Along with The Eminem Show: 20th Anniversary Edition, it received nomination for an Outstanding Anthology/Compilation/Reissue at the 2023 Detroit Music Awards, but lost to Alice Cooper's “Live From The Astroturf: Good Records Dallas, Texas 10/06/15”. Both of its singles, "The King & I" and "From the D 2 the LBC", were nominated for an Outstanding National Single, but lost to Lizzo's "About Damn Time".
Curtain Call 2 was first hinted at by Eminem in a tweet promoting the single "From The D 2 The LBC" on June 24, 2022, in which he included a hashtag with the album's name.[4][5] Eminem officially announced the album and its release date via social media on July 11.[5] On July 19, the album was made available for preorder through Eminem's website along with several merch bundles and limited edition vinyl.[6] On August 2, the album's track listing was unveiled.[7]
On July 11, 2022, Eminem revealed the album's cover art on Twitter. The artwork emulates classic pinball machine backglass artwork and contains many hidden Easter eggs as well as references to his previous albums. Some of the references include a fighter jet from Kamikaze and Eminem's childhood home from The Marshall Mathers LP 2, and Eminem in a graveyard holding a shovel from Music to Be Murdered By. Eminem himself is shown in the middle, holding up the Sign of the horns, imitating that of Machine Gun Kelly.
Curtain Call 2 was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on four reviews.[8]
AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album, saying that it is "generous to a fault, playing like an endless streaming playlist instead of a curated compilation, yet it does feature many highlights from Eminem's mid-career records".[9] Grant Jones of RapReviews.com wrote: "The 'Eminem sound' the first Curtain Call could accurately collate and celebrate (given 100% of it was produced by either Dre or Em) has been pushed aside in favor of party trick flows and quick-win hooks from guests. It still seems to be a successful approach, but it's not as satisfying to revisit".[12] Drew Millard of Pitchfork stated: "despite showcasing some of Eminem's stylistic growing pains, Curtain Call 2 isn't completely lined with duds".[11] In his mixed review, Robin Murray of Clash wrote: "Curtain Call 2 is at its most engaging when the Detroit figure simply cuts back on the Billboard tie-ins, and reminds us all why he became such a revered rapper in the first place. ... As a project, however, Curtain Call 2 is weighed down by its flaws. There's no ignoring the wayward path Eminem has taken over the past two decades, and the tracklisting reflects this".[10]
The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200, earning 43,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.[13]Curtain Call 2 was the best-selling album of the week in pure sales, with 18,000 copies sold.[13] It also debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart.[14] The album has moved a total of 700,000 album-equivalent units as of October 26, 2022, including 32,900 pure album sales, 132,100 song sales, 830 million audio-on-demand streams, and 130 million video-on-demand streams according to HitsDailyDouble.[15] As of November 30, 2022 Curtain Call 2 was the twenty-ninth best-selling album of the year according to Hits.[16] Still according to the magazine, Curtain Call 2 has moved a total of 827,000 album-equivalent units by the end of 2022, including 39,000 pure album sales, 142,000 song sales, 995 million audio-on-demand streams, and 151 million video-on-demand streams.[17]
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