It's not easy to ask Eminem for a feature, even if you've worked with him before. According to Pink's new interview with Entertainment Weekly, it took a lot of wine for the singer to work up the courage to email the rapper about doing another collaboration.
"I sneak-attacked him," she said, explaining how her new track "Revenge" came together. "[Producer] Max [Martin] and I started making ['Revenge'], and I wrote this rap. We were drinking a lot of wine, and then I went home and I thought more wine would be a good idea."
Once she'd consumed a satisfactory amount of alcohol, it was time to send off a risky email. "I emailed [Eminem],” she said. “This is why they call it liquid courage. And I said, ‘You know I love you. I like that you work with a lot of the same people, like Rihanna. She’s hotter than me, but I’m funnier. So I’m going for a rap Grammy, and I’d like to take you along with me.’ It was this long email, and he wrote back right away and just said, ‘Okay.'"
That "okay" turned into a verse delivered to Pink's inbox that blew her away. "I emailed him again, I was like, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever heard! I want to tackle you and rub your face in the dirt!'" As someone who's previously held the record for most words in a single song, Em isn't much of a talker online. “He just wrote back and was like, ‘Okay,'” recalled Pink.
"Revenge" was released on Pink's Beautiful Trauma album, released Friday. Just before that, Eminem appeared on the BET Awards, performing a Trump-bashing freestyle that has continued to cause conversation this weekend.
Eminem's next album is expected to be released later this year, but contrary to reports, it is not yet complete. Denaun Porter revealed that he was simply trolling reporters with his statement that the LP was done. "Anytime they come in there, they can expect to get trolled with any kind of question like that," he said. "I'm never the person to give up that kind of information. I might say, 'Hey, we're working on it' or 'Hey, we're close.' But I'm never going to be the guy that gives up the information. But they can get trolled."