The dumbed-down returns of Eminem’s last couple of albums have set the bar so low it’s practically buried, and he knows it: He’s done everything he can to set Recovery up as a fresh start, even arguing “them last two albums didn’t count / Encore I was on drugs / Relapse I was flushing them out / I’ve come to make it up to you now.” That promise carries some serious weight when it arrives amid a string of unflattering confessions on “Talkin’ 2 Myself”—in which Eminem admits to nearly writing dis tracks aimed at Lil Wayne and Kanye West for getting more attention than him, all while pouting about his own fading powers. In the same way, “Going Through Changes” engenders real sympathy as it documents his pill-and-pity-fueled spiral into reclusion. Always at his liveliest when he’s feeling persecuted, Eminem unflinchingly owns up to a lot on his road to redemption—but really, all he had to do was drop the farts and faux-Jamaican patois.
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