Legends Never Die - RIP JUICE WRLD

RIP JUICE WRLD

I can’t remember an album that’s harder to listen to than this one off the top of my head. Juice WRLD was one of the most undeniably talented artists in all of mainstream music. He’s definitely put out a couple of rough tracks and shaky projects, but if you’ve seen his Tim Westwood freestyles and heard his greatest tracks you know that Juice was one in a million. I would easily hail him as the greatest freestyler that’s ever lived, and I’d highly recommend checking out why people say that if you haven’t already - your mind will be blown. As for his real music though, I’ll be the first to admit that Juice’s discography has been hit or miss - despite me being a massive fan of his. Goodbye & Good Riddance could easily be in my top 10 most played albums of all time. It’s a timeless, unbelievably catchy and beautiful album that has simultaneously given me more summer memories and solace than any other record I can think of. From when I first heard that album on a train in Boston to all the times that me and my friends have shouted out all of its hooks in the car, that record has proven itself to be something special. With his following two projects WRLD on Drugs and Death Race For Love were two that both had a couple highlights I was into, but they left me wondering if Juice would ever put out something as great as his debut ever again. I think the most painful thing about Juice’s untimely death for me is that I might never know if he’ll be able to make that lightning in a bottle ever again, and we all know he was capable of doing so. What we’ve been given here might not be another amazing classic like that one top notch album, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleasantly surprised by Legends Never Die.

I’ll be totally honest, I went into this with low expectations. Seeing how the posthumous releases of Juice’s peers XXXTentacion and Lil Peep have been handled, I was more than ready to have a handful of garbage albums shoved down my throat over the next few years. I went into this expecting an overly long album packed with filler even more forgettable than the lowlights of Death Race. As much of a Juice WRLD fan as I am, I think anybody could understand why I was pretty concerned that this would not be a good tribute to the life of one of my favorite artists. However, there were so many more songs I enjoyed on here than I could have ever expected. It’s definitely not as cohesive and fully realized as it would have been if Juice had been alive to make it, but it’s definitely got enough merit to warrant it’s existence. Juice was well known for essentially being able to pump out a hit in under 5 minutes consistently. He would just freestyle hits, as the Lil Dicky audio clip on the The Man, The Myth, The Legend interlude states. He would walk into the studio, hear the beat and drop a freestyle over it that would just become an instant hit. As impressive as that is, the main thing I wanted out of a new Juice album is something that felt like it had much more thought into it. We’ve seen an album that he freestyled entirely and we’ve seen an album he put a lot more thought into, and I don’t need to tell you which of the two was better. While there are a good handful of songs on here that Juice most likely freestyled and threw in the vault, much of this actually feels much more thoughtful than his last two albums did.

Right off the bat, we get a handful of tracks that definitely follow the same formula as high production value Juice WRLD hits like Robbery or Empty. Whereas Juice’s debut may have fit itself into a more niche, lo-fi and less overproduced part of the music world, this one is much more of a glossy and polished project. I’m fine with that though, as much as I miss the incredible and perfectly balanced production style of his first release. Conversations and Titanic make for some really great and upbeat bangers that I’m sure will make for some fantastic chart toppers with high replay value. Plenty of tracks throughout the record follow suit, with peppy and colorful beats that will frequently remind you of the vibrant art style of the cover art. There aren’t anywhere near as many guitar samples and syrupy nocturnal beats as Juice’s original formula contained, with some EDM, Pop Rap and even Pop Punk influences replacing those elements. This is actually pretty alright though, as Juice’s lyrics and songwriting feel much more on the nose and memorable than the last two albums did. The main thing about his debut that made me fall in love with it was the fact that almost everybody I know knows every single lyric to the entire album, including myself. Every line, even the most generic ones, was delivered in such an unforgettable and catchy manner that it’s honestly harder to forget the lyrics than to memorize them after a couple listens. I doubt I’ll ever learn every line to this album, in fact I know I won’t, but I’m pleased to say that Juice’s lyricism has much more thought put into it than on Death Race. There are enough significant hooks, bars and quotable moments that will undoubtedly store themselves in my brain for a very long time. I’m totally fine with Juice tackling a more Hollywood, high budget sound when the songwriting is as sharp as it is on songs like Can’t Die and Tell Me You Luv Me.

