Rihanna and Eminem’s Biographical Duet
Summary
Eminem and Rihanna’s new duet, Love the Way You Lie (Part 2), reflects much of the pain, loss, and lessons of their own lives. As the hit single races to the top of the charts, the song’s message will be familiar to many.
by Carson Abrir
There’s more than a touch of autobiography in Rihanna and Eminem’s ‘Love the Way You Lie (Part 2)’. Growing up with a crack addicted father, Rihanna surely saw early in life how a future that can seem so bright can turn into evil. At 20, the Barbadian pop/R&B sensation is already one of the industry’s leading artists.
Marshall Mathers III, better known as Eminem, is the best selling recording artist of the decade. Eminem twice married and twice divorced high school sweetheart Kimberley Anne Scott. The impact of their relationship, including her attempted suicide, led to the hit single, Kim, along with a defamation suit.
Love the Way You Lie (Part 2) opens with Rihanna singing, “On the first page of our story, the future seems so bright. And this thing turned out so evil. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Even angles have their wicked schemes. And you take death to new extremes. But you’ll always be my hero. Even though you lost your mind.”
Nearly every relationship starts out in a state of illusion. It’s easy to find the hero in the object of your affection with the blinders that so often flood heart, mind and body as passions begin. Disappointment, dashed hopes, and broken promises quickly knock those heroes from their pedestals.
While addictions may begin as a cry to cover up pain, anger and despair, when a parent is the addict, as in Rihanna’s childhood, it’s easy to decide the world is a dangerous place and that loving is for the weak and naïve.
There’s little doubt Rihanna and Eminem’s duet will race to the top of the charts. Along with the song’s powerful rhythm, their words have a message too.