February 15, 2021
Juice Wrld’s first posthumous album may be the artist’s most cohesive project to date. The melancholic yet angelic instrumentals throughout the project — augmented by soft piano and violin contributions — give the album’s tracks pleasant foundations which attract diverse audiences, showcasing Juice Wrld’s ability to create music alluring to even those with the most esoteric music tastes. Features from artists along the hip-hop music spectrum reflect this, as Juice Wrld’s songs with artists from The Weeknd to Marshmello to Polo G have few hiccups. Although the songs are heavily underscored by the trite motifs of drug abuse and materialism, the lyrics don’t feel exhaustingly shallow. Juice Wrld makes it clear in songs such as “Righteous” and “Hate the Other Side” that he has yet to unshackle himself from the manacles of self-doubt and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Listening to Juice Wrld melodically detail his struggles is enchanting yet disconcerting; as Shawn Cee, a YouTube music analyst with almost 750,000 subscribers, puts it, listening to this album “feels like watching someone walk off a cliff and there’s this huge, glass barrier preventing you from telling them to stop.”
Best Songs: “Righteous,” “Wishing Well” and “Come & Go” (feat. Marshmello)
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