HOW HAVE ARTISTS CHANGED THEIR PERSONA OVER TIMEBy Itamar Blauer

Eminem• Marshall Mathers aka. Eminem was born on October 17,

1972. He released The Slim Shady LP in early 1999, and the album went multi-platinum, winning Eminem two Grammy Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. In 2000, he released The Marshall Mathers LP, which was the fastest-selling album in rap history. More recently, in 2010, Eminem released the Grammy-winning album Recovery, a highly autobiographical attempt to come to terms with his struggles with addiction and experience with rehabilitation. Eminem then released his eighth album, MMLP2, in 2013.

How his star image relates to Richard Dyer’s theory• A star is an image not a real person that

is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music]).

• This suggests that Eminem acquired his fame because of 8 mile, which helped sell his character. Before the film was released Eminem released albums within his own record company, “Shady Records”, which suggests that he sold himself in whichever way he wanted as he owned his own record company.

His first album• Eminem’s first album was called Infinite, which was

released in 1996. The cover features Eminem’s aspirations to be a classical and ‘infinite’ within the music industry. The songs in this album consist of well rehearsed rhymes and beats which allowed Eminem to receive very successful feedback on his first album.

How he sold his star image – 8 Mile• Being the first published film about Eminem, this film is all

about Eminem’s struggle to achieve success and he is looked down upon by the other black rappers in 8 mile, Detroit. Eminem was a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, and living in a trailer park home also helped to back up the point that he grew up in a poor area. Eminem gained a lot of popularity when the film was released as audiences appreciated his hard work and dedication in order to make a name for himself and the song “Lose yourself” was the anthem for the film and ended up being one of Eminem’s most iconic song.

His most successful songs• Eminem had many songs that were top of the charts

worldwide. One example is the song “Stan”, which is about a fan sending letters to Eminem only to found out that he is not responding and therefore the fan commits suicide, only for Eminem to reply to the letters after the death, and realises that he is the fan. The song peaked at number 1 on the charts in 11 countries including the United Kingdom and Australia.

How his music changed• Eminem is widely known for having great songs from all of

his albums, however it is noticeable that his music and tone changes depending on the album. His albums have specific meanings and connotations, and the majority of Eminem’s songs are related to his personal life story.

Eminem’s relationship with Kim• Eminem has had some marital problems with his ex-wife,

Kim Mathers. They initially divorced as Kim cheated on him while Eminem was on tour and had his child. Eminem mentions his hatred to Kim in many of his songs, including “Kim”, “97’ Bonnie and Clyde”, “Kill You”, “Puke”. Eminem did not have much time to spend with Kim and then fought for the parental rights of his daughter. Kim later addressed in an interview that Eminem is a great father but a terrible husband.

Drug taking• Eminem’s career has been shifty to say

the least, and this is evident in a few of his albums, which include the Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, where some of his songs relate to how he used to take drugs and almost overdosed. During the peak of his drug addiction, Eminem previously revealed that he was taking up to 60 Valium and 30 Vicodin pills a day. In 2007, he overdosed on methadone. Eminem has had a few drug problems over his career, but has seemed to overcome his problems in later albums.

Recovery• Eminem’s 7th album, Recovery, was made

in order for Eminem to prove to his fans that he has sobered and is off drugs. The previous album, Relapse, features Eminem admitting to have taken drugs again, and having serious health issues. Recovery, however, led to him explaining in his songs that he’s off drugs, such as ‘Going through changes’ and ‘Not afraid’, which show Eminem fighting off his drug problems successfully.

His fan base and its changes• Eminem’s old albums attracted teenagers

and older people, mainly due to the hip-hop culture that was more attractive to older members of society. During his album ‘Recovery’ and ‘MMLP2’, Eminem had released songs with other artists including Rihanna and Sia. This lead to Eminem obtaining younger fans, who were also fans of the other artists, and this had led to Eminem obtaining younger fans, even though he has grown older. The song “Love the way you lie” featuring Rihanna is Eminem’s most popular music video on his VEVO YouTube channel with over 800 million views, which also suggests his different audiences.

How has his icon changed• Eminem’s old songs would be

based on his early life and in my opinion he put more soul into his lyrics than he does now, which is mainly because of the different range of fans he has acquired, and how he is over 40 years of age. I believe that Eminem’s persona has changed from being a very wild and aggressive rapper, to a calmer and more general singer. Different people have different opinions about whether or not these changes are good or not, but personally I preferred Eminem’s old songs and albums, as I believe their lyrics spoke more than the ones of his newer songs.