Phenomenal (song)

"Phenomenal"
Single by Eminem
from the album Southpaw (Music from and Inspired By the Motion Picture)
ReleasedJune 2, 2015 (2015-06-02)
Recorded2015
GenreHip hop
Length4:43
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)DJ Khalil
Eminem singles chronology
"Best Friend"
(2015)
"Phenomenal"
(2015)
"Kings Never Die"
(2015)

"Phenomenal" is a single by American hip-hop artist and record producer Eminem, from the soundtrack album Southpaw (Music from and Inspired By the Motion Picture), released on June 2, 2015. Eminem also released a song called "Kings Never Die" which is also on the Southpaw soundtrack.

Background

[edit]

To promote the single's release, it previewed in trailers for the film Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.[1] In the ending of the video, Eminem shouts, 'I am Phenomenal'. This informed people that the new Eminem song was titled "Phenomenal". After that, Beats Electronics used a longer snippet of the song for a new commercial of Beats Solo HD2 with Draymond Green.[2] On June 1, Eminem released another longer snippet of 15 seconds. On June 2, the audio was released on EminemMusic.[3] The song was written by Eminem, Luis Resto and Mario Resto. It also contains vocals by Liz Rodriguez and Mario Resto. The single was produced by DJ Khalil.[4]

Music video

[edit]

Eminem posted a video on YouTube as a sneak peek for the upcoming music video. The video premiered on July 3, via Apple Music.[5] Filmed at Universal Studios in California and directed by Rich Lee, the video features Eminem as a person with superhuman abilities although suffering from memory loss. He gets out from the hospital by knocking out some security guards and comes out on the streets. He finds a stranger (John Malkovich) on a rickshaw who seems to applaud his abilities. He tells Eminem to come with him and 'finish what we started' to which Eminem asks that he should tell him who he is and what will happen should he not follow him, to which the stranger replies, "You will fall". Unconcerned, Eminem takes a bike and accidentally jumps into a car with an anonymous person (Randall Park) inside. He orders him to get out of his car after the person requests him to take a selfie with him. The chase ends when Eminem falls at the ground floor of a building which seems to be a stage having Dr. Dre standing at the corner saying, "Right on time". Eminem is then shown to grab a mic and standing facing the lights till the camera shuts off.[6] The video was later released on October 1, 2015 via Vevo. On 4 November, 2015, a video showing the making of the music video was released. As of December 2024, the music video had been viewed more than 49 million times on YouTube.

Commercial performance

[edit]

"Phenomenal" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 47 as the week's highest-ranking debut, powered by first-week digital download sales of 77,000 copies.[7][8] The song peaked at number 4 at the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart.[9]

Charts

[edit]

Weekly charts

[edit]
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[10] 81
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[11] 61
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 57
UK Singles Downloads (OCC)[13] 33
UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC)[14] 13
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 47
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[16] 14

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[17] Gold 35,000
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[18] Gold 30,000
United States (RIAA)[19] Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Rhian Daly (23 May 2015). "Eminem to release new song on 'Southpaw' soundtrack". NME.
  2. ^ Patrick Lyons (22 May 2015). "Eminem Previews New Song "Phenomenal" In Beats Ad". HotNewHipHop.
  3. ^ "EminemMusic - YouTube". YouTube.
  4. ^ "Hear Eminem's Hard-Hitting 'Southpaw' Song 'Phenomenal'". Rolling Stone.
  5. ^ Eminem post on Instagram
  6. ^ "Video: Eminem – 'Phenomenal'". Rap-Up. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  7. ^ "The Hot 100: The Week of June 20, 2015". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  8. ^ Trust, Gary; Gruger, William (June 12, 2015). "Hot 100 Chart Moves: How I Became the Bomb Debuts With Viral Hit 'Ulay, Oh'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  9. ^ "Home". wikepedia.com.
  10. ^ Ryan, Gavin (June 13, 2015). "ARIA Charts: Taylor Swift Bad Blood Remains At No 1". Noise11. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  11. ^ "Eminem Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  12. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  13. ^ "Official Singles Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  14. ^ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  15. ^ "Eminem Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  16. ^ "Eminem Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  17. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2024 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  18. ^ "Brazilian single certifications – Eminem – Phenomenal" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  19. ^ "American single certifications – Eminem – Phenomenal". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
[edit]