Revival is the ninth studio album by the American rapper Eminem, released on December 15, 2017, through Shady Records, Goliath Artists, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. It was executive-produced by Dr. Dre and Rick Rubin and its producers include Mr. Porter, Emile, Just Blaze, Alex da Kid, Fredwreck, and DJ Khalil. It features appearances from Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, X Ambassadors, Skylar Grey, Kehlani, Pink and Phresher. It was handled by Rubin, Mr. Porter, Emile, Just Blaze, Alex da Kid, Fredwreck, and DJ Khalil.
Eminem revealed that he was working on an album following the release of "Campaign Speech" in October 2016. Much of Revival features political discussion, as well as discussion of Eminem's personal life. The album's lead single, "Walk on Water", which features Beyoncé, was released on November 10, 2017. "Untouchable" was released as a promotional single a week prior to the album's release. Further singles included "River", featuring Ed Sheeran, "Nowhere Fast", featuring Kehlani, and "Remind Me".
Reception to Revival was generally mixed, with its lack of cohesion, abundance of rock-influenced and sampled production, the heavy presence of pop guest artists, and mixing all receiving varying degrees of response; it has later been deemed by many to be Eminem's worst album. It debuted at number one in several countries, including the US, where it has been certified platinum. It was the UK Christmas number one album of 2017 and has been certified platinum in the UK. It was followed by Kamikaze (2018), Eminem's tenth studio album, in which he reacts to criticism of Revival.
Background Eminem first revealed that he was working on an album when he announced the song "Campaign Speech" on his Twitter in October 2016, writing, "Don't worry I'm working on an album! Here's something meanwhile." Rumors about the release date started in late 2016, saying the album would be called Success and would be released sometime in January 2017. A fake tracklist also was leaked at the same time, with Adele, Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi, Vince Staples, The Weeknd and Mástein Bennett as featured artists. Rumors were sparked again in February and March 2017, when Eminem announced he was headlining three shows in Reading, Glasgow and Leeds. Various news articles said that because he was performing, he would have to release new material to perform, or at least preview, at the festivals.
On October 10, 2017, Eminem performed a freestyle titled "The Storm" at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards, criticizing President Donald Trump. The freestyle went viral, garnering millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes on YouTube within weeks.
On October 25, 2017, Paul Rosenberg posted a photo to Instagram of Yelawolf's Trial by Fire. In the background of the photo, there is a billboard ad promoting a drug called "Revival". Suspicion was aroused when fans noticed that the 'E' in "Revival" was reversed, similar to Eminem's previous logos. Visiting the website listed on the billboard ad revealed several clues. On the website, a promotional video about Revival makes references to Eminem's song "Lose Yourself". The website also references "Sing for the Moment", "Brain Damage", "Fack", "Role Model", and "Any Man". According to the website, "Revival" treats "Atrox Rithimus", a nonexistent medical condition. One translation of Atrox Rithimus, from Latin, is 'terrible rhyme'. The website is also registered to one of Eminem's labels, Interscope Records. When the phone number for "Revival" is called, it plays the background music of Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor", which Eminem features on. These details led fans to believe Eminem's new album will be called Revival. This would follow suit with the names of two of his last three solo albums, Relapse (2009) and Recovery (2010).
Release
The lead single, "Walk on Water", was first performed by Eminem at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 12, 2017, with co-producer and writer Skylar Grey on vocals. Both performed the song and a medley of "Stan" / "Love the Way You Lie" on Saturday Night Live on November 18.
The release date was teased multiple times. On November 28, 2017, the release date was announced to be December 15 via Dr. Dre's and Eminem's social media accounts, while also revealing the fake drug campaign of the record. On December 5, Eminem shared a complete list of all the tracks featuring on his album via his Instagram account. The list features a total of 19 tracks, including an interlude track to Revival, featuring artists such as Phresher, Ed Sheeran, Skylar Grey, Alicia Keys, X Ambassadors, Pink and Kehlani.
On December 7, 2017, the album cover was revealed and projected onto a Detroit building. That night, the song "Untouchable" was released and a pre-order was set up on iTunes. Billboard's Tatiana Cirisano listed the cover as one of the worst of 2017, dubbing it "provocative but undeniably cringeworthy". On December 13, 2017, two days before the release date, Revival was leaked online.
