Encore: Пятый студийный альбом Эминема

2004 studio album by Eminem

Encore is the fifth studio album by the American rapper Eminem, released on November 12, 2004, by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. As reflected in its title and cover art, the album was originally set to be Eminem's final studio album. It contains several lyrical themes, most notably Eminem's opposition to then US president George W. Bush and parodies of Michael Jackson, and features more comedic themes and lyrics than his previous albums. Critical reception of Encore was less favorable than Eminem's previous albums, with most of the second half being heavily criticized for its lackluster quality and lack of lyrical content, though "Mockingbird" and "Like Toy Soldiers" were particularly highly praised and retrospectively have been noted as being some of Eminem's best songs. The album has sold 11 million copies worldwide and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 17, 2004.

The first of two covers for the album features Eminem standing in front of an audience, bowing to the crowd. The tray insert features Eminem holding a gun behind his back, while the inlay shows Eminem holding the pistol in his mouth without his jacket on. The CD itself shows a note written by Eminem saying "To my family & all my friends, thank you for everything, I will always love you. To my fans, I'm Sorry, Marshall" with a bullet underneath, which is also seen in the album's booklet, where Eminem is writing the note. Some pictures show Eminem shooting everybody, which refers to the ending of the album's title track. The second cover, used for the Collector's Edition, features the same audience from the inlay on a black background with a blood splat on the top right.

Encore received generally positive reviews from critics, but received more of a negative response compared to his past three albums. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 64, based on 26 reviews. Scott Plangenhoef, writing for Pitchfork Media called Encore a "transitional record" and "the sound of a man who seems bored of re branding and playing celebrity games". David Browne from Entertainment Weekly said Eminem "sacrifices the rich, multi textured productions" of his two previous albums for "thug life monotony, cultural zingers for petty music biz score settling, and probing self analysis for juvenile humor". He concluded his review by saying that Eminem has become "predictable" on Encore, something that he wasn't before. The album earned Eminem Grammy Award nominations in three categories at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the song "Encore", and Best Rap Solo Performance for the song "Mockingbird". Encore provoked some controversy over anti Bush lyrics and lyrics that parodied and targeted Michael Jackson, who critized Eminem's depiction of him in the video for "Just Lose It". On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States, George Bush, after the song "We as Americans", as an unreleased bootleg, circulated with the lyrics "Fuck money, I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead." This line was eventually used as a sample in Immortal Technique's single "Bin Laden", which featured Mos Def and Chuck D. The incident was later referenced in the video for his song "Mosh" as one of several news clips on a wall, along with other newspaper articles about other unfortunate incidents in Bush's career. The song eventually appeared on the album's bonus disc, with the word "dead" being reversed.

In retrospect, Eminem stated numerous times that he considers Encore as one of his worst albums. He described its reception, "I'm cool with probably half that album. I recorded that towards the height of my addiction. I remember four songs leaked and I had to go to L. A. and get Dre and record new ones. I was in a room by myself writing songs in 25, and 30 minutes because we had to get it done, and what came out was so goofy. That's how I ended up making songs like 'Rain Man' and 'Big Weenie'. They're pretty out there. If those other songs hadn't leaked, Encore would've been a different album." In an interview with Sway Calloway for his album Kamikaze, he stated that although "Encore [is] not what I would consider one of my better albums", he considered it better than its follow up Relapse. He reiterated his statement about Encore in 2022 for the XXL's 25th anniversary issue and singled out the album as his first «misstep»: "It became a misstep and I struggled to get over the fact that I didn't do my best. My best would've been good enough if the leaks hadn't happened. But I released what I had at that point in time, and I feel that put a kind of a mark on my catalog. Encore did some decent numbers, but I was never that concerned with numbers. I was more so worried about what people think about the album. Critics and fans were important to me, and they were always at me about that project."

Encore was pushed up to a midweek release to countermeasure leaks; it sold 710,000 copies. The following week, the album's first with a full seven days, it moved 871,000 copies, bringing the 10 day total to 1,582,000. It was certified quadruple platinum that mid December. Nine months after its release, worldwide sales of the album stood at 11 million copies. The album made digital history in becoming the first album to sell 10,000 digital copies in one week. As of November 2013, the album had sold 5,343,000 copies in the US. Encore sold 125,000 copies in two days in the United Kingdom, and has been certified quadruple platinum.