Alright now, I, I just flubbed a line.
I was going to say something extremely important, but I forgot who, or what, it was.
I was going to say something extremely important, but I forgot who, or what, it was.
Here we go now, do-si-do now, curtains up, the show must go now
Ring-around-the-rosie, the show's over, you can all go home now
But the curtain just don't close for me, this ain't how fame was supposed to be
Where's the switch I could just turn off-and-on? This ain't what I chose to be
So please, God, give me the strength to have what it takes to carry on
'Til I pass 50 back the baton, the camera's on, my soul is gone!
Ring-around-the-rosie, the show's over, you can all go home now
But the curtain just don't close for me, this ain't how fame was supposed to be
Where's the switch I could just turn off-and-on? This ain't what I chose to be
So please, God, give me the strength to have what it takes to carry on
'Til I pass 50 back the baton, the camera's on, my soul is gone!
— "Evil Deeds"
Encore is the fifth studio album by Eminem, released on November 12, 2004.
The album is a sequel to Eminem's previous album The Eminem Show, continuing its "show" concept and featuring similar lyrical themes about his fame and chaotic personal life, but expanding the remit to cover his new life as the mogul of Shady Records, the fallout of his beefs, and his regrets over his past actions, as well as provide a swan song for his famous alter ego Slim Shady, who is killed off at the end of the album. As evidenced by him taking a bow on the album cover, the album was widely considered to be his final release of new material at the time.
Encore had a Troubled Production on a number of fronts. The album's original tracklist was scrapped after a CD Eminem burned for his brother Nathan containing tracks for an early version of the album was stolen and turned into a bootleg mixtape in 2003. Eminem wrote most of the final album while in the throes of depression and drug addiction, leading to his flow on the album often being slurred, disjointed and dissociated. Its sound was in part a result of him seeking influence from timely trends in hip-hop (namely Southern snap and crunk, Gangsta Rap spearheaded by 50 Cent, and the chipmunk soul sound of Kanye West) that were distant from his own sound and persona, and led to him dabbling in a number of strange accents. He would continue to explore the possibilities "granted" by these accents, culminating in their divisive prevalence on his next album, 2009's Relapse.
The album is known for its varied, at-times-unpredictable tone. A lot of Eminem's rapping is of the piss-take variant, with his antics as Slim Shady including forgetting his lyrics, clucking like a chicken, yelling in the voice of Pee-Wee Herman, and vomiting at the thought of his ex-wife (who had gone on the lam from a cocaine charge). Skits have him playing with an electrolarynx and literally recording the sound of him taking a shit (which he considered to be the "funniest, most fucked up" thing he ever did). However, it would be remiss to claim that this is all the album has to offer, as it also contains several instances of Eminem growing in his maturitynote , love songsnote , inaugural experiments in singing entire songs for the first time, and trialling slurry melodic flows that prefigure "mumble rap" by nearly a decade.
While Encore had the biggest-selling debut in hip-hop history, it was met with mixed reviews and is commonly considered to be both one of Eminem's worst albums and the album that ended the golden age he had built up with his previous three releases, to the extent that he apologized for the album's outcome in 2010 on his seventh album Recovery. However, it has also grown a genuine cult following for its spontaneity and surreal sense of humor. Big-name fans of the album include Danny Brown (who cited the album, particularly the song "Rain Man", as a primary influence on his rapping style and humor), The Rolling Stones' drummer Charlie Watts, Rosie O'Donnell, and Eminem's old nemesis Moby (who was willing to set his differences aside to praise the album's anti-George W. Bush Protest Song "Mosh").
"Mockingbird" (a single) and "Big Weenie" (an album track) also both entered streaming charts in 2022 due to the songs being rediscovered by users of TikTok.
