The track opens with Adele’s unmistakable voice — low, hushed, almost trembling:

“I built my walls with lullabies / Hoping silence wouldn’t hear me cry…”

Then comes Eminem, entering with a stripped-down verse that sounds more like a journal entry than a rap:

“Mama tried, Dad denied / Trailer park prayers and a fistful of pride / I grew up on echoes, anger, and Slim Shady lies…”

Produced by a tight-knit team of longtime Shady Records collaborators alongside Adele’s go-to piano arranger, the song fuses minimalist piano chords with subtle 808s and orchestral swells. The result? A genre-defying track that sits somewhere between a ballad and a breakdown.

One of the most talked-about moments in the song comes during Adele’s second chorus:

“If I could hold the child I used to be / I’d tell her, ‘It’s not your fault they couldn’t see’…”

Eminem then counters with his most vulnerable verse in years:

“They said ‘man up,’ I said ‘stand up’ / But inside, I was just a kid with his hands up / Begging life, ‘Don’t hit me no more’…”

While fans were stunned by the pairing, insiders say the idea for a collab between the two megastars has floated around for over a decade, with Eminem once expressing admiration for Adele’s vocal power in an early interview, and Adele reportedly referencing “Lose Yourself” as one of the first songs that made her feel creatively fearless.

The stars finally aligned after Adele’s recent shift toward more emotionally stripped-down work, and Eminem’s ongoing interest in legacy-defining music as he approaches a new era in his career.

Industry insiders are already calling “Childhood” a contender for Song of the Year and possibly Best Collaboration, noting that it bridges generations, genres, and audiences in a way that only a few songs ever do.

“This isn’t a hit — it’s a healing,” said one music critic. “And we don’t get many of those.”

With “Childhood”, Eminem and Adele didn’t just collaborate — they confronted their pasts, honored their pain, and created something unforgettable.