Almost Famous Review
Almost Famous ReviewAlbum: Recovery
Artist: Eminem
Year: 2010
Sound: 3/5
Lyrics: 3/5
Instrumental: 2/5
Idea: 2/5
Flow/Energy: 3/5
Music Video: (none)
Other: 2/5
Almost Famous gets a 2/5
Almost Famous is a song about this sense of panic about becoming famous, and capturing some kind of darker side of it… I think. All right, I’m going to get some of the bad out of the way. This hook and the lyrics don’t mesh at all. Like a couple Eminem songs, it starts a little too disgustingly. See Insane from Relapse for example. Don’t start a song with, "I stuck my dick in this game like a rapist,” nobody wants to begin a song with that. Anyway, I’ll way my problems with the lyrics. Aside from maybe a small mention, or the tone falling at the end, there is hardly a reference to becoming famous or anything. It’s just clever word play and a bunch of pretty smart lines. And I like the lyrics, but why are they being used on this? With a different flow they could be in a dark song, a really fast lyrical song, but no, they’re on this. And Recovery has a lot of these songs with the really pop friendly hooks. That’s fine, in a song like Cinderella Man, I thought it did a good job of fitting it together with the hook, and the lyrics were good, and matched. This, the hook is fitted on. With a lot of the hooks they could be copied and pasted onto a lot of songs, and this one feels like it more than any other. It feels really forced, and feels sloppy. And the hook I like, that’s the sad thing. Two different songs completely fusing, and not in a good way. They could have fit a nice contrasting song where it’s meeting two really different sounds and styles, Eminem has done shit like that before, but he doesn’t in this. The lyrics are clever though, but it still just feels like album filler. I mean he’s trying, so that’s worth something I guess. Another thing, I feel the beat is weak. It’s the most boring boom sound ever. It does increase at points really fast, and that’s nice. Em’s going faster out of nowhere, that boom is really hamming it, but other than that I can’t really dig the instrumental. The sound overall isn’t really that good either. I’ve listened to it on repeat, and with some songs I review, it’s better. This, no, not really. It’s a little repetitive. Eminem’s flow is good enough, he makes some sort of… thing. It was like he was going for this beautiful painting, and he was going at it with crayons. But yeah his flow, just kind of standard Eminem flow. He’s really pissed off in this one, and I don’t feel he needs to be. I feel it would match the hook more if he was subtle, or just matching the tone of the hook in anyway. But no, he doesn’t give a shit, it was the same problem in Lighters. But then again being subtle and light in this would be hard with these lyrics… these lyrics that have little to do to match the hook… two completely different songs. I’m sorry, but the hook totally is ready for some kind of story, or depth, but no. And it sucks, because as I give those out of ten marks, I feel like I’m giving it a slap in the face while also not hard enough. Yes the flow was good, but not for this song. Yes, the lyrics were good, but not for this song. The instrumental however, not good for any song. This is definitely one of the weaker tracks on Recovery, and holds a lot of those things that a number of people don’t like Recovery for. There’s a pop friendly hook. Eminem seems to not be as polished as "the old Eminem.” I will say it wasn’t bad, just kind of average, and turned what could have been two excellent songs into one… mess.
