Why Eminem Always Closes With 'Lose Yourself': The Encore That Hasn't Changed in Over 20 Years

Across festival fields, the Super Bowl, and the Formula 1 night in Austin where I finally noticed it, Eminem has ended his shows the same way for more than two decades: with 'Lose Yourself.' Here's how long that's been true, and why this is the song he saves for last.

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Why Eminem Always Closes With 'Lose Yourself': The Encore That Hasn't Changed in Over 20 Years

It took standing in the front row of my first-ever Eminem concert to notice it: he always ends the night with "Lose Yourself." Here's how long that's been true, and why this is the song he saves for last.

I have been an Eminem fan since I was 11 years old. I know the deep cuts, the alter egos, the exact ad-libs. So it is a little embarrassing to admit that I did not consciously notice the most predictable thing about his live show until I was standing in the front row of my very first Eminem concert.

That show was in Austin, Texas on October 19, 2024, when Eminem headlined the Germania Insurance Super Stage at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. It was one of his rare full-length concerts of the decade, a roughly 90-minute run through more than 30 songs, with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg joining him on stage. He opened on "Lucifer" and tore through the classics, and I was close enough to feel the bass in my chest.

Then the lights dropped, that unmistakable piano figure and guitar line crept in, and the whole place inhaled at once. "Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity..." Standing there, it finally clicked for me: of course he closes with this. He always closes with this. And he has for more than twenty years.

The encore that hasn't changed in over 20 years

"Lose Yourself" was released on October 28, 2002 as the lead single from the 8 Mile soundtrack, and Eminem started performing it live that same year. It quickly settled into the spot it has held ever since: the very end of the night.

According to setlist.fm, Eminem has performed "Lose Yourself" more than 100 times, and across era after era it keeps landing in the encore. A few nights that show how consistent the habit is:

  • Goffertpark, Nijmegen, July 12, 2018. Deep into the Revival-era festival run, the night closes on "Lose Yourself."
  • ANZ Stadium, Sydney, February 22, 2019. A stadium on the other side of the world, and the encore is the same.
  • Super Bowl LVI Halftime, February 13, 2022. Sharing the biggest stage in America with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, Eminem's featured moment is "Lose Yourself," capped by taking a knee.
  • Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix, Austin, October 19, 2024. My night. After more than 30 songs, the encore, of course, was "Lose Yourself."

Different decade, different country, different lineup, same last song. For most of his career, betting on the closer has been the easiest bet in music.

Why "Lose Yourself," of all his songs

Eminem has plenty of certified anthems to choose from, so why does this one always get the final slot? Because "Lose Yourself" is not just his most successful song. It is his thesis statement.

The accolades alone make the case. "Lose Yourself" became Eminem's first Billboard Hot 100 number one and spent 12 consecutive weeks at No. 1. In 2003 it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 75th Oscars, making it the first hip-hop song ever to win an Oscar. It later won two Grammys, Best Rap Song and Best Male Rap Solo Performance, at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004. No other song in his catalog carries that exact combination of chart, industry and cultural weight.

But the deeper reason is the message. Stripped of the 8 Mile context, "Lose Yourself" is a universal one-shot anthem about seizing the single moment you get and refusing to waste it. That is precisely the emotional note you want a show to end on. It sends an arena home believing something, and it works on a first-time listener and a lifelong fan at the exact same time, which is the rarest thing a closing song can do.

Written in character, captured in one take

Part of what gives the song its weight is how it was made. Director Curtis Hanson wanted a track written from the perspective of B-Rabbit, Eminem's character in 8 Mile, so Marshall had to write as someone who was not quite himself. As he put it in his commentary on the song, published by Genius:

"That was one of those songs where I remember telling Paul [Rosenberg], 'I don't know how to write about someone else's life.' Because the movie is not me, the movie is Jimmy Smith Jr. So I'm playing this character, but I have to make parallels between my life and his, in this song. I gotta figure out how to reach a medium. It would sound so corny if I was just rapping as Jimmy Smith Jr."

Eminem has said the song was written on set, during breaks while filming 8 Mile. The recording was just as raw. According to studio engineer Steven King, who described the session to Rolling Stone, Eminem cut the vocal in a portable studio right there on the set during a break from shooting, and nailed it using only one take per verse. Producer Luis Resto, who built the track with Eminem and Jeff Bass, later described how Marshall worked: "He never studied music, and the way he communicated his ideas is by humming to you. So that's what I do. I hear them, I play them, and if one needs a bit of refinement, I do it." That "capture it and don't touch it" instinct is the same reason it never leaves the setlist. When something lands that cleanly, you protect it.

The moments that turned a closer into a ritual

Two performances cemented "Lose Yourself" as the song Eminem returns to when the stakes are highest. At Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, it was his showcase moment in front of the largest audience of his career, punctuated by a kneel that dominated the headlines the next morning. And at the 2020 Academy Awards, Eminem walked out to perform "Lose Yourself" live, 17 years after winning the Oscar he famously did not show up to collect, to a stunned and standing crowd.

Both times, the song did what it always does at the end of a show. It stopped the room.

More than twenty years after it debuted, the track is still climbing. On Spotify it is now closing in on 3 billion streams, one of the most-played songs in his entire catalog.

The last word

An Oscar, two Grammys, 12 weeks at No. 1 and a permanent place in the culture all sit behind "Lose Yourself." But its most consistent home is not a chart or a trophy case. It is the final slot of the setlist, the moment the lights drop and Eminem gives a room one last reason to lose their minds.

I did not fully understand that until I saw it happen in front of me in Austin. Now, whenever the next show comes, I already know exactly how it ends.

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