The Story Behind Eminem and Music Demo Submissions

The Monster is a top-selling track from Eminem's new album MMLP2. The song also features Rihanna, marking the fourth time that the legendary Barbadian singer and rapper have collaborated.

The music video for 'The Monster' depicts Eminem struggling with fame with Rihanna as his counsellor, but Rihanna's role changes as she struggles with her own psychological demons in the chorus. The song has been a massive hit internationally, putting Eminem at the top of the Billboard charts for the first time. It is his 5th best selling song ever.

But who wrote it, and why is the origin of the song attracting so much media attention?

Here's what happened in the period leading up to the release of the hit:

1. The lesser known artist Bebe Rexha wrote an original demo of the song during a period of depression, after being dropped from Island Records. Apparently, she was planning to release it on her own album, but had a hunch that Eminem would like to use the song.
2. Bryan Fryzel (known in the music industry as Frequency), is a producer who was working on the demo with Bebe Rexha. He was already friends with industry insider Riggs Morales, who is friends with Eminem. Frequency played the song to Morales, who liked it, and passed it onto Eminem.
3. Bebe Rexha and Frequency then had to wait almost a year without hearing any news. They had no way of finding out whether the song would be used on Eminem's new album or not.
4. They heard through the grapevine that Rihanna had tweeted 'Just recorded a monster hook', suggesting that the song was being seriously considered as a potential hit for the new album.
5. Eminem's MMLP2 tracklist was finally posted online, including 'The Monster'. Bebe Rexha became internationally famous overnight for writing the song.

Which version do you prefer?

Do you think it's right that major labels and artists like Eminem and Rihanna can pick and choose other from other people's songs without even formally communicating to them whether they will be used or not?

If you want to start penning a hit for a superstar in future, why not check out our post on how to make your first demo? But remember - for every person who successfully makes a fortune by writing songs for stars, there will be thousands of hopeful applicants whose work was rejected. You can't depend upon a reliable income or chance of success in this game!

Let us know what you think about the issues of originality and demo submissions?