"River" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring English singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

. It is the fifth track from his ninth solo studio album '' Revival'' (2017). The song was written by the artists alongside producer

Emile Haynie Emile Haynie (born July 13, 1980), often credited simply as Emile, is an American music producer from Buffalo, New York. His range of production includes alternative rock, hip hop, indie and pop music. Haynie has worked with several prominent ar ...

. "River" was released to radio on December 15, 2017 (alongside the rest of the album) in Italy, and in the UK on January 5, 2018, as the album's second single. The music video received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the

2018 MTV Video Music Awards The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards was held on August 20, 2018 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The 35th annual award show aired live from the venue for the 12th time, the most of any previous venue in its history. Cardi B led the list o ...

. "River" details the struggles of a failing relationship that culminates in an abortion.

Release and promotion

The song was released on the radio on January 5, 2018. An audio video was uploaded to Eminem's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel on December 15, 2017. As of October 3, 2021, the video has over 208 million views.

Reception

'' Spin'' magazine panned it, saying that it's "a song whose perfection of form is matched only by its emptiness of content. It could be beautiful."

Commercial performance

Commercially, it reached number one in the United Kingdom, making it Eminem's ninth number one there and Sheeran's fifth. It also reached number one in Austria, Norway, Scotland and Sweden as well as the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, and the top 20 in Belgium and the United States.

Music video

A music video for the song was released on February 14, 2018. It was directed by

Emil Nava Emil William Capper Nava (born 29 March 1985) is a British music video director. After leaving school at 16, Emil started his career as a chef. He shot to fame after directing Jessie J's song " Do It Like A Dude". He has since directed over 1 ...

. The video garnered over 5 million views in the first 24 hours of its release. As of October 2022, the video has been viewed over 188 million times and has accumulated over 2.6 million likes. The music video received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the

. In their review of the video, Fuse described some of the scenes as "tense and serious", further stating that a "dark-haired Eminem plays the role so well and raps rhymes about making a woman give up her baby so convincingly, it's not entirely clear what's true and what's made up."

Live performances

Eminem and

performed the song live together for the first (and to date, only) time on the final night of Eminem's ''Revival Tour'' at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

on July 15, 2018.

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

, - ! scope="row", Portugal ( AFP) , Gold , 5,000 , -

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2017 songs Eminem songs Ed Sheeran songs Songs written by Eminem Songs written by Ed Sheeran Songs written by Emile Haynie UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Sweden 2018 singles Songs about abortion Song recordings produced by Emile Haynie Songs about rivers Pop-rap songs Rap rock songs