“Houdini” serves as the lead single to Eminem’s twelfth studio album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). The track is named after Harry Houdini, a popular magician known for his death-defying stunts like the Chinese Water Torture Cell, which Eminem replicates in the intro to his 1999 track, “Role Model.”

With the return of long-time collaborator Jeff Bass of the Bass Brothers, Eminem revisits his catchy albeit morbid sound of the early 2000s. This fanfare track sees him callback to his old catchphrases such as Shady’s iconic “Guess who’s back?” line from the 2002 track “Without Me.”. The backing track for the song is also taken from the song [Abracadabra] written by the Steve Miller Band in 1973.

On October 24th, 1926, Houdini tragically passed away in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 52. Interestingly, Detroit is also the hometown of Eminem, who turns 52 in October 2024.

The single was first teased by Eminem on May 20, 2024, when he posted a teaser to his social media accounts with a text message from “All Contacts” stating:

…and for my last trick!

The text message would also have a date of May 31, sparking rumours of Eminem releasing music on that day.

On May 28, 2024, Eminem would post a video to Instagram of him on a FaceTime call with magician David Blaine. At the end of the video, Eminem announced the release of “Houdini” on May 31, then closed out by stating “for my last trick, I’m gonna make my career disappear,” hinting at The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) being his final studio album.

https://genius.com/Eminem-houdini-lyrics