Originally Eminem had planned to release a sequel to last year’s dark ‘Relapse’ album – which told of his battle with drugs and near death from an overdose – called ‘Relapse 2’, but after working on more tracks settled on the new title.
His manager, Paul Rosenberg, told Billboard.com:
“The song is more accessible to more fans. Eminem had pretty much completed a whole second album worth of material but at some point he took a step back, looked at it and said, ‘I think I want to record some more. "But in recording, the album started to sound so different and was going in such a different direction that he decided to keep it going and turn it into a whole new album. The last album was really for the core Eminem fans. I think this record will open that up a bit."
Eminem said of his decision to change tack on the album: “"The music on ‘Recovery’ came out very different from ‘Relapse’, and I think it deserves its own title.". ‘Not Afraid’ was produced by Boi-1da, and other producers to work on the album with Eminem include Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Mr. Porter. Photo: Fame Pictures