Month: June 2010

Eminem's recovery

I had the chance to watch Eminem last Thursday on a French private channel called Canal Plus on a live show.
He performed some older famous songs like Stan and some more recent songs like “Forever”. But to the pleased listeners’ ears (that included French singer Marc Lavoine) he performed a brand new song taken out of his upcoming album, Recovery.
Any person who has been following Marshall Mathers since his beginning, from the Infinite album to now perfectly knows that is private and public paths have been far from easy. Despite his overwhelming success since 1999, Eminem has been facing loads of personal difficulties. He often complained in some of his songs about his demons spoiling his life. How many times has he tried to fight them? His desperate efforts to face his drug addiction sometimes made him look like Cervantes’ hero, Don Quixote de la Mancha fighting his windmills.
Year after year, drugs were slowly destroying him. In 2007, Eminem nearly lost his life. His near death experience made him realize that he needed to change, to be honest with himself, to have a clear vision of his addiction and to face his past mistakes with serenity.
Once you begin to accept your past and to learn the lessons from it, once you begin to love yourself with your weaknesses, a lot of things begin to get unstuck in your life. Eminem had the courage to do so in 2009. His Relapse album was the first step of a slow recovery. Today Marshall Mathers is back, offering his public a glance of the real him. No Eminem, no Slim Shady. On this live show, only the real Marshall Mathers was there. He looked different: slender, back in shape, he was able to offer his public the gift of a reborn, more matured and peaceful man.
That glance of the new, empowered Marshall Mathers, raising his hands towards the public and telling them publicly that he was “not afraid” really moved me. It gave me courage to go forward with my own life. The new album also promises to be lyrically sharp.
Let’s celebrate Eminem’s recovery. Be on the lookout for his new album!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
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