Tracklist:
- "Curtains Up" (Skit)
- "Evil Deeds"
- "Never Enough" (Ft. 50 Cent & Nate Dogg)
- "Yellow Brick Road"
- "Mosh"
- "Puke"
- "My 1st Single"
- "Paul" (Skit)
- "Rain Man"
- "Big Weenie"
- "Em Calls Paul" (Skit)
- "Just Lose It"
- "Ass Like That"
- "Spend Some Time" (Ft. 50 Cent, Obie Trice & Stat Quo)
- "Mockingbird"
- "Crazy In Love"
- "One Shot 2 Shot"
- "Final Thought" (Skit)
- "Encore / Curtains Down (Ft. 50 Cent & Dr. Dre)
- "We As Americans"
- "Love You More"
- "Ricky Ticky Toc"
I done troped on everythin' but little boys!
- Annoying Laugh: "Alright, now, lose it (AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!)"
- Antagonist in Mourning: In "My 1st Single", Slim pours one out for the departed Christopher Reeve, who informs him that once he dies, he'll kick his ass for the shit he said about him. "Rain Man" reveals Slim feels responsible for having killed him, thinking he hexed him by misplacing a sticker of Superman on his fridge as a child.
- Beer Goggles: Eminem experiences this in "Just Lose It" — he attempts to chat up a woman at a bar before "she" reveals "herself" to actually be Dr. Dre. He claims to have been blinded by beer goggles.Eminem: Now, what's your name girl? What's your sign?
[camera unblurs, revealing Dr Dre]
Dr Dre: Man, you must be up out your mind.
Eminem: DRE! (AH-AH) Beer Goggles! Blind! - Beleaguered Assistant: In "Ass Like That", Triumph-Slim calls for his lawyer to keep the cops from hauling him off, but then discovers he's too busy dealing with Michael Jackson suing him for "Just Lose It".
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Slim uses a lot of playground mudslinging on the album — giggling at "poo poo ca ca", telling Benzino that's he's a "meanie", and singing to Kim that "I hope you go to Hell and Satan sticks a needle in your eye".
- Boastful Rap: "Never Enough", "Encore".
- Bottom of the Barrel Joke: Slim finishes off serious songs with sudden vulgarities twice:
- "Yellow Brick Road" finishes with him reminding everyone that he was wrong to insult Black women because "no matter what color a girl is, she's still a... so, let's go back".
- "Mockingbird" ends with Slim making ridiculous murder and torture threats against anyone who disappoints his daughter.
- Bullying the Disabled: Slim's railing against Christopher Reeve, his references to Rain Man, and his mockery of disabled people with his electrolarynx, all of which adds up not to downpunching shock comedy but to the vibe that Slim himself is severely disabled and sick.
- Celebrity Is Overrated: "Evil Deeds" is dedicated to the fact that Eminem can't stop being famous and can't even take his daughter to the theme park.
- Concept Album: The album is themed around Slim having a mental breakdown and committing a mass shooting of his audience, before turning the gun on himself.
- Depraved Dentist: Slim briefly slips into character as one to antagonise Benzino about his dental health in a particularly bizarre passage in "Big Weenie".
- Demonic Possession: Eminem is possessed by the Devil and his new name is... "Rain Man".
- Denser and Wackier: Differing from the disturbing violence of previous albums, Encore is filled with free-associating, goofy Surreal Humor that seeks to confuse and annoy the audience rather than scandalise them.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: Hailie was born on December 25th, so the second verse of "Mockingbird" tells the story of Hailie's first birthday, revolving around how Marshall was too poor to put presents under the tree for her.
- Diss Track: Despite swearing off beeves in "Like Toy Soldiers", "Big Weenie" is a diss aimed at Benzino. However, it's far too silly to be worthy of retaliation and seems to be a parody of the entire concept of diss tracks at all.
- Domestic Abuser: The object of "Crazy In Love" and "Love You More" (an obvious No Celebrities Were Harmed of his wife, Kim) is a violent abuser, which turns Slim on.
- Era-Specific Personality: Encore is the last appearance of the 'classic' Slim Shady, and by the time Shady would re-emerge from the dead in Relapse, he would act, sound and look rather different. However, the Relapse character makes his first appearance in Encore's "Ass Like That", which stars a Slim with the same strange accent, ohh! adlib, erotomanic obsession with famous bimbos and criminal sexual proclivities.
- Everything Is Racist: Benzino in "My 1st Single" rails against Justin Timberlake for making a grunting noise that sounds a bit like the N-word... in an underage sex tape of him taking Britney's virginity.
