Artist Juice Wrld, age 20, broke out onto the mainstream scene when his album Goodbye and Good Riddance was released May 23rd, 2018, and soon his track “Lucid Dreams,” released May 4, 2018 went quadruple platinum while landing 12th place on the U.S. year-end Billboard top 100 in 2018. His second studio album titled Death Race for Love was released March 8th, 2019, featuring 22 tracks.
As an avid fan of rap and Juice Wrld himself, my first note on this latest album is that though there is a clear overall vibe to the types of songs included, Juice included a few that deviate a bit from his usual style, adding an ear-catching touch. Juice’s romance-related tracks on Death Race for Love are about being in love with his current girlfriend rather than heartbroken over exes as he has written about in previous songs.
In addition to these emotional tracks, Juice incorporates lyrical stories of his wealth, goals, and cars. With so many to choose from, it can be difficult with this album to pick out favorites, though personally I’d recommend “Desire,” “Syphilis,” and “Fast.” Juice ends his album with “Make Believe,” a song that seems to contrast the flowery feelings previously expressed about love on the album. With lyrics such as “…not afraid to die, as you can see; life isn’t real, love’s make believe,” Juice ends the album on a darker note that somewhat coincides with the album’s title.
With intriguing narratives and mainly mellow tones, as well as a few hard tracks mixed in, Juice Wrld has truly released an album his fans and others will enjoy, though possibly not to the extent of his first album.