If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been a fan of Rihanna’s music.
Like, I don’t hate it, but if I was on a road trip with someone and they were like, “Do you want to listen to Rihanna or something else?” I’d probably choose “something else” every time, and take my chances.
And I liked Eminem well enough when I was 12 and listening to songs with bad words in them was a revelation, but I’ve admittedly listened to a lot less Slim Shady since those days. But in 2010, the two of them took the music world by storm with the release of “Love the Way You Lie”. It received 5 Grammy nominations, topped the charts for seven weeks, and sold over 6 million copies in the U.S. alone. Oh, and you probably heard it a billion times on the radio.
Some songs are overhyped. Some songs reach number one because there’s no real competition. But this one deserves every accolade, every ounce of hype (are ounces the right unit of measurement for hype?), and every radio play. It is sublime.
The strengths of the song are really twofold; Eminem delivers the performance of a lifetime, and the contrast between Rihanna’s and Eminem’s parts is gorgeous.
Eminem’s been pretty successful in the music industry (duh).
He’s turned in soft performances, harsh performances, angry performances, intense performances, clever performances, and provocative performances. But this is the best example of him doing it all in one song. The lyrics are illustrative and poignant. The performance is full of rage and regret.
He conveys the part of “I’m so angry and out of control (but I’m sorry about that (but I’m still a douche)))” perfectly, and somehow manages to make people like me (who have led sheltered, violence free lives) relate to the tragedy of the situation. It’s powerful in a way that most songs never manage to be.
And then, to round it all out, as though that was not enough, along comes Rihanna to bring it home. Juxtaposition in songs is always cool, and the morose power she brings to the chorus contrasts starkly with the raw, unchecked anger Eminem brings to the song.
And I don’t think it can work better than it does in Love the Way You Lie.
To give you some perspective on how great this song is, consider this: I’m a huge Ed Sheeran fan. The man’s easily my favorite living musician, which I’ve alluded to in a few articles before this. And not too long ago, Ed teamed up with Eminem to release a song called River.
Now, this is a fine song. And on paper, Ed (who I love) + Eminem should be greater than Rihanna (who I don’t love) + Eminem. Easy math.
But River just doesn’t work on the same level that I Love the Way You Lie does, as much as I want it to. Eminem’s performance isn’t quite intense enough. Ed’s performance isn’t quite sweet enough. It’s fine, but it’s not magical like “Love the Way You Lie” is.
“Love the Way You Lie” is incomparable. It’s a song you can jam to, and a song you can quietly stare out the window to.
