Guts Over Fear

Album: Shady XV (2014)
Charted: 10 22
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Eminem wrote this uplifting, anthemic song for the closing credits song of The Equalizer, the big screen re-imagining of the late 1980s TV show. It finds Em reflecting on his own career as he hopes how his story of overcoming a difficult childhood will continue to inspire others.

    So this is for every kid who all they ever did was dreamt of one day just getting accepted
    I represent him or her, anyone similar, you are the reason that I made this song.
  • The song features Sia. The Australian singer-songwriter previously worked with Eminem on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 bonus track, "Beautiful Pain."
  • The beat was supplied by Emile Haynie, the producer of Eminem's 2010 Recovery album.
  • The video was filmed in Detroit and directed by Eninem's frequent collaborator Syndrome. The clip is an against-all-odds narrative about a working class man overcoming personal hurdles to become a professional boxer. It stars Alexander Wraith (Sex and the City 2, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) as the down-on-his-luck guy, and we also see former America's Next Top Model contestant, Winnie Harlow, lip-synching Sia's hook. Godzilla and Sopranos actor Al Sapienza also features in the modern day Rocky story as an overbearing father.
  • This song is featured in a 2014 commercial for the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. The spot shows a boxer in training underscoring the message of the song: triumph through struggle. How that applies to cars, we're not sure.

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