What started as writer’s block and tears at the piano turned into one of Eminem’s most moving tracks, thanks to Skylar Grey’s persistence and a phone voice memo.
Skylar Grey recently joined Danie Wall for a wide-ranging conversation about music, identity, and resilience and shared the unexpected way “Temporary”, her latest collab with Eminem from “The Death of Slim Shady”, came to life.
She described the summer of 2023 as a creative drought: “I had writer’s block really bad all of 2023”, she said. “I spent an entire day at the piano just trying to write anything good. At one point, I was in tears. I was like, ‘Fuck this. I suck. I can’t write songs anymore’”.
That moment of frustration shifted when her partner, Elliot, reminded her of a piano riff she had casually recorded on his phone. “He sent it to me, and I was like, ‘damn, this is actually pretty cool’. That ended up being the actual piano on the track, I never replayed it”.
Skylar then sang whatever came to her, channelling the raw emotion she was feeling at that moment. At first, she imagined someone like Ed Sheeran finishing the track. “I hit up Marshall and was like, ‘Hey, can you send this to your friend Ed Sheeran?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I got you, girl’. Then a minute later he goes, ‘Wait, no. I’m keeping this’”.
What Eminem created from her initial draft stunned her. “He turned it into this beautiful masterpiece of him talking to his daughter from the grave, basically”, she said. “It made the whole world cry”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Skylar also reflected on her earlier work with Eminem, including the iconic hits “Love The Way You Lie”, “I Need A Doctor”, and “Walk On Water” — a reminder of the deep creative chemistry they have shared over the years.
Watch Eminem – Temporary (feat. Skylar Grey) [Official Music Video] below:
