Love the Way You Lie: A Layered Song

The 8 year old song, Love the Way You Lie by Eminem ft. Rihanna is a song with more layers than you’d expect. Not to mention, these layers are sort of contradictory.

The first layer.

Love the Way You Lie was written by Skylar Grey, about the way she had been treated by the music industry.

The second layer.

This song is realistic. It gives listeners a look into what it may be like for abuse victims. Rihanna, a victim of abuse herself, singing these lyrics make it much more powerful than it would be for someone who does not understand. Rihanna has spoken out against abuse on many occasions, which is great. However, when we get to the third layer, we see this song in a different light.

The third layer.

In this song, Eminem is the voice of the abuser. This would be fine, because this song could be looked at as a way of speaking against abuse. However, this song is coming from a man who has also talks about murdering his ex wife, or treating women badly, in other songs. This taints the song.

There are better ways to address abuse.I suppose since this was a song that is on Eminem’s album, I can’t really blame Rihanna or Skylar Grey. I suppose I should just ask, does Eminem see the irony?