The Sound: Rap Meets Resistance

Produced by Mike Elizondo and Tyler Joseph, “Turn Back Time” opens with a chilling piano loop and a heartbeat-like kick drum. Tyler Joseph takes the first verse — his voice fragile and confessional:

“I drew a map in the dark with no idea where to go / Told my younger self I’d be fine — that was a lie, I know.”

Then enters Eminem — sharp, fast, furious — delivering what many are already calling his most personal verse in years:

“I’d erase the nights I said nothing / Rewrite the fights I kept bluffin’ / Swallowed pride like it was nothin’ / But time won’t refund what you’re runnin’.”

As the chorus hits, their voices merge in a thunderous chant:
“If I could turn back time / Would I save us or stay blind?”

Lyrically, “Turn Back Time” is a meditation on regret, fatherhood, trauma, and self-forgiveness — with Tyler and Eminem each confronting their younger selves in different ways.

“This wasn’t just a song,” Eminem said in a brief audio note on X. “It was therapy.”

Fans and critics alike are praising the song’s emotional weight and raw vulnerability:

“It’s like The Real Slim Shady grew up, had kids, and started praying.”
“Tyler’s darkness, Em’s fire — this is lightning in a bottle.”

Directed by Colin Tilley, the music video (already at 12M views in 8 hours) shows both artists navigating surreal, collapsing versions of their childhood homes — surrounded by floating clocks, VHS tapes, and spectral versions of themselves as teenagers.

In one heart-wrenching moment, Eminem stares through a frosted window at his daughter Hailie as a child, whispering: “Tell her I tried.”

“Turn Back Time” isn’t just a song — it’s a moment. A brutal, beautiful admission that even legends wish they could rewrite a few lines.

And for fans of both Eminem and Twenty One Pilots?
This is the crossover we didn’t see coming — and can’t stop playing.