"Love the Way You Lie" is about as close as Eminem has ever gotten to a love song in his career, and ironically, it's actually a song about an abusive relationship.The Alex Da Kid-produced track, featuring Rihanna on the chorus, is among the standout tracks on Recovery, which leaked on Monday, two weeks before its June 22 release.
Though the Detroit MC never mentions his former flame, Kim Mathers, by name, the ode appears to address their tumultuous relationship.
"Wait, where you going? I'm leaving you," Eminem raps on the opening verse. "No, you ain't, come back/ We running right back/ Here we go again/ It's insane, 'cause when it's going good, it's going great/ I'm Superman, with the wind to his back/ She's Lois Lane/ But when it's bad, it's awful/ I feel so ashamed/ I snap, 'Who's that dude? I don't even know his name'/ I laid hands on her/ I'll never stoop so low again/ I guess I don't know my own strength."
Rihanna croons over guitar licks and piano stabs, balancing out the emotionally charged verses.
"Just gonna stand there and watch me burn/ Well, that's all right because I like the way it hurts," she sings. "Just gonna stand there and hear me cry/ Well, that's all right because I love the way you lie."
Throughout the song, Eminem's voice builds and becomes flush with a mix of fondness and angered regret from his failed relationship.
He describes their union as a "tornado meets a volcano."
In the next verse, Eminem ranges from apologetic to accepting the end.
"Yesterday is over, it's a different day," he raps. "Sounds like broken records playing over/ But you promised her, next time you'll show restraint/ You don't get another chance, life is no Nintendo game/ But you lied, now you get to watch her leave out the window/ I guess that's why they call it window pane."
In an interview overseas recently, Eminem explained his decision to include Rihanna on the album after he had already recorded the track.
"As far as the songs with Pink and Rihanna ... when I did the song that I did with Pink, I laid my parts first and kind of heard her on the record and felt that she would smash this record," Em told Skyrock Radio in Paris. "And the other one I did with Rihanna is one of those tracks that I felt like only she could pull it off, only she could do it."
