Credit: Alamy

It would normally be any pop artist’s golden ticket to work with someone like Eminem. Sure, his reputation for being ‘Slim Shady’ has taken a few dents in recent years, but taking a look at any of the sales on his records, no one just coming up in the pop sphere would shake a stick at the idea of going into the studio with Mr Mathers and seeing what comes of it.

While Eminem normally prides himself on writing a lot of his bars himself, the hooks are a different story, and Bebe Rexha was the one who ended up putting together the skeleton for ‘The Monster’.

But no one just magically emails someone like Eminem out of the blue with the idea of getting one of their tracks on his album. That kind of confidence in material usually comes from people who have spent years fine-tuning songs until they’ve found something that works, and even if it doesn’t suit their voice, the true songwriters will be able to find the right person to play that part in their tune.

When looking at ‘The Monster’, though, Rexha’s voice isn’t necessarily out of place. Her performances in songs like ‘I’m Good’ might be way too sterile for anyone to take seriously for more than two seconds, but that approach to vocals would have actually been appropriate when talking about the voices inside of your head that won’t leave you alone.

In fact, the song actually is perfect for ‘Slim’ to be singing, but it would have been far too high. Because if anyone knows what it’s like to have a voice inside of their head that gives in to their monstrous tendencies, Eminem is one of the few rappers who’s able to put a name to their pain.

Right before she talked to Eminem, though, Rexha had considered giving the song away to someone else, telling Out, “The other rapper wanted to be on it, but I told him I’m going to give it to Eminem as I think that would be such a big moment and he’ll make it sound great. In the beginning, I was upset because I was younger, but later, it ended up earning me the respect I now have in the music industry, and it opened many doors for me.”

And while Rhianna’s features on Eminem records did seem a little bit redundant at this point, she is a welcome return for this track. It can come off as a decent redo of ‘Love The Way You Lie’ off of Recovery, but their way of bouncing off each other is the kind of chocolate and peanut butter combination that never gets old, no matter how many times they work together.

Then again, Rexha’s own direction did end up going down some weird avenues. For someone who had cut their teeth making one of Eminem’s biggest comeback songs, hearing her go from that to working with Florida Georgia Line and interpolating Eiffel 65’s ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ makes it a little difficult for people to take her music all that seriously.

She does have ‘The Monster’ to her name, though, and no one can take that away from her. If nothing else, the thought of contributing to one of the best rappers of the modern age finding their footing again in 2013 was a small miracle, even if we didn’t know that his career was about to go into disgruntled dad territory real quick.