Opinion September 10, 2018

How a surprise Eminem album ruined years of planning for Aussie artists

August 31st was a lot of things for a lot of artists. For Troye Sivan, it saw the release of Bloom, his first album in three years, and the result of countless weeks and months spent preparing and promoting the record. For Tash Sultana, it saw the release of Flow State, her debut album, and the culmination of many years spent touring the world and hitting the studio. For Eminem, it was the day he released his latest album, the surprise Kamikaze.

Stream Tash Sultana’s LP Flow State below:

Last year saw Eminem release Revival, his first record in four years. Following an extensive promotional campaign, the record was released in December, and subsequently shot to the top of the charts in numerous countries around the world. Needless to say, the promotional campaign worked, with a handful of the record’s singles also performing extremely well globally.

Fast forward almost one year, and Eminem is at it again, however this time there was no warning, no promotional campaign, and no hype train. Instead, he released a surprise album that well and truly took us by surprise.

Actual footage of Eminem topping the ARIA charts.

True to it title, Kamikaze was explosive, generating controversy wherever it went due to its lyrical content, and managing to tick all the boxes by appealing to Eminem’s voracious fanbase as well.

While fans loved the record, and fellow rappers remained nervous they were next on Eminem’s hitlist, there were a few artists who were undoubtedly feeling pretty upset because of this new record.

When the ARIA charts came out on Saturday afternoon, Eminem managed to take home his latest #1 chart position, while two singles, ‘Lucky You’ and ‘The Ringer’, made the top five in the singles charts.

However, the #2 and #3 positions on this week’s albums chart were held by Tash Sultana and Troye Sivan, respectively.

Stream Troye Sivan’s LP Bloom below:

While both artists would have been banking on a head-to-head battle to see which Aussie act reigned supreme this week, no one could have suspected that Eminem would come in and steal the glory with almost no warning.

At this stage, it’s hard to say how long Eminem’s stay atop the charts will last (Revival only lasted one week in 2017 before beginning its descent), but with a handful of brilliant releases having dropped on September 7th, there’s no doubt that Eminem’s Steven Bradbury-like performance has made next week’s ARIA chart results a bit less certain than they would have been otherwise.