“Black Magic” is the second track on Eminem’s second 2020 album ‘Music to Be Murdered By: Side B.’ The song features vocals by Skylar Grey, who also collaborated on a song in the prequel album.
Eminem released his second surprise album ‘Music to Be Murdered By: Side B’ on December 18, 2020, a sequel to his January 2020 album ‘Music to Be Murdered By.’ The brand new album, 12th in his career, consists of 16 new tracks and carries on Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller theme from the former album.
“Black Magic” seems to address a toxic relationship between Eminem and a woman who haunts his nightmares. However, the song also acts as the official ‘welcome’ to the MTBMB era by Eminem after breaking from her dark magic spells.
Listen to “Black Magic” by Eminem Ft. Skylar Grey
Buy ‘Music to Be Murdered By: Side B’ Album on Apple Music & Amazon
“Black Magic” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Chorus
The chorus of the song is performed by Skylar Grey. She narrates about a woman who haunts him like no one has done before. The lyrics suggest that this love is painful but neither of them is able to move on. Chained to each other, they suffer!
There are two movie references in the song namely; ‘Night Walker‘ and ‘Dark Water‘ both of which fall under the horror genre involving hauntings.
Verse 1
In the first verse of the song, Eminem goes into detail about the toxic relationship he has with this woman. There is zero love between the two now and they despise even seeing each other. He knows she cheats and caught her a couple of times as well. The only thing keeping them together is the sex, which he claims to be ‘phenomenal.’
Eminem compares them to a Nike Air shoe pair. Although one might think a shoe pair is a perfect match, they never are. In fact, they are the exact opposites. The only thing common between the couple is that they wear the same size. So, ‘soulmate’ and ‘sole’ of shoes are a play on words. Another reason why Em thinks they are soulmates is the fact that they can walk in each other’s shoes since they are the same size.
Next, Eminem talks about how he is whipped in the relationship and how she controls him like a puppet. Eminem swears that he has got her back for better or worse. But he also follows up by saying that he is ‘spineless.’ Since a spine is the main structure that provides strength to the back and the entire body, being spineless doesn’t help Em’s ambitions of supporting her. But he tries.
Fortunate for his spinelessness, Eminem cannot feel a thing when she stabs in his back by cheating on him. At this point, Eminem might be numb to her betrayals.
Eminem also tolerates insults from her. She calls him a ‘dumbbell’ insinuating his stupidness. Eminem also adds that she lifts him up and puts him down constantly. The dumbbell is also used in exercise by lifting up and lowering down.
Despite what goes on, Eminem cannot give up on her, and no one else can mess with her either. This is a feeling that Eminem cannot comprehend, hence he calls it ‘black magic.’
Verse 2
In the second verse of the song, Eminem digs further into this toxic relationship. He recalls how they argue from the moment they wake up until they sleep. They have broken up and made up countless times so far. Em says maybe this is why he doesn’t feel anything in this relationship now.
As per the lyrics, she is almost a maniac. Em says she lunges, attacks, and scratches. And Eminem finally retaliates by stabbing, cutting, and slicing her up. Seems like he got his spine back and more importantly, he seems to have broken off her black magic spell.
Even as Eminem cuts and slices her up, he calls her the ‘love of her life’ and gives her one final hug goodbye.
…there’s mud on my Nikes
Shovel at my side, blood on my mic
These lines are near and dear to Eminem all throughout his career. On Eminem’s iconic “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” video he buried his own mom in the rain with a shovel in his backyard. Later on, he went on to murder most of the rappers who tried to go against him in rap battles, which he references as ‘blood on my mic.’ Em’s January 2020 album ‘Music to Be Murdered By’ also had a cover art of Eminem holding a shovel. And breaking off her tainted love shackles, Eminem welcomes all to the ‘Music to Be Murdered By’ era!
In this verse, Eminem also shouts out to the alternative rock band Imagine Dragons and their breakout single “Radioactive.” The second reference is to the band’s part in the track “Sucker for Pain” from the 2016 movie ‘Suicide Squad.’
Let us hear what you think about this track in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics and further meaning breakdown on Genius.
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