10 Albums That Turned Out Nothing Like You Expected

Much like the earlier example of Lil Wayne's Rebirth (though nowhere near as misjudged), Eminem’s return to the mainstream Relapse was far from what prospective listeners were expecting when it was released in 2009.

The rapper had all but retired from the mainstream after the subdued response to Encore, his fifth studio effort. Veering wildly in tone between clumsy, would-be heartfelt ballads and puerile comedy tracks, the album lacked not only Em's typically sharp wit, but both his vicious mean streak and his more mature, darker moments were gone too. The self empowerment anthems were cheesy and the comedy toothless, disappointing fans of all stripes.

Listeners as such presumed that Relapse would be a string of poppy hits with both the fist-pumping inspirational anthem appeal of Lose Yourself and the hilarious freewheeling wit of earlier hits like Without Me

Instead, the album was an intense, gritty slice of horrorcore that didn’t even touch on the crowdpleasing sound of his more recent, poppy albums. Filled with some of the rapper's darkest and most disturbing tracks of his career, this brutal and unrelenting horrorshow may have given way to the far poppier and more mainstream Recovery. But for a minute there, the rapper's dark heart was front and centre, and fans were nowhere near ready for its bleak depths.