Music

Eminem Just Performed ‘Lose Yourself’ At The Oscars And Nobody Can Work Out Why

The audience looked on in total shock.

by Joseph Earp  10 February 2020
Eminem and Billie Eilish

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The 2020 Oscars started out pretty all over the place. But nothing could prepare viewers for the turn that it would eventually take when the floor opened up and Eminem emerged from it to perform his 2002 hit ‘Lose Yourself’.

Now listen, there is at least a tenuous connection between Eminem’s spaghetti-referencing classic and the Oscars. That song was written as the soundtrack to Curtis Hanson’s quasi-Eminem biopic, 8 Mile. It’s actually already been performed at the awards once before — it won the Best Original Song gong in 2002, making it the first rap song to ever do so.

So yeah, there’s at least some precedent here. But why did it get played in full again? Why this year, when neither it nor any other rap song was actually nominated? It was as confusing an addition to the night as could possibly be imagined, a sudden throwback to the early two thousands that felt like the kind of thing you’d scrabble together when pushed for time. Maybe literally no performer picked up the phone but Eminem?

I mean, just watch.

Of course, almost immediately the moment became a viral meme.

And then there was the matter of the celebrities reacting in the audience. Hollywood’s brightest stars reacted to the sight of Eminem with a mixture of confusion, awe, and… well, more confusion.

Take a look at some of these faces:

Truly wild times we are living in.