The recent release of Juice Wrld’s first posthumous album, Legends Never Die, felt like anything but a final goodbye. Rather, the album seemed to be more of a continued look into the life and mind of Jared Higgins.
Since the release of his first major album Goodbye & Good Riddance, Jared's presence in rap culture closely mirrored that of his idol Tupac Shakur. Being able to create a cult-like following within a short amount of time is nothing other than an impressive feat. Songs “Lucid Dreams'' and “All Girls are the Same'' proved that Juice was capable of creating more than noteworthy music. With the help of Nick Mira and Cole Bennett, Juice Wrld was able to flourish to the highest extent.
While his stylistic choices resembled that of his childhood favorite punk bands Blink-182, and Panic! at the Disco, they influenced only a small portion of his sound, but did play a role in making Juice’s music one of a kind. As a Chicago native, his music interests were vastly different from his peers growing up. Since Jared’s mom kept strict borders on what music he could listen to, he found himself “filling in the gaps'' of songs his friends showed him—as this played a major role in Jared's creative abilities—especially that of freestyling.
From the start of his career till the time of his passing, Jared stayed true to his honest subject matter. Jared focused on his addictions, issues with love, and his overwhelming anxiety that he seemed to never tame. Through this vulnerability, Juice Wrld became an outlet for those who struggle with fitting inside the typical margins of society, a group of individuals Jared referred to as “Outsiders”, (which happens to be the title of his second posthumous album set to release on December 8th). Jared, alongside emo rap artists Lil Peep and XXXtentacion, pathed the way for guitar based beats accompanied by melodic emo/punk pop style vocals to enter the mainstream.
Legends Never Die, compared to his earlier releases, has a more refined and mature outlook on his ongoing battle between anxiety and fame. “Couple M’s in my bank account, I got cash, right? And that’s supposed to make me happy/I got a couple questions/How comes that *** don’t ever make me happy?” He sings on “Fighting Demons.” These lyrics are a sheer reflection on the culture that surrounds rap music as a whole–how money, cars, and jewelry are supposed to lead to happiness, but in reality, this lifestyle is detrimental to someone like Jared. It is evident throughout the album that he recognizes this as a problem since this idea arises in more than a few songs: “Wishing Well”, “Up Up and Away”, “I Want It”, “Stay High”, etc.
While fame is a hard mountain to climb, Juice kept a very one dimensional outlook on the situation. Rather than focusing on the positives, it seems he would rather focus exclusively on the negative. While this comes off as very repetitive, it is hard to judge Jared on how he expresses himself. At the end of the day, Jared made his music the way he did to provide a voice for those who struggle in the same ways. “Ring-ring, phone call from depression/You used my past and my memories as a weapon/On the other line, I talk to addiction/ huh Speakin' of the devil, all the drugs, I miss them.” An excerpt from “Wishing Well”. “Here, the late rapper depicts himself as being a victim of substance abuse due to the depression which haunts his life... And the reason he uses such terminology, i.e. “wishing”, in that regard is because at the moment, accomplishing such goals seems for the most part unrealistic to him.”
Even though the songs within the project were nothing short of catchy, there were transitions between them that felt out of place. Most songs within the album share a similar theme, but there seemed to be a few that strayed from the expected. While the subject matter stayed relatively consistent, the song–to–song transitions, in some cases, were too drastic. The project didn't have a coherent flow from sad to up-beat, while the interludes didn't play their part in the separation of said subject matter; though they did add a much needed element to the project. The featured songs within the project seemed to take away from the album's focus, Juice Wrld Even so, I think it does make some sense to have the featured songs as most of them were with close friends or collaborators.
Legends Never Die lacks intimacy. Through the use of features, we lose the one–on–one vulnerability we are used to hearing from Jared. As I stated before, this is likely because of the organization and song selection provided for the project. Even so, this album lacks the feeling of a conversation but provides a healthy mix of emotions. Looking at Goodbye & Good Riddance, we can at least have a sense of a well organized story; all the songs related to each other and flowed nicely together. This project on the other hand, lacks this “story”; there could be good reason for this.“This posthumous release, intended to bring together everything Juice was working on before his death...”
In my opinion, Legends Never Die fails to bring a close to this generation's most virtuosic artists career. While some songs hit their mark, many others fell short. Although this may be seemingly negative, it still brings light to a few positives. Positives being that this will not be the last Juice Wrld album we ever hear, but the first of many to come. Being that this album only scratches the surface of Jared’s abilities, I remain strict on this review giving it a 3 out of five. While I do not hate this album by any means, it does lack a true Juice Wrld cohesion along with the lack of an overall message.
