When Michael Jackson died last year, the music world lost the biggest worldwide super star of the past 100 years. Few artists were close to Michael in his prime in terms of  popularity (Footnote 1) but it seems today that there is an ever smaller crop of artists who can lay legitimate claim to the term Super Star.  (Footnote 2) The decline in radio listenership along with the rise of the internet allows everyone to cater their music consumption to their own taste which has created numerous niche artists that are popular, (Footnote 3) but few potential new super stars.

            The first Super Star to schedule to release an album in 2010 is Eminem. His new single “Not Afraid” in many ways attempts to hearken back to Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror” in many ways. Both songs have the artists discussing their attempts at self improvement and have a theme of extending a hand to others as well. It is hard to pull off a song like this and not sound corny or preachy. Jackson did it in a way were he avoided those 2 pitfalls. In Eminen’s case, the chorus of the song slightly veers into corny territory. (Footnote 4) However, Eminem strengths has always been his incredible word play and this song is no exception. There is a great little motif of puns he does using dentist terminology: “You said you was king, you lied through your teeth, For that fuck your feelings (he purposely mispronounces it fillings), instead of getting crowned you're getting capped.” However, inspirational songs are not measured by their word play, but by their ability to inspire and become anthems in certain situations. “Not Afraid” passed what I like to call the Rocky Test. The Rocky test is if you are running or doing some other exhausting tasks and the song comes on do you instinctively start running faster (footnote 5) and that happened to me when I was running and “Not Afraid” came on while listening to my 2010 playlist on my iPod. The bridge of the song where Eminem sings And I just can't keep living this way-So starting today, I'm breaking out of this cage-I'm standing up, I’m ma face my demons-I'm manning up, I’m ma hold my ground-I've had enough-now I'm so fed up-Time to put my life back together right now” works particularly well despite the slight corniness.

            Looking at the song from a broader perspective, the song has already started to become a cultural anthem. I have heard it numerous times being used during montages for the NBA playoffs the past couple of weeks. Moreover, the world seems to be being hit by constant crisis the past few years: Economic collapses, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, terrorism, and more. I could easily picture this song being used as an anthem for some sort of fund raiser to benefits people who have fallen on hard times. Overall, I don’t think this song will be as iconic as “Man in The Mirror”, but it will end up being the biggest song of the year and cement Eminem’s Super Star Status.

Footnote 1: Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen are the contemporaries of Michael who came closest to his star power.

Footnote 2: Here are the artists today who have a case to be called superstars; though most have things that limit their star power:

1.  Jay Z has had a string of hit albums  and songs for nearly 15 years now and is considered by most hip hop fans to be a top 5 dead or alive MC. In addition, he has expanded his star power in other ways such as dating Beyonce and hanging with Lebron James. That being said, people below the age of 30 most likely know a bunch of Jay Z songs, but once you start talking to people 35 and above I am guessing many could only name a few Jay Z songs.

2. Beyonce: She has also had a huge string of hits over the course of the decade, been in hit movies, performed the Oscars and Super Bowl and done pretty much everything one needs to do to be considered a super star. Personally, I think she is a little overrated but I will not begrudge her true super star status.

3. Mariah Carey: One of the best selling artists of all-time, but she is in the Joe Montana with the Chiefs portion of her career right now.

4. Britney Spears: Her rise to stardom and subsequent trials and tribulations have been one of the major public dramas of the past decade or so.

5. Justin Timberlake: Britney’s former BF has managed to break free from N Sync at the perfect time and with the help of Timberland create hugely successful solo career. Furthermore, guests stints on SNL and other places increased his star wattage.

6. Lady Gaga: she is too early in her career to be considered a true super star, but if she keep this up for a few more year she will be the next Madonna

7.  Eminem who has sold a shit load of albums and is the subject of the rest of this article. His overall reclusiveness makes every time he drops a new song, album, or freestyle a major event.

Footnote 3: I thought last Tuesday was a huge day in music with the release of LCD Soundsystems, Nas & Damian Marley, and Janelle Monae’s new albums but the vast majority of people went through the day not giving a shit about any of those albums being released.

Footnote 4: I am pretty sure the young Eminem would have made fun of a song like “Not Afraid”

Footnote 5: My number 1 Rocky Test songs that always makes me run faster is Puffy, Biggie, and Busta’s “Victory” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4jX0kbzVdw