revival but it never amounts to anything, feels out of place and just makes the album even more inconsistent.
Revival does finish on a strong note though as Castle and Arose are easily the best tracks on this album and hark back to the Eminem Show era flow. As soon as you hear it you’ll wonder why he ever switches flows as he sounds so comfortable and confident in his delivery, there is no self-doubt coming from him on these tracks. The great storytelling that Em is known for makes a welcome return on these two songs as Castle is dedicated to his daughter Hailie and is a retrospective on how Em planed on raising her before she was born, during her childhood and ultimately how her life will be affected by growing up in the spotlight. The song ends with Eminem re-enacting his drug overdose from 2007 which then leads into Arose which has Em reflecting from a hospital bed on what could’ve been his final moments and all the milestones he could’ve missed if he died that day. The tape rewinds and we go back to the final moments of Castle where he chooses to flush the pills down the toilet instead of OD’ing on them, this is the strong and effective storytelling that you’ve been wanting the whole time it’s just a shame it doesn’t come until the end of the album where Em clearly proves he’s still more than capable of making excellent, well written and thought provoking music.
Ultimately it seems as though Eminem has tried to please all his fans (old and new) on this album by having a little bit of everything on it but in doing so he has created his most inconsistent body of work. Sure Eminem is an excellent rapper that will never change but none of the songs are memorable, hooks are instantly forgettable, production on the songs is underwhelming at best and sometimes it sounds as though tracks didn’t even get a final mix on them. If the point of the album is that a Revival is always disappointing due to fans expectations and never being able to reach them (look at all the recent TV Show revivals that have disappointed The X-Files, Arrested Development, etc.) then this album succeeds, is genius and was a smart meta reference on the current state of the entertainment industry with its reliance on nostalgia but somehow I doubt that was the case.
I still believe in Eminem but I think his next album should probably be his last and hopefully he can go out on a high note as long as he works on his story telling, has a clear consistent theme throughout it and has someone else take care of the production so we can have Em rapping over some good beats with memorable hooks and incredible lyrics that he’s known for. Revival is a very disjointed album and it hurts me as an Eminem fan to rate it as low as I have but even though the album has slightly grown on me after my tenth listen the mediocre to poor tracks hold it back and makes it a drag to listen to. Is Revival his worst album? That’s debatable and it’s definitely something that Eminem fans will be discussing for years to come but there’s no denying that Revival is a mess.