I saw this Song of the Day Challenge on my friend Cathy’s blog Catherine Micqu, and thought I would give it a try. Cathy, who’s from Luxembourg, is a terrific and thoughtful writer, and shares a lot of great music too, so do check out her blog.

The song challenge was launched by Rockhal, the biggest musical venue in Luxembourg, on their Instagram account, but like Cathy, I think I will share my selections here instead. Day 1 is “a song that motivates you”, and my pick is the Eminem classic “Lose Yourself”.  He wrote the song for the 2002 film 8 Mile, which he also starred in, and chronicles the struggles of the character B-Rabbit, and how he overcomes his problems and obstacles to gain the respect of other rappers. But in a broader sense, the song speaks to zeroing in with a laser focus on one’s dreams, and not letting anything or anyone dissuade you from doing everything you can to realize those dreams. If music is your dream, then you need to ‘lose yourself’ in it to make it happen. Like Eminem says at the end of the song “You can do anything you set your mind to, man.”

“Lose Yourself” is considered by many to be the greatest rap song ever, and was a huge hit, spending 12 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and also reaching #1 in 19 other countries. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Grammys for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Solo Performance. It’s one of my favorite songs of all time, and ranks #2 on my 100 Best Songs of the 2000s.