Reckoning with Trump has the same effect as grappling with his own middle age: it forces Eminem out of his comfort zone, pushing him to sharpen his lyrics. Then again, the past isn't far from Em's mind, particularly his long, tortured relationship with his on-and-off love Kim, who is the subject of "Remind Me" and "Bad Husband." The latter finds Eminem holding himself accountable for his past misdeeds, an emotional candidness that finds a counterpart in his increased political consciousness, a shift sparked by his deep disgust for President Donald J. Provocative and muddled, Revival percolates with ambition but doesn't lack in laziness either: not only can Eminem not resist recycling the templates for "Stan" and "Love the Way You Lie," he stumbles through a loop as dull as Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" on "Remind Me," a sample that not only plays as leaden but is laden in nostalgia. Put it simply, he didn't sound like anybody else when he started, and now that he's conceivably halfway through his journey he doesn't sound like anybody else either, a quality that can make Revival compelling, albeit only intermittently. Underneath all that attention-grabbing bluster lay Eminem's boundless technical proficiency, which was the real reason he scored a monumental breakthrough in 1999 and sustained a career.
Aging is never easy for a star but it may be harder for Marshall Mathers, since his earliest records were equal parts rage and pranks - emotions that tend to mellow as the years stack up. Eminem wonders this on "Walk on Water," the first track on his 2017 album, Revival, which arrives when the 20th anniversary of his 1999 debut, The Slim Shady LP, is just 14 months away.
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