Kill For You

Album: Natural Causes (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • Skylar Grey hooks up with frequent collaborator Eminem for this track. Previous occasions when the two artists have appeared together include both featuring on Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor" as well as her own "C'mon Let Me Ride." Grey also received a Grammy nomination for writing the hook to Eminem's hit single with Rihanna, "Love The Way You Lie."
  • Grey is so madly in love with her guy here, she declares she'd willingly murder someone for him. Eminem's verse reveals him to be manipulative, having brainwashed his girl to be his partner in crime. Grey told Rolling Stone the characters they portray were inspired by a cetain infamous 1930s criminal couple

    "Since the first day I started writing 'Kill for You,' I thought the Bonnie and Clyde message would be more powerful as a duet. I was stoked when Marshall put a verse on it."
  • Eminem's verse appears to have been a late addition, as his name wasn't initially on the track-listing for Natural Causes, but was only added at the last minute. Grey recalled in a Genius attribution:

    "Just a few days before I had to turn in the album I let Marshall know my thoughts and asked if he wanted to give it a shot. I didn't expect him to do it especially with he time restraint, but thought it was worth asking. A few days later he turned in the final mix/master with his verse on it. I had never heard his verse before we sent the album to print."
  • Grey premiered a solo version of the song on April 16, 2016 during a live performance at The Shelter in Detroit. The album version only retains the hook and bridge from the demo.
  • Eminem has rapped about the infamous crime couple before on The Slim Shady cut "'97 Bonnie & Clyde."
  • Eminem raps in his verse:

    Your ultimate savior, your behavior is altered
    Ain't your fault cause I made you
    Brainwashed and persuade you


    Grey commented: "I'm glad he got the word 'Brainwash' in there because that's literally the entire message of the song to me."
  • This was originally a hook idea that Skylar Grey had when she was writing with Eminem, Mark Batson and Mike Elizondo. She then worked on the verses in her Detroit hotel room. Later, the quartet got wind that Rihanna was interested in the song, so they met together again to flesh it out with the Bajan singer in mind. Rihanna continued to show interest and tweeted some of the lyrics., but the tune never made it onto her Anti album.

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