- Flat "What": In "Just Lose It", Eminem tells a male chorus to grab their left nuts to make their right ones jealous. They respond, "what".
- Gag Penis: "My weenie is much bigger than yours is. Mine is like sticking a banana between two oranges."
- Happily Adopted: Eminem had just adopted another child at this point — his niece, Alaina — and part of "Mockingbird" is dedicated to assuring her that he loves her just as much as his biological daughter, Hailie. He even asks Lainie to call him "Daddy", saying it has a nice ring to it.
- Horrible Hollywood: A main theme this time around is rampant sexual abuse and perversion within the entertainment industry and how it's both exploited and covered up. "Just Lose It" and "Ass Like That" reference Michael Jackson's child molestation charges, Paul Reubens's arrest for public masturbation, and R. Kelly's repeated sexual abuse of underage Black girls. "My 1st Single" parodies the obsession with Britney Spears's virginity.
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Hilarious in Hindsight: Considering post-breakdown Britney revealed she lost it at 14, so in reality it was never a thing to begin with.
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- Idiot Savant: "Rain Man", an absurd rambling freestyle, is about the idea that Eminem is a genius rapper and a failure at everything else. It ended up becoming a significant song to Eminem and a big part of his personal mythology, with him referring to himself as "the Rain Man of rap" as a title in multiple later songs.
- Impairment Shot: In the music video for "Just Lose It", when Eminem tries to hit on Dr Dre at a bar (thinking him to be a woman), Eminem's point of view is shown as blurry, showing disorientation from having just been slugged in the stomach.
- Insult Comic: Slim analogises himself to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a ridiculous sockpuppet that allows him to get away with insulting celebrities for fun.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: "Evil Deeds" goes through versions of "Mama Had A Baby And Its Head Popped Off" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb" to reflect Slim being born an insane, hated child. "Puke" uses a variation of "Cross My Heart, Hope To Die" to insult Kim, and "Mockingbird" is a mostly unironic version of "Hush Little Baby, Don't Say A Word".
- I Will Fight No More Forever: "Like Toy Soldiers" is a graceful swearing off of beef, which Em had spent the previous years pointlessly escalating due to his Hair-Trigger Temper. It's a major moment of Character Development.
- Jailbait Taboo: "Ass Like That" mocks R. Kelly's predation of teen girls, and the adult obsession with barely legal starlets like the Olsen Twins, Jojo and Hillary Duff (who was apparently delighted by the shoutout). "My 1st Single" has a verse touching on the public obsession with the virginity of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
- Kinder and Cleaner: After cutting back on shock content on The Eminem Show, Encore shows Eminem reintroducing it in a more toned-down form for a Black Comedy album. It is notable for not containing any homophobia (a whole verse of "Rain Man" is dedicated to mocking homophobes). There's only a couple of references to drugs ("Big Weenie" mentions ecstasy), the misogyny is in comedic love songs, and "One Shot 2 Shot" and the "Curtains Down" skit are the only violent moments on the album. Eminem still makes jokes mocking disabled people, but they're rather abstract and confusing.
- Lightmare Fuel: While Encore is not strictly Horrorcore, the comedy on the album has an unsettling feeling of a man losing his mind. This is intentional, as the album ends with Slim committing suicide.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Big Weenie" has an extremely sinister, pulsing beat suggesting dark, lurking evil. It's one of the silliest songs on the album.
- Murder-Suicide: The album ends with Slim committing a mass shooting before turning the gun on himself, reflecting Eminem's desire to retire.
- Musicalus Interruptus: Dre gets bored and falls asleep during "Rain Man", causing the beat to stop until Slim rouses him.
- Mystical Hollywood: Multiple songs throughout the album suggest Eminem became famous at the cost of his soul, and is possessed by a demon. The music video for "Ass Like That" shows Eminem undergoing a sort of supernatural possession from Triumph.
- Only One Finds It Fun: In the music video for "Just Lose It", Eminem is singing to a crowd, who are into it. Then he drops his pants and they stop cheering, except for one guy who keeps dancing until the guys next to him nudge him to stop.
