Dating Tips From Eminem

Eminem recently sat down for an interview with Vulture. Here are some highlights from that interview:

This interview will run after the album’s been out for a few days. In all likelihood, Revival will sell well
"That’s what happens every album with me."

Okay, so if we know that’s going to happen, what other signs are you looking for that will make you feel encouraged or discouraged by the album’s reception?
"I don’t know, I’ve always felt in touch with the people who listen to my music. I make it for them. Anybody else, fuck ‘em. It’s fine if critics or whoever keep thinking I’m not as good as I was. So what I’m looking for — whatever the response or the sales — is things I did right or things I could’ve improved musically. I’m critical of myself and I’m always trying to figure out how to do better. I certainly have not had a perfect career. I’ve put out bad albums."

Which ones are you thinking of?

"Encore was mediocre, and with Relapse — it was the best I could do at that point in time. [Relapse] was a funny album for me because I was just starting back rapping after coming out of addiction. I was so scatterbrained that the people around me thought that I might have given myself brain damage. I was in this weird fog for months. Like, literally I wasn’t making sense; it had been so long since I’d done vocals without a ton of Valium and VicodinAround 2002, Eminem began using Ambien, Valium, and extra-strength Vicodin. After the death of his friend the rapper Proof in a club shooting in 2006, he was consuming “40 to 60 Valium” and “maybe 20, 30” Vicodin a day. In December of 2007, after introducing methadone to the habit, he overdosed and missed Christmas with his children, prompting his path toward sobriety. . I almost had to relearn how to rap."

One of things that was so compelling about you back in the day was how you’d take shots at pop stars, which is something you don’t really do anymore. Why not? Isn’t Ed Sheeran, who’s on the new album, exactly the kind of musician you would’ve had fun with in the early 2000s?
"I don’t think so. He’s not a boy band, he’s an artist whose craft I respect. The reason that I went at pop stars back then is because people were calling me a pop rapper. What’s bugged out to me is that — I don’t know if everybody understands this — if everybody could do what I did, they’d just do it wouldn’t they? I’m not this manufactured pop thing and I never was. A way people used to dismiss me was to call me pop. I got mad about that, and I lashed out."

How has your experience of fame changed over your career?

"I’ve learned to deal with it better. A lot of the problems I had with fame early on were because I was in very heavy addiction and didn’t realize it. By the time I did realize it, it was too late — I was so far gone. I had a hair-trigger temper, too, and the littlest things could trigger it. That’s definitely better now. I used to get in fights over road rage and stuff. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve settled in with myself and with fame. I’m growing, man. I’m getting more mature and I’m okay with that."

Do you date?
"It’s tough. Since my divorce I’ve had a few dates and nothing’s panned out in a way that I wanted to make it public. Dating’s just not where I’m at lately."

When you were dating, how’d you meet people? Tinder?
"I mean, yeah."

Are you being serious?
"Yeah, Tinder."

Really?
"[Laughs] And Grindr. I also used to go to strip clubs."

I think a lot of long-term relationships start in strip clubs.
"What can I say? Going to strip clubs is how I was meeting some chicks. It was an interesting time for me."

Is fame lonely for you?

"Am I lonely? No, I’m good. Thanks for asking though."

Read the full interview at Vulture.