Late last week, a video of Eminem and a "mystery woman" popped up online and quickly caused a stir. The video, which the notoriously private rapper walks into a hotel to meet a woman, was a magnet for fan theories within moments of its circulation. After the supposed leak, fans noticed that the woman in the clip was actress Sarah Ashley Toups (Lethal Weapon), leading many amateur sleuths to deduce that it was all part of some sort of viral marketing campaign for Em's next video. Well as it turns out, they were right.
The video was actually a preview of the music video for the Ed Sheeran-featuring track "River," off of Eminem's latest album, Revival. This isn't the first time Em used viral marketing to promote his new work. He also unleashed a mysterious fictional prescription drug campaign just weeks before the album's release. On Monday, Em took to Instagram to confirm that the hotel video was part of the campaign around his new video for "River."
"Unhappy Valentine's day!" he wrote underneath a teaser featuring Sheeran alongside Toups and Em himself. The video looks to be taking a very dramatic approach to the lyrics, which deal with a relationship in ruins after it's discovered there's been infidelity. Catch the full video for the "River" when it drops on Valentine's Day.
