Legends Never Die

In December of 2019, rapper/songwriter Juice WRLD died at the height of fame, just days after his 21st birthday. This tragic loss came months after the rapper had taken his second studio album, Death Race for Love, to the top of the charts, his distinctive blend of emotionally vulnerable lyricism and infectious genre-bending songcraft becoming a ubiquitous sound unto itself. Posthumous album Legends Never Die arrived less than a year after his passing, and offers further evidence of the late artist's gifts for self-inspection and exceptionally constructed hooks. "Conversations" is as catchy as a song about demonic visions and mental disturbance gets, with soft synth lines and a booming trap beat underscoring Juice WRLD's anxious, depressive observations. "Tell Me U Love Me" gets some assistance from Trippie Redd and the gentle, heartbroken ballad "Life's a Mess" features vocals from Halsey. Juice WRLD's general subject matters -- despair, substance abuse issues, loneliness and searching for authentic happiness -- already make for emotionally weighty songs, and listening to him sing from beyond gives Legends Never Die an impenetrably somber atmosphere. Allegedly Juice WRLD recorded over 2,000 songs that were unreleased at the time of his death, and the ones that surface here are in some ways stronger than the often disjointed and sometimes overly dramatic material that made up the albums released while he was alive. Legends Never Die is as strong a collection of Juice WRLD songs as any, with already-searing songs made more intense by the shadow of their departed creator looming over the album. ~ Fred Thomas