Eminem has released his ninth studio album after four years at the time of writing this; in this album Eminem talks about how his fame has affected him in good and positive ways. He talks about his ex wife, his daughters, to his late friend Proof. He talks about his ex wife in the albums tenth song “Bad Husband”. The albums eighteenth song “Castle” talks about his daughter Hailie. And the final song on the album “Arouse”  talks about Eminem's late friend proof and how he almost overdosed in 2007. My older brother and I used to listen to Eminem while he would workout and how he would motivate me to try and do better. That is how I really got into Eminem and why I chose to write about this album.

For the first song I will be covering will be “Bad Husband”. In the first verse Eminem talks about how every argument he had with Kim (Ex Wife)  would become public. He raps about how after every argument he would go back to the studio and diss her. Late into the first verse he talks about the pattern of physical abuse that him and Kim would have. And if he could do it differently he would. In the beginning of the second verse of Bad Husband Eminem talks about how Kim got locked up a day before she held Hailie. And how they would wait for the the mail lady for a letter from Kim and how they would wait for Kim. To call to make sure she was doing good and how long before she would be out. Eminem talks about when him and Kim were together how she would be his lightning rod when the skies are dark, and how he was her shining rocks in a tiny box. Towards the middle to end of the second verse he talks about how they had gotten married and divorced and how they tried tying the knot again. Eminem talks about the words they could have said and how that those words could’ve made some good out of the situation. The beginning of the final verse Eminem says that they brought out the worst in eachother and that he hates who he was when he was with her. Eminem apologizes to Kim saying his apology is more than she could ever comprehend and describing how hard it was leaving her. He ends this song with a line that I personally really like. Saying he doesn't understand how someone can be so good at one thing and so bad at another thing. I think that this song is a top three song for me.

In “Castle” Eminem does his verses in more of a letter format. In the first verse Eminem starts off with “Dear Hailie December 1st 1995” roughly one year before his debut album Infinite. Eminem says he better do something quick is he wants to support Hailie and that he could barely support himself. If she’s healthy that's all that matters to him. Eminem has to make it even if it kills him he only has one chance to take it far with his music. Eminem is getting tired of trying to chase this dream of becoming a rapper and is getting nervous but at the same time excited. He is going to try and use as much strength and passion that he is putting into the letter than he is writing and try and use it as strength for his rhymes. Eminem is trying to build a castle for Hailie out of sand for her to sit on the throne. “Dear Hailie December 1st 1996” one year after his first letter. Eminem describes Hailie as having Kims personality, the same eyes as Eminem, Kim's smile, and Eminem's ears saying sorry but you'll grow into them. Eminem goes onto say that he is on the grind and that his debut album “Infinite” flopped and that people are talking bad about him. That its ticking him off and then he says he just got a new idea (Slim Shady) and that he hopes when she opens the letter it will hold true that his idea worked. “December 24 2007” a lot of time has passed since the last letters and Eminem describes that he tried claiming love for his daughter but always wanted to hide her face. If Eminem knew that he would have gotten this much fame he says he wouldn't have done it and that Hailie is being punished. Eminem says that he will release this last album and the be done with it all and some believe that album was “King Mathers” an album that was never realised. At the end of the song Eminem overdoses on methadone pills.

“Arouse” is the last song on this album and in my opinion is the most emotional and hardest to pick apart. In the beginning Eminem raps about how if he could rewind time for every pill he took and if he cut down on the Valium (Similar to Xanax) he would. Eminem is rapping like he is laying down in a hospital bed and he says he hooked up to all these machines. Eminem talks about how he can hear the nurse saying that his liver and kidney are functioning. Eminem says that he had been flirtatious with death and that the nurses and doctors are unplugging him on his daughter’s (Alaina) birthday and that he is sad that he is missing her birthday. And that he can't make it home to Christmas and that they can just open the gifts because he isn’t going to make it. He apologizes to Proof that if he let him down Eminem is talking about how sad he was and that he had to constantly be reminded that Proof is gone by pictures on his wall. And how he couldn't sleep at night because the image of him standing over Proof’s body on the operating table not being able to save him. Eminem's dad was never really in his life but he thanks him for showing him what not to do. And that he would give almost anything if he could have one more full and honest talk with his mom. Eminem says he can feel his soul leave his body and float across the room. Nurses lean over the bed taking tubes out of Eminem's Body. And that his daughters are leaning over his body crying and then suddenly he can breathe and he thinks he must've guessed the cheat codes to it. The ending to “Arouse” is an alternate ending to Castle and instead of Eminem over doseing he flushes the pills down the toilet and wakes up the next morning.

I think Revival is an amazing album all around and I suggest anyone to listen to it.  Revival has a lot more songs to listen to than just “Bad Husband”, “Castle”, and “Arouse”. “Bad Husband” is about how Eminem and Kim's relationship was. “Castle” was about how his fame has brought him and his daughter problems, and about his drug use. “Arouse” is about his regrets about his drug usage and about his late friend Proof. Overall I give Revival an 8/10 and I suggest it to anyone who likes the rap genre.