Juice WRLD, otherwise known as Jarad Higgins, released his much anticipated second studio album “Death Race for Love” on March 8, 2019.
Juice WRLD is an extremely hot artist right now that has been all over our social media and radio devices since his debut last year.
“I still see your shadows in my room, can’t take back the love that I gave you” is something almost everyone has heard by now, and if you haven’t, please remove the rock that is currently residing on top of you. After releasing “Goodbye and Good Riddance” and his collab project with Future, “WRLD ON DRUGS”, Juice WRLD has been on the uprise starting from his hit single “Lucid Dreams”.
Juice WRLD’s style is usually said as the new coined term “Emo-Trap”, which seems to be the new formula to create success in the hip-hop world in 2019. Other artists we’ve seen also make an impact with this sound are, XXXTENTACION, Lil Peep, and Trippie Redd. Comparing to these arist’s, I feel Juice WRLD has the potential to be significantly bigger.
As long as this generation still craves the consumption for sad and relatable lyrics on top of gritty and trap inspired beats, I think Juice WRLD will be staying around for a while.
Being a sucker for this genre of music is pretty mainstream in this generation, as I can admit. Wanting a 22 track, 72 minute Juice Wrld album is something I’ve never thought of wanting. Juice, however has done a great job on a majority of these tracks.
“Empty” being the opening track does good effort at breaking down the entire album in a nutshell. “I problem solve with styrofoam” is something eerie to hear as Juice expresses his drug use is still in full-effect and hasn’t showed any signs of it going away. An emotional track to kick off an album.
“Maze” is followed right after and I immediately think of his past hit “Lucid Dreams.” He has this melody that reminds me of that same formula. It isn’t quite as epic as “Lucid Dreams,” but it felt like it was trying to go in that direction.
Getting to the 3rd track on the album, “HeMotions”, Juice seems to have put the slower, drearier songs on the top. In this song, Juice says how he is just “going through motions, muddy emotions” and how he is “back on my bullsh--, devil emoji” which seems like the initial phase from being sad to getting back in the cycle of doing good for yourself. Juice makes it no secret he had troubled relationships in the past. I think this song is how he coped with it, and succeeding. It has the delaying 808 bass which goes great along Juice’s raspy yet melodic voice.
The song “Hear Me Calling” can be solidified as the hit off this record. It seems most appealing to the public ear with it’s excruciatingly catchy hook, “Ring, do you hear me calling?” The two categories I have noticed on this record are being sad about a past love interest or being happy about a current love interest. This one fits the second narrative. These can sometimes get annoying throughout the album, but I can’t lie, I love the song. It has an unbelievably catchy hook and great verses being smothered in that bouncy reggae’ style drum beat.
At this point, the album is hitting an incredible stride. “Flaws and Sins” is another one of those songs about being happy currently with a romantic interest. A soft acoustic guitar is played with a simple drum beat as Juice talks about how he loves his significant others’ “flaws and sins.” I think we have heard this before. Another artist speaking on how their love interest’s imperfections are what make them perfect. Such an overused stereotype. Nonetheless, this track is honestly one of my favorites on the album. Not only is it catchy and I think Juice did an amazing job with just about every aspect, but I find it humorous as Juice has a bit of a country accent on much of the track.
“Syphilis” is a track where Juice is overly aggressive. You will hear the inspiration from an artist like XXXTENTACION from the flow delivery to the rusty, distorted beat. Juice just did a track similar to this on Ski Mask the Slump God’s recent album, which could’ve been an ode to the recent death of XXXTENTACION. If you aren’t a fan of his song about relationships, this might be a good place to start.
“Who Shot Cupid?” is my favorite song on the album. Soft guitar with heavy distortion and an 808 bass that goes perfectly with the best hook on the album. “She know me well, well, well, she know me well / Told me she loved me still, b----, go to hell / All the drugs I did, it was worth it
/ Super worth it / Tell me why you had me feelin' worthless / Now your heartbroken, you need a surgeon.” I could describe this song as “psychedelic” with a depressing bit of subject matter. Best track on the album, I believe.
“Ring Ring” opens up with a mildly distorted guitar, which is something new from the regular acoustic guitars we’ve heard a lot of. Juice’s voice on the hook is super distorted -- almost like he’s talking through a phone. It’s ironic because the song is about not wanting to pick up the phone. The artist Clever has a cool little feature that is a bit “Ed Sheeran” esque, but somehow it fits.
“ON GOD” is one of those tracks where Juice talks about his “new Chanel” and how he crashed his Jaguar but it’s okay because he needed to upgrade to a Mercedes anyway. Him and Young Thug go back to back, as Thug’s quirky vocals go along great with Juices sleek and creative wordplay. This is probably the only song that isn’t very “emo” inspired -- it more so leans towards trap. I think this changeup was needed, and made the lower half of the album very exciting.
Unfortunately, many of the tracks after this either blend in, or just sounded somewhat dry.
“10 Feet” was good, I loved the beat that seems inspired by Kanye West. Only real hip-hop heads will know what I mean by that. But besides that track, nothing else is really offered on the rest of the album.
“She’s the One” is somewhat of an annoyance I find myself skipping. Nothing really interesting happens. It seems like an elevator song. “You be in Jersey like you Snookie” was a line that made me giggle, yet cringe I had to remind myself to skip this song from now on.
Juice WRLD did a pretty good job on the album. Much of which was expected. Classic Juice and his sad-boy rap we all have grown to love. This album almost makes me feel sorry for Juice, but at times I feel like he’s doing just fine with his new Mercedes and his new romantic partner.
I found many of the songs extremely enjoyable and some songs downright boring. This is definitely an album I could see doing numbers on the billboard chart. I hope “Who Shot Cupid?” will be one of those songs to do so, but I doubt it. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this album non-stop and deciphering the internal content. Juice WRLD’s album “Death Race for Love” gets a 6.5/10.
Favorite Tracks
- Who Shot Cupid?
- Empty
- Flaws and Sins
- ON GOD
- Ring Ring
Least Favorite Tracks
- Big
- Feeling
- The Bees Knees
- She’s the One
- Make Believe
6.5/10
