By: Brooke Johnpier
This week’s article is going to be done a little bit differently, as the band/artist for this week, Juice WRLD, has done so much stuff that I cannot even think of putting it all in one article. Read on to get a brief biography about him, his album statistics, and a personal flair.
Juice WRLD, born Jarad Anthony Higgins, was an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 2, 1998 – and sadly passed away from a drug overdose on December 8, 2019, at 21 years old.
WRLD grew up with his older brother and mother as his parents divorced when he was three. Because of that, WRLD grew up strict, and wasn’t allowed to listen to music such as hip-hop or rap. But the boys were allowed to play video games and listen to other types of music, including rock. This started WRLD’s fascination with music. He learned to play the guitar, drums, trumpet, and piano during his school years. In 10th grade, WRLD began to take his musical talent more seriously, and realized that he had a potential for rap.
May 25, 2018, saw the release of WRLD’s debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance. This album was an instant hit, landing number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, as well as having a total of 5 hits: “All Girls are the Same,” “Lucid Dreams,” “Lean wit Me,” “Wasted,” and “Black & White.” “Lucid Dreams” is his most successful song of all time, landing number two on the Hot 100 chart, and going platinum in the US 11 times. My personal favorite song on the album is “Black & White.”
March 8, 2019, saw WRLD release his second album, Death Race for Love. This album won the iHeart Radio Music Awards’ Hip-Hop Album of the Year. This album contains a total of three hits: “Robbery,” “Syphilis,” and “Bandit.” This album did better than his first album, landing number one on the Billboard 200 chart. My personal favorite song on the album is “Bandit.” Unfortunately, this would be the last album that WRLD would have released while he was alive. But due to the extensive amount of work he did in the studio, he had enough material for a couple albums to be released posthumously, with his final album in the works.
July 10, 2020, saw the release of WRLD’s third album, and the first one released after his death, Legends Never Die. This is my personal favorite album of WRLD’s, and when it came out on vinyl, I got a copy. I believe that there’s not a bad song on the album, and so did the country, as this album topped the Billboard 200 chart. My favorite song off of this album, and one of the multiple hits that it contains, is “Smile.” During the year 2020 though, it was found out that WRLD was the fourth most streamed artist online of all time.
December 10, 2021, saw the release of his fourth album, Fighting Demons. This album landed number two on the Billboard 200 chart and received great critical acclaim. In the first week, the album sold 119,000 copies, and had three major hits: “Legends,” “Cigarettes,” and “Already Dead.” My personal favorite on the album is “Legends.” WRLD’s fifth, and final, album has not been released yet, but in an Instagram post earlier this year, it was revealed that it was in the works.
Juice WRLD’s works are too complicated to try to put into an article. The amount of music released that wasn’t on albums is so immense that all I can tell you to do is go on Spotify, or SoundCloud, and look up WRLD. You will find so much music that was unreleased, or released as a single, or even on other artists’ albums, that you will be shocked. All I ask is that you at least listen to one song. I promise you that you won’t regret it. He is one of my top five favorite artists of all time.
Have a band/artist that you want to be written about? Email your suggestion to Brooke at johnpibl23@bonaventure.edu!
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