I’m extremely happy that nothing on this project feels unfinished. While there are songs I didn’t like, there aren’t any songs that sound like Juice wouldn’t have wanted them released. Most posthumous album releases these days feel like they are just such a far cry from anything the actual artist would have greenlit in the slightest. I wouldn’t say this is as much of a posthumous masterpiece as something like the newest from Mac Miller, but it’s a worthy tribute for sure. Speaking from the part of me that is just a Juice fan and ignored my critical side, I have to say that I’m just beyond happy to be able to hear more from an artist I love. I guess at the end of the day, that’s proof enough that this album did everything that it really set out to accomplish. I can only hope that feeling will continue to show itself when Juice’s estate drops a deluxe and even more inevitable full length LP’s, but while it’s unlikely that will all be good this album does give me a bit of hope. Another thing I was pretty excited about was that the features on here didn’t feel forced and annoying. There weren’t any instances where Juice was being paired up with artists he wasn’t friends with, like when X and Lil Peep were forced onto an awkward collaboration they never would have agreed to. Instead we get appearances from guys like Trippie, The Kid Laroi and Polo G (which I was particularly excited to hear). Even the Pop focused features like Marshmello and Halsey didn’t feel forced, as I can totally see Juice being super on board working with both those artists. Juice carried this album fantastically on his own and was always the star of the show, but I’m happy that the featured artists all had decent chemistry as well. The Kid Laroi definitely had the most impressive feature verse in my opinion by the way, I should totally listen to that dude a bit more.

Another thing that impressed me quite a bit was the eclectic variety of sounds that were brought to the table here. Don’t get me wrong, hearing Juice do a full blown Pop Punk/Indie Rock thing on Man of the Year was pretty revolting and made for the worst song on the album, but tracks like Come and Go left me wondering. I wonder if Juice would have ever committed to a full blown Emo/Pop Punk album since he was so greatly inspired by that scene, and even more so I wonder if Juice has songs in that genre recorded. If they’re awful I’d rather they aren’t released, but I still can’t help but be curious. Hearing him branch out into a bit of EDM territory on a few songs was also pretty alright. I kind of doubt that he’d commit to either style enough to put out a record that would be decent and not just polarize the whole fanbase, but at the end of the day I think it’s cool to hear those different influences here. Seriously though, Man of the Year is Juice’s equivalent to Logic’s Lemon Drop song that he gets bullied for. I wouldn’t be quite as upset by it if it wasn’t the closer to the album, but yeah it’s a pretty garbage song.

I really enjoyed this one. I really did. I may have gone into it with very low expectations, but this is a surprisingly good album. It’s not a perfect one though. I can only wonder if it might have been if Juice was alive to curate it himself, but there are some flaws here that can’t quite be overlooked here. For one thing, while I once again found this to be a super solid and enjoyable tribute to the late superstar, there are very few moments on here that rival that timeless feeling of his debut. It’s my second favorite album of his for sure, and honestly I might just be blinded by nostalgia, but I don’t think there are any songs on here that I will have in constant rotation for the rest of my life. I understand that’s an astronomical standard to hold an album to, especially a posthumous one, so I’m not really letting that affect my score much. However, it is worth pointing out that this isn’t the second Juice album to become part of my musical DNA or something. Second, this is far from immune to have some filler thrown into it for good measure. Given the last two albums we got from the guy having more filler than good tracks, I was expecting this for sure. A good part of me feels like Juice would have committed to delivering as great of a record as he could given the current career trajectory he was in before he died, but regardless of that there are some songs here I’ll probably never listen to again. I Want It and Fighting Demons are two that are really just such by the numbers Juice WRLD songs, with the former having some slightly cheesy vocal parts that I’m not a fan of. Stay High falls into that category of tracks that are just so plain and predictable as well, though at least none of these songs are genuinely bad. I also generally like Blood on my Jeans and Screw Juice, but they are both noticeably imperfect tracks that could have used a little bit more work in my opinion. Overall though, I’m honestly shocked at just how consistent and thoroughly great of a listen this was from start to finish. I expected a 20 song posthumous Juice record to have at least 10 skips, but there are only 3 or 4 that I would actually take the time to turn off if they came on. Trust me, that’s a ratio I’m not complaining about.

This really is just so much better than I could have imagined it being. It’s very imperfect, but when I set aside the analytical mindset I bring into my reviews I just find myself lost in the music. The part of me that’s just a Juice WRLD fan is so happy, heartwarmed and thankful to be given another crop of songs that actually lives up to the standard Juice set for himself back in 2018. This will be an album that I’ll have on repeat for quite a long time, and that’s something that I can’t say for the rest of Juice’s post-2018 discography. A cautiously optimistic part of me actually hopes that they put out more material if Juice really does have so many songs recorded, as long as they are this good. I’ve heard he’s got around 1000 songs in the vault, and I’m certain most of those aren’t very good, but if 100 of them are as good as this I would love to hear them all some day. Don’t get me wrong I would hate to see Juice’s music and life be milked like so many of his peers, but if they can do it right I’d love to hear more of this. I didn’t expect to be saying that after hearing this, so I’m smiling a little bit. Juice WRLD is an artist that has left an impact on both myself and the rest of the music world like no other. I was worried going into this that we would get a record that didn’t live up to his name, but I’m happy to say Legends Never Die is a fantastic tribute and reminder that Juice is a legend and that his music will never die. It’s not perfect, but I’m so relieved and happy to hear a posthumous album from Juice that’s as good as this is. LONG LIVE JUICE WRLD! - 8.2/10 (Best Songs - Tell Me You Luv Me ft. Trippie Redd, Hate the Other Side ft. Polo G & The Kid Laroi, Can’t Die)