Lose Yourself

Lose Yourself
publication	October 22, 2002
length	5:20
Genre (s)	Hip hop
text	M. Mathers , J. Bass , L. Resto
music	Eminem, Jeff Bass (Co), Luis Resto (Co)
Award (s)	Oscar 2003 ( Best Song ), Grammy 2004 ( Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song )
album	Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile

Lose Yourself ( English for: " Losing yourself ") is a song by the American rapper Eminem . The song was released on October 22, 2002 as the first single from the soundtrack Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile . Its content as well as the music video are based on the film 8 Mile , in which Eminem plays the leading role. The song itself can be heard in the credits of the film. The song is also featured on Eminem's best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits .

Lose Yourself is one of the most successful songs in hip-hop history and ranked 44th in the German charts throughout the 2000s .

content

Logo of the movie 8 Mile

In the first verse, Eminem rapping describes the scene at the beginning of the film 8 Mile , addressing the tension in the character Rabbit, their failure in battle and the subsequent return to their below-average life. The other two stanzas autobiographically describe Eminem's problems getting into the rap scene and taking care of his daughter at the same time, emphasizing that this is his real life and not a movie (“ There's no Mekhi Phifer ”).

According to Eminem, the song is about “getting lost in the music, removing every obstacle, ignoring all the heckling, ignoring what everyone complains about you, finding yourself and your own voice and becoming one . “This statement corresponds to Eminem's role in the film, which fails precisely because of this in the opening scene, but in the end then lives the content of the song and triumphs over his rival and his negative attitude.

Style and production

At the beginning of the song there is a noise similar to that of a record . This is followed by a piano melody and an organ-like sound of a keyboard in the background . After about half a minute, the previous music is replaced by an electric guitar and an electric bass and Eminem gives the introduction in the style of a spoken word lecture:

" Look ... if you had ... one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted ... in one moment
Would you capture it ... or just let it slip?" "

These lines are also printed in a similar form on the back of the DVD case for the film 8 Mile . On the picture of Eminem on the front you can see how he writes the introduction on his hand.

While he starts rapping the first verse, a programmed bass drum is added. The also programmed beat , consisting of snare and hi-hat , only starts in the middle of the verse. The snare is on the second and fourth beats. In the chorus of the piece there is a briefly played keyboard sound and a piano melody. In the second and third stanzas the pattern remains the same, after the second repetition of the chorus, the instrumental of the piece continues. After about three quarters of a minute and a total playing time of 5:26 minutes, the song ends with a fade out .

Lose Yourself was written by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto and produced by Eminem with the help of Bass. Electric guitar, electric bass and keyboards were recorded by Bass, other keyboards and programming are from Resto. The beat was programmed by Eminem.

The enhanced CD also contains the video of the song and a trailer for the film.

Music video

The video for Lose Yourself combines scenes from 8 Mile with newly shot recordings. In which you can see parts of Eminem's hometown Detroit , such as the Ambassador Bridge , as well as Eminem rapping in front of a street sign that reads "8 Mile Rd - Mobile Court" and also scenes in which he reenacts his life as a rap star and Lose Yourself on one Stage raps. The alienation from his daughter, which he addresses in the lyrics (“ He goes home and barely knows his own daughter ”), becomes clear .

Directed by Eminem, its managers Paul Rosenberg and Philip Atwell.

In 2003 the video received the last ever MTV Video Music Award in the Best Video from a Film category and was nominated for Video of the Year , among other things .

Appearances

Eminem made several major shows with Lose Yourself . At the Grammy Awards in 2003 , there was a performance by him together with The Roots to see. In 2009 he performed the piece on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on. He appeared as a surprise guest at the 2020 Academy Awards .

reception

Commercial win

Lose Yourself is next to Love the Way You Lie , Not Afraid , Stan and Without Me Eminems commercially most successful single. The song reached the top position in almost all major music charts around the world. In Germany, it entered second place on December 16, 2002 and stayed there for seven weeks. Lose Yourself stayed in the top 100 for a total of 29 weeks (including twelve weeks in the top 10) and received a triple gold record for over 750,000 sales in 2018 , making it the rapper's best-selling song in this country. Lose Yourself was particularly successful in Australia, where the song entered number 1, stayed there for twelve weeks and was awarded seven times platinum .

In March 2009, Lose Yourself crossed the mark of two million sold downloads as the second oldest piece of music (after Don't Stop Believin ' by Journey ) . The song was sold more than ten million times in the United States alone and was awarded a diamond record there in 2018 .

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 2 (29 weeks) 29  Austria (Ö3) 1 (29 weeks) 29  Switzerland (IFPI) 1 (57 weeks) 57  United Kingdom (OCC) 1 (52 weeks) 52  United States (Billboard) 1 (23 weeks) 23

Annual charts Charts (2003) placement Annual charts (2003)  Germany (GfK) 6th  Austria (Ö3) 6th  Switzerland (IFPI) 12  United Kingdom (OCC) 25th  United States (Billboard) 28

Record awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	7 × platinum	490,000
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	40,000
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × platinum	180,000
Germany (BVMI)	3 × gold	750,000
Finland (IFPI)	gold	5,000
France (SNEP)	gold	250,000
Greece (IFPI)	gold	10,000
Italy (FIMI)	3 × platinum	150,000
Japan (RIAJ)	gold	100,000
Canada (MC)	6 × platinum	600,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	2 × platinum	30,000
Norway (IFPI)	platinum	10,000
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	30,000
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	40,000
United States (RIAA)	diamond	10,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × platinum	2,120,000
All in all	5 × gold 29 × platinum 1 × diamond	14,825,000

Reviews

Most of the critics rated the song very positively. In 2004 , Lose Yourself was voted 166 of the “ 500 best songs of all time ” by the music magazine Rolling Stone , the highest ranking for a song from the 21st century . The American Film Institute placed the song at number 93 in the " 100 Best Movie Songs in America " in the same year . In 2003 the song found itself at number 4 on the "List of the most important songs of the last 25 years", compiled by the TV channel VH1 .

