Trivia
- While “We Made You” served as the official lead single for Relapse, it was actually the second song released from the album, following “Crack a Bottle”. It was the first time since The Slim Shady LP that Eminem’s official lead single was actually the second song issued from the album.
- Despite solid worldwide chart performance and a generally positive reception, “We Made You” saw a dip in performance on a number of charts. It became Eminem’s first lead single to miss the top 10 on both the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay and Hot Rap Songs charts, while also becoming his lowest-charting lead single on the UK Singles Chart at that point in his career.
- “We Made You” marked the end of an era, becoming the last “funny lead single” Eminem released until “Houdini” in 2025 — a formula he had used for his previous four albums, or six if you include the two he made with D12.
- The song is not featured on Eminem’s greatest hits album, Curtain Call 2.
- The song’s video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who also directed the “Without Me” video. Eminem chose to work with him again because the song reminded him of that period. The video went on to win VMA award for Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, beating Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” and Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.”
Words from Eminem
“There’s some celebrity bashing in it, but it’s not necessarily intentional-it’s not necessarily taking deliberate shots at people — yes, it is what the fuck am I talking about.
The whole concept of the song came about when I heard the chorus; the track was saying, “You’re a rock star, everybody wants you,” and I was thinking, how can I flip this in my own way? Like, hot chicks who don’t want me, I’m telling them they do — it’s kind of like a reverse psychology thing.
And then I’m gonna see if like the record comes out and it works, you know what I mean?
“Looking back on it now, I don’t know if that was 100 percent the way to go, having a funny lead single. I kind of liked the way the beat felt like it was slower in the chorus and then it sped up for the verses, but stepping back and looking at it as an average consumer or somebody who goes to a club, it might have been hard to figure out what the hell was going on in the song.
On the other hand, it was the only option we had, and the album might not even be out now if we hadn’t found a song that was clean enough for radio. But am I going to go in that direction again? Probably not.