- Origins Episode:
- "Evil Deeds" is an origin story for Slim Shady, going from his childhood as 'Satan spawn' to him becoming a dysfunctional megastar.
- Eminem normally skipped over his time in the white rap group Soul Intent in interviews; "Yellow Brick Road" is the first time Eminem ever told stories about this time in his life, and serves to discuss the time he first became a rapper.
- Pædo Hunt: "Just Lose It" mocks Michael Jackson's bed-sharing, while "Ass Like That" touches on his alleged use of "Jesus juice" to seduce children.
- Parental Love Song: "Mockingbird" is a love song from Marshall to his daughters, explaining that he loves them and so does their mother.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: "Yellow Brick Road" tells a bleakly hilarious story about Eminem and his white rapper friends getting beaten up by Black kids in the mall for wearing Flava Flav clock medallions.
- Protest Song: "Mosh" is against the Iraq War and President George W Bush. To a lesser extent, it's also a fantasy of rap music ending racism.
- Pop Rap: One of Em's most playful and catchy albums, with several tracks where he sings in a pop style rather than raps. "Like Toy Soldiers" also calls forward to the stadium power-ballad style that would become a signature starting from Recovery.
- Rage Against the Author: Unlike most of Eminem's characters, who he's able to deflect into tussling with Slim, Christopher Reeve is smart enough to rail against The Storyteller Eminem for writing and performing this disgusting shit about him.
- Religious Horror: Encore has more religion than any of Eminem's previous albums, with "Evil Deeds" revolving around the image Slim Shady is the spawn of Satan (or perhaps an uncaring God) and "Rain Man" stating that Eminem (under his new name, 'Rain Man'), is possessed by the Devil.
- Robo Speak: Slim's electrolarynx, used throughout the skits.
- "Just Joking" Justification: "Ass Like That" is a parody of this argument.
- Self Botched Catchphrase: In "Rain Man" — "Hi! My name is... I forgot my name!"
- Sex Is Good: In "Crazy In Love", one of the reasons Slim thinks his girl is perfect is because she loves sex. She carries around sex toys, masturbates so often that she doesn't even feel it any more, and Slim can fuck her without a condom.
- Shifting Voice of Madness: Slim's flipping between multiple accents and characters, and the disjointed rapping style he uses, gives the impression of his impending mental breakdown.
- So Unfunny, It's Funny: The hook of "Big Weenie" is an overwrought and complex mass of syllables excoriating Benzino that lands on the pathetic punchline of "because you're a meanie. A meanie."
- Spark of the Rebellion: In "Mosh", Eminem fantasises about starting a revolution, in which his music "provides just enough spark" to allow the people to rise up against the corrupt government and end the war.
- Streaking: In "Just Lose It", Eminem gets arrested for drunk public streaking.Well, it's Tuesday and I'm locked up
I'm in jail and I don't know what happened
They say I was running butt naked
Down the street screaming
(AH-AH-AH-AH-AH) - Stress Vomit: Not Eminem's first (or most famous) use of this trope. In "Puke", thinking about Kim's irresponsible behaviour stresses Slim out so much that he uncontrollably vomits. In "Evil Deeds", he's so stressed out from being famous that he threatens to projectile vomit on anyone who isn't taking him seriously.
- Surreal Humor: Many of the jokes here begin to rely on Eminem's baroque personal imagery of childhood, Tabloid Melodrama and stupid voices.
- This Is a Song: "Puke" dedicates rather a lot of its runtime to explaining that it's an off-the-dome freestyle.
- Throwing Out the Script: In "Big Weenie", Slim feigns that he's forgotten his lyrics, before revealing it's a psych-out and throwing away his paper to freestyle the rest of the song.
- Toilet Humor: The shock comedy this time around is heavily based on toilet functions. Even the sedate "Yellow Brick Road" has a burp in the intro.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot:
- "Puke" includes lots of vividly accurate vomiting noises.
- The music video for "Just Lose It" includes a shot of Eminem vomiting on Michael Jackson in one long stream.
- You're Just Jealous: The hook of "Big Weenie" has Slim tell this to Benzino.