Awards

Lose Yourself was the first rap piece in 2003 to receive an Oscar for Best Song , which hit songs by U2 and Paul Simon , among others . Eminem was not present at the ceremony, allegedly because the song should have been censored during a performance. Another reason is simply “it wasn't his sort of gig” ”.

In 2004 Eminem won two Grammy Awards for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song . Was also Lose Yourself as Record of the Year and Song of the Year nominated.

Won

• ASCAP Pop Music Awards
  • 2004: in the category "Most Performed Song"

• BMI Film / TV Awards
  • 2003: in the category "Best Music"
  • 2003: in the category "Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture"

• Detroit Music Awards
  • 2003: in the category "Outstanding National Single"

• Grammy Awards
  • 2004 : in the category " Best rap song "
  • 2004 : in the category " Best Male Solo Performance - Rap "

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2003: in the category "Best Video from a Film"

• MTV Video Music Awards Japan
  • 2003: in the category "Best Video from a Film"

• Oscar
  • 2003 : in the category " Best Song "

Nominated

• BET Awards
  • 2003: in the category "Video of the Year"

• Grammy Awards
  • 2004 : in the category "Single of the year"
  • 2004 : in the category "Song of the Year"
  • 2004 : in the category "Best song written for film, television or visual media"

• Golden Globe Awards
  • 2003 : in the category "Best Film Song"

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2003: in the category "Video of the Year"
  • 2003: in the category "Best Male Video"
  • 2003: in the category "Best Rap Video"

• MuchMusic Video Awards
  • 2003: in the category "UR Fave: International Artist"

influence

The success of Lose Yourself can also be evidenced by the song's influence on other artists and even pop culture .

• A Lose Yourself- like melody is played in the episode Full In The Ass of the animated series South Park .
• In the 14th episode of the second season of the humorous agent series Chuck , Jeff quotes the intro to Lose Yourself to convey to his best friend and bandmate Lester what a great chance it would be to play at Debbie's (Chuck's sister) wedding.
• The song Couch Potato , published in 2003 by Weird Al Yankovic , parodies Lose Yourself . However, Eminem prohibited the musician from making a music video for the piece.
• Queen + Paul Rodgers' tour between 2005 and 2006 opened with Lose Yourself .
• The first episode of the third season of Instant Star is named after the song.
• Actress Jodie Foster recited the chorus of Lose Yourself as an appeal to graduates in her 2006 University of Pennsylvania graduation speech.
• Taylor Swift opens many of her concerts with a country version of the song.
• The Script recorded a rocking version of the piece in 2008 and released it on their single Breakeven .
• The then national coach Jürgen Klinsmann used the song several times during the 2006 World Cup in Germany to directly prepare and motivate the German national team in the dressing room.
• The song is the theme song of the German television series Lenßen & Partner (as an instrumental version).
• In the ProSieben - TV show The Masked Singer rapped Daniel Aminati 2019 a section of the song.

See also

• Theme song

Web links

• Lyrics with interpretations (English)
• Lyrics (German)

swell

1. ↑ Charts of the Decade DE # 44
2. ^ "Making Of" on the DVD of the film 8 Mile
3. ^ Text by Lose Yourself on elyrics.net
4. ↑ Booklet of Curtain Call: The Hits .
5. ↑ YouTube : Video of the performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards
6. ↑ YouTube: Video of the appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
7. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.de/oscars-2020-eminem-performt-ueberraschend-lose-yourself-1903615/
8. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B8XrEBMB0cx/
9. ↑ Chart tracking Lose Yourself on officialcharts.de
10. ↑ Eminem "Lose Yourself" in the IFPI database DE AT CH
11. ↑ Lose Yourself on the Australian charts
12. ↑ Charts of the Australian Recording Industry Association
13. ↑ "Week Ending March 15, 2009: The Idol With The Most," March 18, 2009
14. ↑ US: Diamond (10x platinum)
15. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e} annual charts 2003: DE AT CH UK (PDF; 377 kB) US
17. ^ Rob Copsey: Eminem's biggest songs on the Official Chart. officialcharts.com, January 17, 2020, accessed on February 19, 2020 . 
18. ↑ "VH1's '100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years'" , June 12, 2003
19. ↑ laut.de : "Eminem: No way up to Oscar" , March 13, 2003
20. ↑ People .com: "Eminem Naps Through His Oscar Victory," March 24, 2003
21. ^ List of nominees for the 2004 Grammy Awards , December 4, 2003
22. ↑ 2003 BMI Film / TV Awards: Song List bmi.com, May 14, 2003, accessed November 27, 2013
23. ^ Eminem, Funk Brothers Lead Detroit Music Awards Winners prnewswire.com, accessed November 27, 2013
24. ↑ South Park Episode Guide
25. ↑ [1]
26. ↑ YouTube: Couch Potato by Weird Al Yankovic
27. ↑ laut.de: "Eminem: Video hero forbids parody" , May 14, 2003
28. ↑ Plattentests.de : Review of Return of the Champions by Queen + Paul Rodgers ; see also Return of the Champions
29. ↑ msnbc.com : "Jodie Foster quotes Eminem at graduation" , May 15, 2006
30. ↑ YouTube: Recitation of Lose Yourself by Jodie Foster
31. ↑ Spiegel Online : "Kuhmädel in sequin dress" 15 May, 2009
32. ^ Sönke Wortmann : Germany. A summer fairy tale The World Cup diary. Kiepenheuer & Witsch 2006.