Eminem ft. Juice Wrld – ‘Godzilla’

24 January 2020

Our trip through 2020 begins on a morbid note. Juice Wrld here joins Jim Reeves, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Jackie Wilson, Jim Morrison, Graham Chapman, Freddie Mercury, Chris Moore, Pérez Prado, Tupac Shakur, Stephen Gately, George Michael, Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl on the list of people who’ve had posthumous number one singles in Ireland. His only top twenty hit in Ireland during his lifetime was 2017’s ‘Lucid Dreams’, one of those R&B hits whose choice of interpolation ensures yet another cushy, lucrative income stream for Sting.

Sting is a mere prat, of course, compared to the distasteful figure with whom Juice Wrld actually collaborates on ‘Godzilla’. Even though the recurring sinister synth figure is darkly catchy and the beat peppily urgent, plus Juice Wrld’s drawling delivery in the chorus adds to the macabre vibe, this is still an Eminem joint. So, ‘Godzilla’ is several long, hectic verses of the usual sexism, misogyny, self-indulgence and systemic cultural appropriation.

‘Godzilla’ is the last of Eminem’s nine Irish chart-topping singles to date. We can’t be complacent; he returned as high as no. 2 here in 2024 with the blandly-titled ‘Houdini’. I suppose the best I can say is that in late-January 2020 we were all a mere seven weeks away from an unexpected national and global event that would put the dreadfulness of Eminem into its proper insignificance.