After reaching 1 billion streams on Spotify last year, Eminem’s “Mockingbird” video has entered another billion club with the introspective clip surpassing 1 billion views on YouTube.
The 2004 Encore single is Em’s fifth solo video to cross 1 billion views and his sixth overall including Akon’s “Smack That” (Eminem also produced “Smack That”).
The heartfelt John Quigley-directed “Mockingbird” visual finds Eminem speaking to his then-9-year-old daughter Hailie Mathers and adopted daughter Alaina while getting emotional watching childhood home videos.
The Detroit icon reflects on his trials and tribulations as a father and the relationship issues with Hailie’s mother, Kim, in a promise to be better amid their humble beginnings.
“This isn’t a song, it’s a masterpiece,” one fan wrote in the YouTube comments, while another added: “Man I haven’t heard a rap song like this in f—ing years…. there’s really no rap song today compared to this!” The official “Mockingbird” video was uploaded to YouTube on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) of 2009.
“Mockingbird” reached No. 10 on Billboard‘s Rap Songs chart and is currently halfway to diamond status at five times platinum. The track had a revival in the streaming era thanks to a surge in TikTok plays before Em’s catalog was taken off the platform.
Amid leaks and a mid-week release date, Encore arrived in November 2004 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 710,000 albums sold in its first week.
“It became a misstep and I struggled to get over the fact that I didn’t do my best. My best would’ve been good enough if the leaks hadn’t happened. But I released what I had at that point in time, and I feel that put a kind of a mark on my catalog,” Em told XXL when reflecting on the lukewarm reception to Encore.
“Encore did some decent numbers, but I was never that concerned with numbers,” he added. “I was more so worried about what people think about the album. Critics and fans were important to me, and they were always at me about that project.”
Watch the “Mockingbird” video below.
