Not Afraid is the most damaging song to Eminem's reputation

[Tonite]

Too much hate for this song tbh..
Not Afraid was his biggest hit since Lose Yourself, it obviously appelead to people, it did great number wise.
When it came out, I thought it was great and I still do. I even get shivers when ''And I just can't keep living this way'' part comes, it amazingly connects with the music video as he tries to escape fisting the brick wall and the bright light passes through as if he was finaly escaping from his old, drugged self.
People say it's corny, fuck that, he expresses himself in a way which he feels he can help people who may have been stuck in a similar situation, in my eyes that is not corny.
I have to defend this one, it's not one of the best in Recovery but hey, it's great.

[ShadyxEminem]

Not Afraid is not bad. Talkin' 2 Myself is the song I dislike. It's the most un-Eminem song I've heard. Apologizing? What happen to No Apologies? Not Afraid is inspirational like Lose Yourself, so it doesn't bother me. Talkin' 2 Myself is just a song I would never see coming from someone who made The Marshall Mathers LP

[Snakebeast]

Its a motivational song, and it was accompanied by one of the greatest fitting music vids I've ever seen from Em. Despite some very corny lines, it made me feel inspired and emotional. Almost brought a tear to my eye.

[LMShady]

Its a motivational song, and it was accompanied by one of the greatest fitting music vids I've ever seen from Em. Despite some very corny lines, it made me feel inspired and emotional. Almost brought a tear to my eye.

This. Also whoever said it was a perfect single for Recovery as well, it really was.

[EminemInsider]

I'm not afraid to say I love this song.

Far better than We Made You. Remember the response on here to that? Confused and bemused. People change their opinions based on the prevailing wind anyway.

We Made You had a weird chorus, but it was otherwise reminiscent of Without Me. Nothing to really be confused about...he made the mistake of thinking the faggoty fans weren't going to whine about the "outdated cultural referencezzz."

In Not Afraid, he's serious, and it sucks. It's OK to be corny when you're blatantly joking around. With Not Afraid, Eminem damaged his reputation as a lyricist.

[Devil'sAdvocate]

Agreed.

[Chet Starr]

It is a pretty embarrassing song. Almost as corny and cringe-worthy as You're Never Over.

Exactly

[momentsgolden]

Almost as corny and cringe-worthy as You're Never Over.

You just didn't say that

and No Love could have easily been swapped with other songs.

[Mr Change]

I think it's funny to read this thread title when Encore exists. Sometimes it's like people don't like the fact that Eminem has changed and is still a great artist and mega popular after such a low point in his life. Oh well

[Francesco]

"Not Afraid" is powerful as fuck.
If Em meant to say "subconsciously" then he would have said it. The way he says it make perfect sense, you're not smarter than the man who wrote the fucking lyrics.

I agree...
The thing people still don't understand is Em definitely needed to come with such single & such album or else his status as extraordinary artists would've changed forever. He adopted to the masses... obviously he worked really hard to get back there. It was meant to be what it is, as simple as that.

This record definitely didn't damage his reputation 'cuz this album is still on the charts after so many months. He's 40 years old & hit hard & reconnected with masses of young kids like 10 years after his prime as top selling artist & this happened exactly 'cuz he adopted.

Everybody could do an underground record but not everybody could do a worldwide hit. What is the point of spending millions on creating something & then not wanting to make it sell as much as it can?

The only awful thing that sucked really bad is that singing bridge or whatever it is... the hook is aight but that bridge is just awful.

[Wic Kid]

Easily the worst song on Recovery.

[SajN]

That 2nd verse >>

And to the fans, I'll never let you down again, I'm back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Let's be honest, that last "Relapse" CD, was "eh"
Perhaps I ran the max and since hit the ground
Relax, I ain't goin' back to that now

Uh, isn't it "Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground"?

[UofLCard]

Not Afraid served its purpose to get his name back into the media. It's not even a bad song.

[Shade135]

That 2nd verse >>

And to the fans, I'll never let you down again, I'm back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Let's be honest, that last "Relapse" CD, was "eh"
Perhaps I ran the max and since hit the ground
Relax, I ain't goin' back to that now

Uh, isn't it "Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground"?

Yes, he say's "accent's" there. which make's me think that he was folding to fan critisizm. I don't know why he would talk down to his album just because alot of fan's had a hard time adjusting to and didn't like the accent's right away. If fan's don't like it just don't bring it up again, especially in a negative way, sure maybe acknowledge it then let it go. I just don't like it when artist's stalk badly of their previous work, it still moved number's and wasn't a total bomb. I personally like it, he was able to form rhymes and bend word's you normally couldn't.

On topic, I don't believe that Not Afraid was damaging at all. It was the exact same at Lose Yourself...his big inspirational single, only there is a 10 year difference in his music. He had to do that type of song, epecially the line "And to the fans, I'll never let you down again, Im back. I promise to never go back on that promise". He had to say something like that in the song. He's saying he's not retiring, basically fought through rehab and know's how bad it got, and want's to help people though the same shit, that line needed to be heard. I don't think it was a great song, but I think it needed to be made. Now that he has done that, he can continue to be Eminem, and make the music we all know and love, he can be Shady again.

[Whitefox]

Not Afraid is a great and big hit without doubt, undoubtedly. But the song still sucks.