Encore: More mature than The Eminem Show?

[tadpole25]

I've said I've noticed a pattern of Eminem's albums switching from silly to more mature, as his past 6 albums have been prequel followed by sequel three times.

But as a caveat, I must mention that no album is completely one thing. All of his albums are a mix of persona and his real self, and all his albums are a mix of silly and mature. But his albums differ in how much emphasis they put on those respective things, as well as the overall direction he is going as a person.

Slim Shady LP focused on the persona, whereas Marshall Mathers LP focused on who he actually was as a person. Relapse was meant to dig back to his old self and Recovery was meant to introduce his new self. To complete the puzzle, I will say that Encore is the mature sequel to the Eminem Show, as odd as it may seem. And not the other way around.

Really? The Eminem Show is the relatively immature one and I'm well aware half of Encore is full of random simple childish lyrics, weird voices, fart, burps and meaningless jabber. And he wrote much of it when he was high on drugs. Not saying this is a better album, just a natural progression of improving as a person (even during a slump).

Reading between the lines, and judging this album by it's best verses rather than its worst, I find Eminem, in this album, shows an attitude of generally growing up. It's one of his least angry albums as well as one of his least controversial. This album (mostly) shows an overall willingness to give up grudges and accept the past and imperfections in life the way it is and settle down. He depicts love as bittersweet in songs like Crazy In Love, Spend Some Time and Love You More, but in much a more level-headed, personal, and objective way than one-sided, and entirely cynical as in The Eminem Show.

Like Toy Soldiers, more than any of his songs, expresses a genuine feeling of responsibility rather than the Slim Shady persona of doing whatever hell he wanted. He changed his outlet from anger to silliness. As an artist, he also changed his tone. Rather than trying to convince society who he is, who he isn't or insult people who don't understand him, he accepts that some people will get it and some won't. He isn't trying to prove anything to anyone. Overall, it feels like, his overall attitude changed from a prankster in his 20's to a stay-at-home dad in his 30's.

What it means to be mature, my perception of it, has changed since I was younger. I used to think being mature was just about how a person acts in a situation. Now, I realized that a person's beliefs and attitudes are constant inherent and stay with you, rather than a particular action which is fleeting. Antics are silly, but beliefs are much more persistent.

IMO, Encore is the mature companion piece to Eminem Show, even though it doesn't seem that way on the surface.

Your thoughts?

[EmTV]

Agree.

[Francesco]

There is some signs of maturity on the album even though that could be only 'cuz of the fact Em was getting fed up with the shit that started to pile up somewhere after TES... on another hand there are a lotta lines that are totally opposite to the signs of maturity on the album (I don't mean the vulgar ones).

Bottom line is... Hard to say if that was the case or not. Good point though.

[Hansen]

Great points man. I had actually never thought about it that way before but you sure as hell made me and I totally agree with you.

[tadpole25]

Great points man. I had actually never thought about it that way before but you sure as hell made me and I totally agree with you.

thanks for reading

[Hansen]

Ofcourse, when somone actually puts an effort into their posts why shouldn't I put an effort into reading it.

[Squiggles123]

I agree to a degree (see what I did there?). The highs definately are more mature and he takes a more broader road then in the past, he was (still kinda is?) a very self absorbed sort of person in his music. Frustrates me at time but it makes for great writing.

[tadpole25]

He has always talked about himself a lot and whether its introspection or narcissism idk maybe both but people are interested I guess

[Mr Change]

This actually makes sense in some ways but imo any sense of mature progression from TES is crushed by..well, you know.

[Kill You]

There are some signs of maturity, and if Em kept the original Encore then I would actually probably agree with you. But with the current Encore I don't see it being more mature than TES.

[Just Silver]

What's in the original tracks

[tadpole25]

There are some signs of maturity, and if Em kept the original Encore then I would actually probably agree with you. But with the current Encore I don't see it being more mature than TES.

yeah, what do you mean by original encore.

i'm suspecting that em went to LA when he was high and Dre had a bunch of nice beats, so Em recorded songs like Rain Man and the like. And he added them to Encore because he didn't want to waste a Dre beat. that's what i always thought.

[Just Silver]

Why waste a beat when he has hundreds lol

[sbolli1]

idk how no one has come in and just called bullshit on this idea that Encore is more mature than TES. Sorry that sounds dickish to the OP, you do have some good points.

But i'm sorry when you have songs like Rain Man, Ass Like That, My 1st Single, Big Weenie and a strange placement of random farts and burps throughout the album, there's no way I would consider it a more mature album. There are perhaps some mature moments on it, but overall, TES is definitely a more mature album.

And don't even get me started on that fucking Em Calls Paul skit

[UofLCard]

yeah, what do you mean by original encore.

I assume Kill You is referring to what Encore would've looked like before the early leak (Love You More, We As Americans).