Those Kinda Nights

Those Kinda Nights — Eminem Featuring Ed Sheeran (2020)

"Those Kinda Nights" is a track from Eminem's eleventh studio album Music to Be Murdered By, released on January 17, 2020, through Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. The album arrived as a surprise drop, announced with no advance notice, a strategy that Eminem had also employed for his previous studio album Kamikaze in 2018. The collaboration with Ed Sheeran was one of several high-profile features on the project and represented the second time the two artists had formally worked together, following their collaboration on "River" from Eminem's 2017 album Revival.

"Those Kinda Nights" was produced by Emile Haynie and Freddie Robins, who crafted a mid-tempo, groove-oriented backdrop that leaned into a different tonal register than much of the surrounding album. Where Music to Be Murdered By frequently pushed toward harder, more aggressive production choices, this track adopted a more relaxed, after-hours atmosphere suited to its subject matter. Haynie, who had previously worked with artists including Lana Del Rey and Kid Cudi, brought a melodic sensibility to the production that helped accommodate Sheeran's sung contributions.

Music to Be Murdered By debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it Eminem's tenth consecutive studio album to debut at the top of the chart, a remarkable streak that underscored his sustained commercial dominance across multiple decades. The album sold more than 279,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, with streaming numbers particularly strong given the surprise release creating a wave of immediate listening activity. Several tracks from the album, including "Those Kinda Nights," charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as the album attracted wide attention.

Ed Sheeran's involvement brought additional commercial reach to the track. By 2020, Sheeran had established himself as one of the most-streamed artists in the world, with his own catalog of records including multiple Hot 100 chart-toppers. His participation on a lighter, more melodically accessible Eminem track gave "Those Kinda Nights" potential crossover appeal beyond Eminem's core hip-hop audience. Sheeran handled the sung portions of the track and contributed to its overall melodic framework, while Eminem occupied the verses with his characteristic rapid-fire delivery.

The song's narrative centers on a late-night, carefree romantic adventure, a notably different thematic register from much of the album's darker, more confrontational material. This tonal contrast was remarked upon by critics, some of whom found the lightness refreshing within the context of the album's overall darkness, while others felt the shift in register was jarring. The critical reception to the track was mixed but generally positive, with most observers noting that the chemistry between Eminem and Sheeran was effective and that the song succeeded on its own terms as a piece of mainstream, radio-friendly hip-hop pop.

The broader commercial context of Music to Be Murdered By was shaped by the surprise-release strategy, which generated an enormous initial spike in attention and streaming activity. By releasing without advance notice, Eminem denied the music press and social media the opportunity to preview or react before the album was available to listeners, which created a kind of frenzy of listening and discourse that benefited all of the album's tracks including "Those Kinda Nights." Interscope Records and the Shady Records imprint had developed considerable experience with this strategy from the Kamikaze release.

Culturally, the collaboration between Eminem and Ed Sheeran pointed to the way hip-hop and pop had become increasingly integrated in the years surrounding the track's release. Both artists operated at a level where genre boundaries were largely irrelevant to their commercial performance, and their collaboration was natural rather than calculated-seeming. The song received significant playlist placement across both hip-hop and pop playlists on major streaming platforms, reflecting its genre-fluid character.

The track also represented a moment in Eminem's late career in which he demonstrated willingness to work across tonal registers within a single project, alternating between introspective, hard-edged material and more commercially accessible collaborations. This approach had characterized much of his output since Recovery in 2010, and "Those Kinda Nights" fit that pattern comfortably, providing a lighter moment in an otherwise intense listening experience.