"Survival" is a song by American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

. It premiered on August 14, 2013 to promote the

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trailer for the

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'' Call of Duty: Ghosts'', and was initially released as a pre-order bonus when pre-ordering the game. The song was officially released as the second single from ''

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on November 5, 2013 by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. The album is Eminem's last to have the involvement of inde ...

'' on October 8, 2013. It features uncredited vocals in the chorus from Liz Rodrigues of

the New Royales The New Royales are a four-person music group consisting of members DJ Khalil, Chin Injeti, Liz Rodrigues, and Erik Alcock. Since forming in 2007, they have worked together as producers and songwriters for artists such as Eminem, Pitbull, Pink, ...

. Upon its single release, the song debuted at number 17 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and upon the album's release, it climbed to a new peak of number 16.

Release

In August 2013, following the release of ''Call of Duty: Ghosts'' multiplayer video, Eminem released a video explaining to his fans the new album would be released in the fall, and that a new music video was coming soon. It was also confirmed that the song would be featured within the game. This was the third time that an Eminem song was used to promote a ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic ...

'' game, with "

'Till I Collapse "Till I Collapse" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring fellow American rapper and singer Nate Dogg, released from his fourth studio album ''The Eminem Show'' (2002). Despite never being released as a single, the song has managed to chart ...

" being used in the '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'' trailer, and " Won't Back Down" being used in the '' Call of Duty: Black Ops'' trailer, in zombies mode as a hidden song and the end credits. The song is also featured on the soundtrack of '' WWE 2K19'', being selected by

AJ Styles Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (also stylized as A.J. Styles), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Regarded as one of the best ...

to be included in the soundtrack. The song is also heard in the end credits for ''Ghosts''.

Music video

The official music video for "Survival" was released on October 8, 2013. The music video featured Eminem rapping in front of footage of ''Call of Duty: Ghosts'' featured on a projector, with additional shots featuring elements from the game such as dogs and soldiers in their in-game outfits. The final scene features Eminem revisiting the house featured on the cover of ''

The Marshall Mathers LP ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Eminem, along with The 45 King, the Bas ...

'' and ''

''. The house was later demolished by the State of

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Live performances

Eminem performed the song on ''

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'' on November 2, 2013, along with " Berzerk", with

Skylar Grey Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, at the age of 17, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Mus ...

replacing Liz Rodrigues on backing vocals.

Critical reception

The song features rock guitars in a style that makes it similar to works from Eminem's '' Recovery'', according to Luke Bainbridge of ''

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''. ''

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'' pop music critic Randall Roberts says that the song matches the "voluminous, venom-filled and explosive" levels of the work it accompanies. Roberts says the song features an aggressive rapper, "cuss-filled lines...the bombast of distorted electric guitar and a jumbo beat." He says that the DJ Khalil-produced song, which features the New Royales' Liz Rodrigues, "is a cliché-ridden couplet that sounds like it took as much time to imagine as it did to scribble on a scrap of paper." ''

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'' Ryan Reed describes the song as hard-hitting with background music that classifies as "breakneck, arena-rock guitars and trashy drums."

Awards and nominations

Track listing

;Digital Download

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Call of Duty series Eminem songs 2013 singles Interscope Records singles Shady Records singles Aftermath Entertainment singles Songs written by Eminem Rap rock songs Song recordings produced by DJ Khalil Songs written by DJ Khalil 2013 songs Songs written by Erik Alcock