As 2017 comes to close, we reflect on what has possibly the
best year in some time for music. We are in the final weeks of December and
arguably the biggest hip-hop album has dropped.
Eminem Revival was released on 15th December,
making sure it will be on your kids Christmas list this year (if they still do
lists) so, is the album worth the listen?
Short answer, yes. Eminem has given plenty of great music of
the years, so I feel he always deserve to be listened too, however, the replay
value and content of some of the songs are not up to Eminem’s level.
The album starts with the Beyoncé featured “Walk on Water”
which is rather slow, and although honest and soul-bearing, the replay factor
on this single will not be high. Believe is a great second single, and should
have opened the album, letting you know the direction the album was going to go
with Eminem asking fans “do you still believe in me”
The album main problems for me, is when the album looks like
it is going in the right direction, and then a song with a Rock’n’Roll beat
comes on. Now, Eminem has done this successfully before on previous albums,
this one just feels to forced. Untouchable has some great lyrical content, and explains
how the police can be seen as “rockstars” as they are untouched and never seem
to get in trouble. The song really improves when the rock beat changes in the second
half on the song, and a drum beat is played and you can really understand the
point Eminem is making here. The songs featuring Ed Sheeran and Kehlani are the
mainstream highlights for this album, and these are the songs I think Eminem
should have lead with the sales. However, Eminem went with the approach of
continuing from his BET Award freestyle, where he raised the bar by attacking
Trump with his lyrical wordplay. I feel like this alienated his fans, and
possibly why the sales of 300,000 first week, which are great for any other
artist, are low for Eminem.
The album features the worst Eminem song I have heard with “Remind
Me” which is a shame, as it highlights how low his standard has dropped. Would
we have heard a song like this on his earlier albums? I could not imagine this.
I am guessing that Eminem has been working with Rick Rubin again this is evident
on the albums worst songs, get back in the studio with Dre.
The album closes on a positive note however, with “Castles”
and “Arose” highlight how good Eminem can be with a pen where he raps an open letter
to Hailie. It feels like his own personal attempt at Stan, but trying to
connect with his family and rewriting some of the missteps he has done in the
music industry exposing himself too much.
The album is not the best Eminem we have seen; however, it
does also show signs that he can be the artist we known him to be. Which direction
Eminem goes with for his next album it is uncertain to know, lets just hope he
features more hip-hop artists and not pop artists.
The album may be categorised as a Hip-hop album, but at
best, this is modern day Hip-Pop.
No comments:
Post a Comment