Rihanna Featuring Eminem- Love The Way You Lie (Part II)
Description
“Love the Way You Lie (Part II)” is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her fifth studio album Loud (2010). It features American rapper Eminem, who wrote the song alongside Skylar Grey and the producer Alex da Kid. It is the sequel to the hit single “Love the Way You Lie“, which appears on Eminem’s seventh studio album Recovery. It received positive reviews from critics and was performed for at the American Music Awards of 2010 on November 21, 2010, as part of a medley with “What’s My Name?” and “Only Girl (In the World)“.
Background
Following the release and commercial success of “Love the Way You Lie” in 2010, Eminem wanted to record an alternative version with Rihanna as the lead vocalist, viewing aspects of a relationship from a female perspective, unlike the original, which featured Eminem as lead vocalist and was from a male perspective. In an interview for MTV, Rihanna initially stated she was against recording a sequel: “When I first heard the idea about doing a part two, I was just completely against it. I just felt like you couldn’t beat the ‘original’. There’s no way you can outdo that, so why compete with it?”. She said when she first heard the original demo of the song in the studio with Eminem, sung by American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, her reservations about recording it went away. While the demo was only accompanied by a piano, Rihanna and her team added drums and later vocals from Eminem.
“Love the Way You Lie” and “Love the Way You Lie (Part II)” were based on a demo written and recorded in late 2009 by Grey. Grey said “I wrote the demo initially for myself because I thought, ‘Oh, I have this big song, and now I have a little bit of a launching pad to put out my own stuff.” Grey continued to discuss how the song was ultimately included on Loud, saying “As soon as Rihanna and her team heard my demo, they were like, ‘Oh we want it for Rihanna’s album,’ so I had to make the decision if I was going to let them have it or not. But I did and so it was on Rihanna’s album, too.”The demo track by Grey, titled “Love the Way You Lie (Part III)”, is on her extended play The Buried Sessions of Skylar Grey, which was released on January 17, 2012.
