Chords for Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die ALBUM REVIEW

Hi everyone, [B] MaxThemUptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and [Ab] it is time for a review
[Am] of the new Juice WRLD record, Legends Never Die.
This is a new album from the late [Abm] Chicago rapper
Juice WRLD, who died this past December after a seizure most likely connected to the toxic levels
of codeine and oxy in his system.
Now, if you know anything about Juice WRLD, this incredibly
unfortunate end was connected to so many all-too-familiar themes in his music.
Drugs, ODing,
depression, medicating, which come up again and again and again in his lyrics and feel especially
concentrated in this new crop of songs.
I wouldn't expect [Gb] anything less of this project though,
meaning that when I went into this I didn't expect to hear Juice WRLD turn a new leaf or
anything like that.
To be honest, I didn't even think we would get the classic emo [Ab] trap record
he's been capable of dropping for a while now.
However, I do think Legends Never Die is as good
[B] as a posthumous album from Juice at this point could have been.
For one, I do see and appreciate
the conscious effort to gather songs and production that are [Gb] especially dreamy, smooth, moody,
heavenly, which is going to effectively play into the mood most Juice fans are going into this album
with, which I don't think is inherently a bad thing.
What's going to matter though ultimately
is whether or not the vocal performances and the writing and the production on this record are they
any good, and for the most part I actually think they are.
But the lyrics and the melodramatic
singing on this LP are likely to have a limited appeal.
Personally, I like the way Juice was able
to effectively infuse emo pop-inspired singing into the trap [Gb] form and explore themes of mental
health and addiction in the process, because I would rather listen to something that I felt
attributed Juice WRLD's talents and showcased and celebrated what he was known for and what he did
well versus a record that sort of spread him thin creatively and left a less than flattering image.
Now, the first leg of this LP in my opinion is pretty strong.
You have the very curious and
catchy conversations, then Titanic which sounds like being lost and abandoned.
The instrumental
here sounding like it's the soundtrack to an incredibly desolate, barren place.
There is then
the emotional exorcism of bad energy, the lush vocal layering on the hook here is absolutely
gorgeous.
The final major highlight in the first portion of this LP is the song Righteous, which
honestly to me sounds like Juice WRLD singing from beyond the grave.
The production on this track is
just otherworldly with how spacey [Abm] and angelic and pristine it sounds, and then with how eerily
predictive some of Juice's lyrics are, it's like he saw the end coming.
All these tracks stand out
in my view thanks to their sharp and expressive vocal leads, bars and rhymes that yes, they are
relatively simple in their display, but they still do communicate a lot of emotional anguish on Juice's
part.
The [Am] track Blood on My Jeans I think [G] is the first [Gb] real dud in the track list here, not just
because emotionally this is one of the more numb tracks on the record and I don't think it communicates
or displays a strong sense of sadness or really anything in my view, and on top of that the
production I think is some of the weakest on the entire record as well with these out of whack,
just very loud hits of sub bass totally drowning out the faint and sully strummed acoustic chords
that are trying to paint the background ineffectively.
From this song though we do kind
of transition into the next section of the record as Legends Never Die kind of works in three
different sections.
You have a bunch of strong solo tracks at the start that deal in a lot of
familiar themes, then shake things up with a few hard hitters and collaborations around the middle,
then finish it all off on a somewhat moodier note in the final leg.
Really I could take or leave the
Trippie Redd track on [G] this record, I think Trippie's and Juice's respective vocal energies just feel
really redundant on this song, plus the somewhat harsh plucky guitar lead that is laced into the
instrumental here is just [Am] really unappealing for me.
This section of the album still [Gb] features more
hits than misses though.
The track Hate the Other Side features an emotionally raw and powerful
appearance from Polo G.
Life's a Mess is one of the most gentle and dramatic tracks on this entire
record.
I just love how refined the instrumental is and how vocally Juice WRLD plays into that.
Halsey ties things up on the back end of the song pretty nicely.
Then there is Come and Go with its
killer rock riffs and very punchy marshmallow [A] production.
It is one of the most [Fm] boisterous songs
[Gb] on the entire record.
Once we're past all the collaborations and features on this record though,
the quality of the songs [Cm] gets a bit unpredictable.
Like with the song I Want It, which is so soft and
faint in sound and [Abm] delivery, it doesn't really leave much of an impression.
It's not terrible,
but certainly not one of the more memorable tracks here.
Given that we're talking about a record of
20-plus [F] songs and features, did we really need it?
Then with Screw Juice and Fighting Demons and
Stay High, these tracks in my view aren't bad, but they don't really bring anything sonically or
lyrically refreshing to the track list.
Nothing that previous tracks hadn't already brought to
the table and arguably done better.
So there is a point toward the end where the ideas on this LP
begin to run thin and that lack of emotional and sonic variation on this send-off record becomes
more of a double-edged sword, because some of the writing, some of the singing begins to feel a
little deja vu.
[Abm] Still, Wishing Well is easily one of Juice's best songs ever.
The sparkling guitars
and top-notch vocal performance on this track are both stunning.
Given the context of this record's
release, the song Can't Die is easily one of the most chilling songs here, as Juice WRLD sings
about essentially feeling his own death is around the corner, not really feeling alive.
Also seeing
his own friends and loved ones pass away.
Then we have Man of the Year, which is a pop-punk finale
with lots of driving drums, guitars, and bass, shouty lead vocals, Juice delivering touching
bars about how his lyrics are impacting emotionally his fans, saving [F] them, while still [Gb] wrestling with
his own internal demons, obviously.
Look, overall, I think Legends Never Die is a pretty decent
posthumous record.
Sure, there are a few duds in the track list and toward the end it does become
a bit samey, but I still feel this project is an effective display of the power of Juice WRLD's
sound, style, certainly a show of what made him significant and stand out as an artist.
This
project is [Ab] the calling card [Eb] of exactly what Juice WRLD did so well and so fantastically with his
voice, with his sound, and with his message, just packaged up very nicely.
Feeling a light seven on
this one?
Transition.
Have you given this album a listen?
Did you love it?
Did you hate it?
What
would you rate it?
You're the best, you're the best, what should I review next?
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Anthony Fantano,