Darkness

This is a very strong song. Even though Eminem tried to understand and show the state of mind of the Las Vegas shooter, who organized gun violence, even though many of us often find ourselves in the dark or do not see a path for ourselves, I still can’t understand any of these people, no. Although this topic was raised in my class and essay examples that I read on www.edubirdie.com/examples/gun-violence/ tried to explain that gun control can solve the problem, I cannot agree. It seems that the issue is not in the availability of weapons but in the people themselves who decide to use them. After all, if they are ready for this, then they will always come up with something else to cause pain and suffering.

[Edit: upd]

Since Monday will mark a momentous day in world and U.S. history as we honor MLK Day, I contend that Eminem's “Darkness” lyrics and song contain major social justice themes as well. Like MLK sought to achieve in his iconic writings and speeches, I feel that Eminem’s lyrics are also advocacy-based for us to vote. His song definitely epitomizes the harsh reality of mass shootings, mental health struggles, addictions, and other major themes that we must battle more proactively.

As divisive as politics themselves, many critics feel that his lyrics in this song actually glorify or condone gun violence, but I infer that his allusions to the Vegas shooting show us that there is a major problem to address when he summons,

“Feels like I'm loathing in Las Vegas Haven't got the vaguest why I'm so lost But I'd make you this small wager If I bet you I'll be in tomorrow's paper Who would the odds favor?”

As MLK recalled with his own personal experiences with racism in America and the world, it also seems like Eminem is further depicting some of his own personal demons with mental health struggles, alcohol, and addiction when he admits,

“I'm so much like my father, you would think that I knew him I keep pacin' this room, Valium, then chase it with booze…”

As we move toward MLK Day next week, let’s agree to disagree on political candidates but pause to understand the brutal picture of American and global “darkness” to allow music to be the wakeup call that we all need ensure that MLK’s dream doesn’t become a recurrent nightmare.

Unannounced album releases. Controversial themes and lyrics. Edge-of-your-seat, woven ballads. Monumental risks for most artists, but par for the course for Eminem, who just dropped Music to be Murdered By to instant fanfare and fury alike.

Marshall Mathers is competing for headlines… with himself, after releasing his 11th studio album, thanks to the divisive track, Unaccommodating, in which he appears to make light of the bombing during an Ariana Grande concert in London back in 2017. Critics have much more fodder than that “bombs away” line, as the track, Darkness, is also thrusting Em directly back into the (spot)light.

Following in the vein of Stan, Cleanin Out My Closet and Guilty Conscience, Darkness demands your full attention and satisfies a microwave society with a captivating tale that few could tell, much less even attempt.

Listening to the song is only half the story here, however. Whether intentional or otherwise, Eminem has also managed to revive storytelling through music video. Sure, millions of listeners still watch on YouTube or other web-based platforms, but this video is reminiscent of MTV’s must-watch yesteryear. In fact, the casual listener may not even realize Slim Shady was portraying the Las Vegas shooter until the very end, because of the sharp grit, the double-entendres and the Simon & Garfunkel sampling.

Do yourself a favor and watch the video, too. It’s the exact opposite of a rabbit-hole trigger. There is an impact that this song will leave, and it’s only just starting to take shape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHQC4fAhcbU

Unpacking the meanings behind the words of Eminem’s new song Darkness would take hours. Every word seems to have a meaning, as each moment passes, he builds up the story little by little to finally call attention to the number of shootings that take place in the United States.

To me the most important part of the song that, moment that he really brings the story home, is the third verse:

Finger on the trigger, but I'm a licensed owner With no prior convictions, so loss, the sky's the limit So my supplies infinite, strapped like I'm a soldier

He has spent the entire song talking about how high and drunk the gunman is, creating these parallels between himself and this shooter and then brings it home: the next shooter could be anyone. The guns the Las Vegas shooter owned he owned legally, he had no prior convictions, no mental health issued that limited his right to bear arms.

Anybody could end up in that dark place where they just decide that the sky’s the limit. The video that accompanies this song asks the question: “When will this end? When enough people care”. He then reminds everyone to register to vote. So, let me finish this off reminding you, no matter where you stand on these issues, where you stand on the political spectrum, your voice is important, register to vote.

The first time I heard “Darkness” by Eminem, I had a lot of conflicting emotions. I was angry. I was devastated. I felt sick to my stomach. As the song went on, I started to realize what (and who) it was about. What at first seemed to be a rap about being a disillusioned celebrity soon revealed itself to be a glimpse into the mind of a severely disturbed individual. “Darkness” attempts to recreate the mental state of the Las Vegas shooter, taking the listener through his thoughts as he prepared to kill dozens of people in the 2017 mass shooting. It’s haunting and painful in a way that cannot be shaken off. Eminem sings the refrain “I don’t wanna be alone in the darkness” throughout the song, perhaps drawing a connection both to how he feels and how the shooter might have felt that day.

