Not Afraid

This reflective cut is the first single from American rapper Eminem's seventh studio album Recovery. Originally Marshall Mathers planned to do a sequel to his 2009 album, Relapse, but the rapper scrapped that idea to go in a different direction. He said on Twitter: "The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and it deserves its own title."

In a pre-release interview with Billboard magazine, Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, said that Recovery will be "more accessible to more fans. He [Eminem] had pretty much completed a whole second album worth of material but at some point he took a step back, looked at it and said, 'I think I want to record some more.' But in recording, the album started to sound so different and was going in such a different direction that he decided to keep it going and turn it into a whole new album. The last album was really for the core Eminem fans. I think this record will open that up a bit."

"Not Afraid" reflects the more positive mood of the album and finds Eminem rapping on how he has tried to overcome his personal troubles such as his battles with drug addiction. He goes on to admit to some artistic mistakes including dissing his previous album: "Let's be honest/ That last Relapse CD was ehh." Eminem finally declares that he wants to concentrate just on his family and music. Rosenberg commented to Billboard magazine, "It's an uplifting song. It's not a dark song, it's an uplifting song."