After waiting four long years for another Eminem album, the Detroit rapper followed up “The Marshall Mathers LP2” with his ninth studio album titled “Revival.” “Revival” is named to purposely hold a double meaning where it represents the revival of both Eminem & his career and America.
“Revival” is also a literal term for the final two songs on the album, “Castle” and “Arose”, but I’ll touch more on that in a minute. Eminem’s new album was full of powerful messages, cross-genre instrumentals, bars reminiscent of Em’s “Slim Shady” persona, and, of course, powerful lyrics spoken through flows that are almost impossible for anyone to create unless your name is Marshall Mathers.
“Revival” contains features on songs from artists like Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, P!nk, Beyonce, Kehlani and more throughout its 19 song tracklist. In this review, I will provide just a rating of each song (excluding the intros and interlude because they weren’t long enough to critique) on the album out of five stars.
Before that, though, I will go more into detail for specific songs that I feel stood out on “Revival” more than others. Whether they stood out for a good or bad reason, you’ll have to keep reading to find out. Here we go!
1. “In Your Head”
The beat that makes up “In Your Head" is actually a sample from a song called “Zombie” by a rock band called The Cranberries. The use of rock sounds and even specific samples like on this track can be heard throughout almost the entire album with the exception of a few songs.
Eminem is known for fusing rock into his rap songs, and it still bumps like a rap song because nobody does it better than Em, himself. Eminem shares with us his frustrations throughout his career, specifically the ones about his persona, Slim Shady.
He says Slim Shady angers him because as Slim, he’s done and said so many things that he regrets now. He also mentions how his music as Slim Shady has immortalized this standard to Eminem that he is always supposed to be the same funny “in your face” rapper that he was when he was Slim, and if he fails to live up to that then that work won’t be as respected as it should be--which has proven true when you look at the reputation of the second half his career.
This is the best all-around song on the album, in my opinion, although you may not like it if you have zero interest in rock music whatsoever, and it is also one of my all-time favorites from Eminem. I highly recommend you all give this song a listen!
2. “Castle” and “Arose”
While these are two separate tracks on the album, they are also the final two songs on “Revival.” The reason I am mentioning them together is that they actually tell the same story! Beginning with “Castle,” Eminem raps on his verses in letter form to his daughter, Hailie Jade, (who isn’t even born yet in the first verse) about how he plans on raising her once she is born and how he will do anything he needs to in order to take care of her.
He hates that despite trying to give her a private life for a normal childhood, she was constantly a public figure throughout her life and he apologized to her for that. The song begins to shift to a darker feel in the third verse as it begins to feel like he’s about to end his own life and the song ends with the sound of Eminem taking pills and his body hitting the floor.
“Arose” begins by continuing the narrative of Em’s OD from “Castle,” which he’s actually talking about his literal revival after his near death experience in 2007 following a drug overdose, and discussing all of the things that went through his mind as he was overdosing, which, at the time, he thought that these would be his last thoughts before he died.
Then about four minutes in, the beat reverts back to “Castle” and he continues to rap over that beat instead. “Arose” ends opposite to “Castle” where instead of taking the pills and overdosing, you can hear him flush the pills down the toilet. Both of these songs are insanely powerful and emotional and Em deserves so much credit for them!
3. "River" (ft. Ed Sheeran)
“River” is a type of song that I have never heard from Eminem and I have been listening to him since I was a kid in the 90s! The tone of the song (and Sheeran’s parts specifically) actually reminds me a little of Sheeran’s song with The Weeknd called “Dark Times”.
The song, itself, is about a relationship on the verge of collapsing because of disloyalty to the girlfriend so the girlfriend gets revenge by sleeping with Eminem, which Em is fine with being used for this because he is attracted to her physically.
The boyfriend finds out and leaves her at the same time that Em has lost interest in her but she tells Marshall that he got her pregnant during their revenge scheme and she ends up having an abortion as a result of Eminem’s selfishness.
Ed Sheeran portrays a character filled with remorse and grief for the woman and the unborn child while the river he sings about is supposedly the Jordan River where, in the Bible, John the Baptist would baptize people to cleanse them of their sins. This song is insane and will probably blow your mind!
4. "Like Home" (ft. Alicia Keys):
On this track, which is a mix between pop and rap, Eminem takes shots at Donald Trump’s flaws and the failures of our government but says that it will only unite us all because at the end of the day, our society will stand up and fight the hatred and racism that is beginning to spread because of Trump’s administration.
The hook, and the song, for the most part, takes on a very patriotic feel and really makes you proud to be living in this country which is something not many of us have felt since Trump took office last year.
And here are the ratings for the entire tracklist:
"Walk On Water" (ft. Beyonce): 4.3/5
"Believe": 4.2/5
"Chloraseptic": 4.0/5
"Untouchable": 4.3/5
"River" (ft. Ed Sheeran): 4.5/5
"Remind Me": 4.5/5
"Like Home" (ft. Alicia Keys): 4.3/5
"Bad Husband" (ft. X-Ambassadors): 4.0/5
"Tragic Endings" (ft. Skyla Grey): 4.4/5
"Frame": 4.4/5
"Nowhere Fast" (ft. Kehlani): 4.2/5
"Heat": 4.0/5
"Offended": 4.1/5
"Need Me" (ft. P!nk): 4.4/5
"In Your Head": 4.8/5
"Castle": 4.7/5
"Arose": 4.7/5
For a 19 track album from a rapper who’s been at the top of the all-time rap game for two decades now, “Revival” was absolutely awesome and would have been even if it was his debut album.
Eminem hasn’t written on this level in years and I couldn’t be more proud of him for it. He doesn’t really have any bad work at all and this album may have just solidified his career in a way that he could finally be satisfied with hanging up the gloves the way he wanted to.
Even if he doesn’t retire after this then great! That’s just more music from the G.O.A.T. “Revival” was an album that was both modern and nostalgic sounding for his “Stans” to listen to. Almost all of the tracks were very innovative and alive and I think he found crucial pieces of his former self throughout the album. Two decades in the game and he’s still got it. Congrats, Eminem! “Revival” is out now so go check it out on Apple or Spotify ASAP!