Singles On November 8, 2017, Eminem tweeted a picture of a doctor's prescription note with the words "Walk on Water" and "Take as needed" written on it. Additionally, the doctor's note was labeled with the logo for Revival. This caused speculation that the first single would be titled "Walk on Water". On November 9, Paul Rosenberg shared a video on Instagram linking the drug "Revival" with "Walk on Water" and confirming the song, which was subsequently released the next day. An audio video was uploaded to Eminem's YouTube channel. As of December 16, 2017, the video had nearly 50 million views and over 1.1 million likes. On December 23, 2017, the music video for the song was released exclusively on Apple Music and Eminem's official Vevo channel. "Walk on Water" debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 57th entry for both artists on the chart.
"River", featuring Ed Sheeran, was released as a second single. The song was released to radio on January 5, 2018, and was released a single on February 7. An audio video was uploaded to Eminem's YouTube channel on December 14, 2017. As of January 15, 2018, the video has over 60 million views and 1 million likes. On February 14, 2018, the music video for the song was released on Eminem's official Vevo channel. Commercially, it has reached number one in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden as well as the top 10 in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland, and the top 20 in Belgium and the United States.
The album's third single, "Nowhere Fast" featuring Kehlani, impacted US Contemporary hit radio on March 27, 2018. The two artists performed the song at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. "Remind Me" was released to Italian radio as the fourth single on July 6, 2018. A music video for "Framed", inspired by 1980s horror films, was released on April 3.
Promotional singles "Untouchable" was released as a promotional single on December 8, 2017. The song features a sample from the song "Earache My Eye" by comedy duo Cheech & Chong. A remix of "Chloraseptic" featuring 2 Chainz and Phresher was released as a promotional single on January 8, 2018.
Content According to Eminem, the title is "kind of a double entendre. It's a revival for myself and (that's) the theme of the album. But there's also hopefully the revival of America." Revival has many lines critiquing Donald Trump's presidential campaign and election. On "Like Home", he raps his regret over having collaborated with Trump on a mock national convention in which Trump endorses his Slim Shady persona. Such criticisms are contrasted by lyrics such as those on "Like Home" celebrating the sanctity of U.S. civil liberties and calling for a "brand new America" without Trump. On "Heat", Eminem jokes that he agrees with the then-president about one thing—grabbing women by the "pussy".
On "Untouchable", Eminem addresses racism in America, including police brutality, blaming it on Republicans and criticizing the philosophy of 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps', retorting, "where the fuck are the boots?" "Nowhere Fast" deals with gun violence in the U.S., with an extended version naming the National Rifle Association of America as being largely responsible.
Two joke-laden tracks focus on newfound romance and related sexual escapades: "Remind Me", which samples Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", and "Heat", which samples clips from the film Boogie Nights (1997). "Framed" borrows elements of horror films.
The last three songs, "In Your Head", "Castle", and "Arose" deal with the rapper's personal life. The first of these, sampling The Cranberries' "Zombie", expresses regret regarding some of his early lyrics related to his Slim Shady persona. "Castle" is structured as a series of letters to his daughter, Hailie Mathers, climaxing in a series of events in 2007 which led to him overdosing, also expressing a struggle with fame which made him consider quitting rap. Continuing the theme, in "Arose", Eminem pens thoughts to his family from the perspective of his near-death experience. Finding his strength to continue living, he rewinds to near the end of the previous track, where he considers quitting the industry, then continues in a new direction to his sobriety and the success of his more recent work, with high hopes for the current album.
Critical reception
Revival generally received mixed reviews from music critics.
Don Needham of The Guardian criticized the production and focus, stating that "If Eminem thinks his verbal box of tricks can overcome the weakness of any backing track, his recent albums get demonstrated otherwise." In a positive review, Andy Gill of The Independent complimented the lyrical themes: "But ultimately, it's all about Eminem himself, and nowhere more dynamically than in the berserk self-assessment "Offended", where he asserts, amongst other things, that if the time he spent writing were taken into account, he'd be a minimum-wage slavea faintly ludicrous claim, but immediately backed up by a bravura extended burst of rapid-rap babble that both explains and exemplifies his skills, and leaves one wondering not just how long it took to write, but how on earth he manages to pronounce such a polysyllabic torrent so perfectly." Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph stated that Revival "represents Eminem on top form, which is to say unstoppable, unbeatable yet often indefensible."
The Irish Times concluded that Revival is "mildly more admirable than previous outings but no more enjoyable. A chance to bust out of the slump has passed Eminem by. It just might never happen for him." In a mixed review, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times remarked that while it was "probably the best of his recent albums", he criticized Eminem's apparent lack of awareness to the evolution of hip-hop's sound in general, arguing that he is too "beholden to his own aesthetic." Consequence of Sound gave Revival an "F" rating, calling it "ugly, arthritic, and pleasureless" and "a disaster".