An author behind “Love The Way You Lie” talks about her early career, meeting Eminem and finding her place in the music industry.
In her interview with HipHopDX, Skylar Grey went back to the times when she had written a song that would later become a diamond hit and a crowd pleasure. Though Skylar’s own relationship with the scene was far from happy back then:
Skylar Grey: The song itself was very personal. I never had written a track before. Alex [Da Kid] sent me this track and I just sang whatever I felt over it, you know? It was a very personal lyric based on my experience, not only with my ex-boyfriend, but the music industry. Feeling like there was something in me that loved to be tortured and loved the misery, because I kept getting sucked back into situations. That’s what “Love The Way You Lie” was about. Then a month later it was the No. 1 song. Eminem had cut it. Rihanna had cut it. I was broke living in a cabin in the woods and this was all happening and suddenly I had the biggest song in the world as a songwriter. Fucking crazy.
After that, her phone was ringing off the hook, admits Skylar. And while that was not the career path she had envisioned for herself initially, she realised that writing songs for other people is just another form of commissioned artwork. She was also quite familiar with this particular hip hop songwriting pattern of a juxtaposition of a hard-hitting rap verse with a melodic vocal hook that he loved since she heard “Stan”. She was obsessed with Eminem when she was a teenager, explained Skylar. That is why to meet him was quite stressful for a young singer/songwriter. Skylar was introduced to Marshall well after their first collaboration had found its recognition and she remembers being very shy and very impressed with Eminem:
Skylar: I just thought he was one of the most talented people of all time. He was really easy to work with, surprisingly. All I knew of him was his music up until that point. He’s been so generous with his time and feedback for me. He’s really become kind of a mentor.
Read the interview in full on HipHopDX
