Eminem Confirms Two 2009 Albums: "Relapse" Due May 19th

Eminem's "Crack a Bottle" is a hit on the singles chart, and now the album it likely comes from — his long-awaited comeback LP Relapse — finally has a release date. Interscope announced that Relapse will go on sale May 19th, and a second album, titled Relapse 2 will come out in the second half of the year.

"A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year. I was one of them," Eminem said in a press release. "Then Dre and I went back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out Relapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff."

Eminem hasn't released a studio album since 2004's Encore; a greatest-hits compilation called Curtain Call dropped the following year. In October 2008 he put out an autobiography called The Way I Am, in which he confirmed a new LP was on the horizon: "I've been recording the new album mainly in the crib. Makes it very easy for me. It's like the old days, only there's a lot more than a rusty four-track in my basement." In December, he told Billboard, "Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man. Just him banging away on tracks and me getting that little spark that makes me write to it."

When "Crack a Bottle" leaked, Em said he was "heated." "It's like someone catches you peeping in your window before you got the Spider-Man costume all zipped up! Nobody is supposed to see that." Still, the track broke digital records by rocketing to Number One in February.

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• Eminem "Heated" About Song Leaks, Says He And Dr. Dre Are Back To "Mischievous Ways"
• In Other Words: Eminem Clear the Air

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

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