There are several phrases in “Darkness” that have double meanings, such as “round after round, I’m getting loaded. That’s a lot of shots, huh?” Eminem fans could take this as a reference to shots of alcohol, referring to the days before he decided to commit to sobriety in 2008. A secondary meaning can be applied to the shooter, loading up his gun and firing off multiple shots. The entire song has parallels that can be true both for people in the spotlight and people struggling in the darkness. We all feel alone sometimes. We all have thoughts like that, feelings of isolation and sadness. The song points out a deeply troubling and important truth about mental health in our society; sometimes people feel that way and we can’t see it. Sometimes people have “no signs of mental illness” but they’re struggling to escape the darkness in their own mind. Eminem very effectively communicates this thought in “Darkness,” in a way that sticks with you and reflects some of our culture’s most troubling issues.

The outro of the song is perhaps the most chilling part of the entire track. Listeners hear audio from news coverage of not only the Las Vegas shooting, but several other deadly mass-shootings that have occurred over the past few years in the United States. I believe that Eminem wrote this song to bring these horrific events to the forefront of our minds for a reason. He wanted us to see that there are people struggling to express their inner pain, and those people are all around us. He wanted to send a message to those in power that something must be changed. He wanted to ignite something in everyone who listens, something that urges us to make change. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, “Darkness” did just that.

Eminem's new song, “Darkness” has no shortage of emotion and depth. Like many of his songs, the background sounds and lyrics combined create more than just a song, but rather a story that is being told. The lyrics tell the story of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting from the perspective of the shooter. The harrowing music builds tension as the rapper recites the internal dialogue of the shooter leading up to the incident. One of the most interesting parts of the song in my opinion is the familiar tribute to Simon and Garfunkel’s song , “Hello Darkness My Old Friend.” I think the familiar tune and famous lyrics really add a layer of familiarity to the song, which I think eludes to the familiarity many people have with the internal struggles with “darkness” that the artist is portraying the song.

The song starts by repeating the line “I don't want to be alone in the darkness” which is a window into mental health struggles because most people do in fact feel alone in their own personal darkness. Followed by the “hello darkness my old friend” line, this paints the picture that although he feels alone, the darkness seems to be the only “friend” or constant companion in the shooters life.

My personal opinion of the song is that it is a very disturbing look at what is behind the devastating mass shootings we see all too often in our world today. In typical Eminem fashion, the song is bold and brash and brutally honest. He writes and produces lyrics that most people are not willing to say. I think the sound effects of guns and screaming and news reports in the background bring a harsh and numbing sense of reality to the song. I think that this song is devastating and disturbing but it paints a brutal and real picture of the mind of a modern day murderer.

Man, this track got me right in the feels straight from the get go. Em immediately opens by discussing depression, which is something I’ve struggled with. The feelings of darkness, of the walls closing in, of curtains being snatched closed and of overall helplessness and hopelessness are bitter old enemies of mine. He then talks about dulling the pain with alcohol and drugs. The idea that beer isn’t enough, he’s gonna need vodka. Again, this all seems too familiar.

I didn’t think much of the references to Vegas and gambling at first, but the full frontal assault with double entendres referencing firearms definitely hit their target. I thought this song might have a happy ending of sorts. I was wrong. I still wasn’t sure exactly where Mr. Mathers was going with this, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Into the second verse, I started hearing about anxiety over the future. Panicking over what-ifs and situations that almost certainly won’t happen. He’s talking about freaking out before a show, but I’m hearing the anxiety I sometimes battle over my own job. And then here comes all the sneaky double talk about guns and shooting again. When the 3rd verse begins, it hits me. Eminem has been covertly talking about the Las Vegas mass shooting this whole time, from the viewpoint of the shooter no less. Now there’s no more hiding, he’s shooting from a hotel window with limitless firepower. Darkness, indeed.

This track is aptly named for sure. The first single off of Eminem’s surprise album is definitely DARK. With so many mass shootings and gun violence in general here in the USA, I’d say it’s right on time and directly on point, too. The problem begins with mental health, and so does this song. Common sense gun control is needed also, and that is touched on too. Eminem does a brilliant job tying together the troubling issues of lack of mental health care and mass shootings in the USA. If this song doesn’t touch a nerve, then I don’t know what will.

Eminem dives deeply into his personal life in “Darkness.” Firstly, Em sings “I don’t want to be alone in the darkness,” which is the hook of the song. I believe he is signifying that he feels isolated by the expectations of both the media and his fans to live up to his prior reputation as one of the best rappers of all time. Every album that Eminem releases gets subjected to heavy criticism because he is competing with his prior work, which many consider to be masterpieces.

Eminem’s uses a metaphor to relay his feeling that his fans are his own worst enemy. Em raps about being alone in his hotel room before a show. He gets paranoid and nervous that none of his fans will attend and that the media will take advantage of the opportunity to soil his reputation. He metaphorically open fires a gun on the crowd and media below out of anger and paranoia. This is consistent with Em’s history of using the modalities of violence and shock factor in his story telling, which many rappers have imitated. This also signifies that Em is feeling the intense scrutiny of both his fans and media criticism, which are beginning to push him over the edge.

Eminem’s “Darkness” is an expression of total isolation and solitude, which has been a common theme among the rich and famous throughout history. I believe that Eminem is expressing that he has been placed on a pedestal, and has therefore been raised to a status where he is in total isolation. As the phrase goes, “It’s lonely at the top.” Eminem concludes the song with audio of an array of news reports of recent shootings in the United States. I believe that Eminem is making a political statement about gun control and the need for reform in the United States.