Juice WRLD

DEATH RACE FOR LOVE

This will be the moment that solidifies his status as one of rap’s most exciting new stars.

Genre-blending albums are not easy to pull off and for that, Juice WRLD should be given credit. From the seemingly sincere lyrics to the equally candid delivery, Juice truly goes with his gut in whichever way.

While his melodrama tends to grow old over the course of a 22-track, 72-minute album, it is captivating in small doses.

Throughout Death Race For Love’s 72 minutes ... Juice WRLD’s lyrics fall into two categories. Fifty percent of the lyrics are bad and the other 50 percent are also bad, but then they get stuck in your head and ultimately turn good.

Higgins expands his emo rap sound to embrace a wider range of musical styles.

His second album in a year is excessively long, which smacks of flogging the emo-rap horse before it buckles.

Death Race for Love delivers plenty of quality emo raps before succumbing to long album syndrome.

Success hasn’t been the Band-Aid Juice’s heart needed, and these new sad songs don’t quite hit the soul like previous ones did.

As a showcase for Juice WRLD’s ambition and his desire to expand his sound, Death Race deserves praise. But he still hasn’t figured out a way to make any of those other personas as invigorating as the heartbroken, bitter one that made him a star.

There's no shortage of highlights, but the lack of editing or focus means every song goes on a little too long and leads to another one that struggles to connect stylistically or emotionally.

The type of personality drawn in by a hyperviolent fantasy demolition derby headed up by a killer clown is likely very similar to that which most closely identifies with Juice WRLD's unfocused emotional ramblings.

Death Race For Love acts as a preemptive fire sale for any scrap of an idea he has. The 22 tracks across 72 minutes start off as digestible before turning so rancid, the urge to reach for the Listerine is strong by the time it all wraps up.