Photo Credit: Samuel Regan-Asante
When streaming became the dominant form of music consumption for the industry, the concept album was cast to the wayside. Eminem has picked the mantle back up with the release of The Death of Slim Shady—and he wants you to know it.
Concept albums from the 60s and 70s rock bands who released them still receive millions of streaming plays, but modern releases have tossed the practice to mostly focus on singles. A good concept album tells a story that requires all of the music to be listened to in a specific order—which usually doesn’t vibe with music streaming where people love to have different music on shuffle.
Eminem is warning those who plan to listen to The Death of Slim Shady that the release “won’t make sense” if you listen to the songs out of order. The rapper took to social media to express a ‘public service announcement’ about the album. ‘The Death of Slim Shady’ is a conceptual album, therefore, if you listen to songs out of order they might not make sense,” he told fans.
Eminem’s single “Houdini” from the album became his second most-viewed video in the first 20 hours after its release, garnering 13.5 million views. The song features a sample from Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit “Abracadabra” and has received praise from Steve Miller himself.
“There aren’t many artists who take the time or make the effort to stand up for themselves and credit and respect their influencers at the same time,” Miller said on social media. “Marshall Mathers you are an exception and on my short list of people who respect the art. To be included in your process feels good while I’m still singing and playing the music I love.”
Here’s a peek at the tracklist titles (in order of course).
- “Renaissance”
- “Habits” ft. White Gold
- “Trouble”
- “Brand New Dance”
- “Evil” ft. Royce Da 5’9
- “All You Got” (skit)
- “Lucifer”
- “Antichrist”
- “Fuel” ft. JID & Denzel Curry
- “Road Rage” ft. Juice WRLD & Sly Piper
- “Houdini”
- “Breaking News” (skit)
- “Guilty Conscience 2” ft. Dr. Dre
- “Head Honco” ft. Kendrick Lamar
- “Temporary” ft. Skylar Grey
- “Bad One” ft. Anderson .Paak
- “Tobey” ft. Big Sean & BabyTron
- “Guess Who’s Back” (skit)
BONUS TRACKS
- “Close Call” ft. Billie Eilish
- “Shady 3.0 Boys” ft. Westside Boogie, Grip & EZ Mil
