Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Juice WRLD album, The Party Never Ends.

Here we have a new posthumous record from the late lyricist, songwriter, emo rap, kingpin Mr. Juice WRLD, an artist whose meteoric rise to fame was tragically cut short in 2019. And believe it or not, his image and influence only seems to have grown since. With multiple posthumous projects having been released at this point, the demand for Juice WRLD's music seems to have outlasted the emo trap fusion wave he wrote in on in the first place. I mean, as of the recording of this video, he's one of a few rappers to have been immortalized with a Fortnite skin.

However, all of this capitalizing on Juice WRLD's legacy, which is understandable to some extent because he has a lot of fans who love him and miss him and, of course, wish they could hear more of his music, more new music. There's still an element to all of this that is obviously exploitative, though, which becomes difficult to ignore when you consider that a lot of the music that's been coming out of the vault as of late has not really been his best stuff.

Because what's really the use in releasing a bunch of cobbled-together collections of tracks that don't really add to Juice's artistic canon that much or reflect all that well on his abilities as a a singer and a writer? This was really a glaring problem on the last posthumous Juice WRLD album, Fighting Demons, which seemed like the label was really scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of what was worth releasing, especially on the 27-track deluxe edition of the project. I really thought after that we were at the end of posthumous Juice WRLD albums. But no, The Party Never Ends is a whole 'nother body of work.

Honestly, my hopes were not high going into this thing, considering just how much of an eyesore the front cover is, which, believe it or not, is not just a terrible play on the legendary illustration style of Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami. This is actually his work. I will say this, though, after actually giving this record a genuine shot, it does not sound quite as bad as it looks, and it does seem like a bit more care went into this project overall in comparison with Fighting Demons.

There is a bit of a narrative flowing throughout the project as the experience of the album is supposed to, on some level, feel like being at a Juice WRLD concert with all this spliced in audio of audiences cheering and Juice interacting with the crowds or engaging in some stage banter. Then here and there, there's also some dialog between two guys who are making their way to a Juice WRLD concert or just being at one. There's even a mention of throwing their rent money away on Juice WRLD tickets instead of paying that damn rent, which is a pretty funny start to the album, honestly. So there's that.

I also think the features this time around also make a bit more sense. There's the ultra glossy pop-centric "All Girls Are The Same 2" featuring Nicki Minaj. It's a sequel to the 2017 track and features a soaring chorus, very glitzy production. And while it is a bit too clean for my taste, and I feel like Nicki's guest verse is tacky and short as well, I do think the song is well-produced and at least reflects on Juice well from a marketing standpoint. It's certainly an accessible listen.

Then we also have "Lace It" featuring Eminem, who's guest verse essentially turns the song into a grim PSA on drug abuse warning listeners to not befall the same fate as Juice WRLD or many other artists who drugs have tragically taken from us over the years. Eminem also details his own experience falling down that rabbit hole, too. And while obviously Eminem rap-wise has a very different style from Juice WRLD, the two of them have collaborated at various points over the years. And on top of it, there's definitely some great narrative and conceptual crossover happening here, even if they don't have similar respective styles.

"Goodbye" with The Kid Laroi was a highlight as well, considering Kid and Juice collaborated quite a few times while he was still with us. Here they essentially create a song that sounds like a very heart-wrenching goodbye from Laroi. It's a genuinely emotional moment on the record with a strong tune to it. "Celebrate" with Offset sounds like a Future song. I wish they just got Future on it, especially considering Juice and Future had collaborated in the past on songs that sound exactly like this.

Then toward the end of the record, we have "Best Friend" with Fall Out Boy, which is crazy, but also, I mean, consider the emo influence that pervades pretty much all of Juice's tracks. It was also rumored that they wanted to do some collaboration or crossover while Juice was still around. And while I do think the track might be a bit corny and lovey-dovey on the lyrics side, it's still very catchy, it's still cute, it's still endearing, and Patrick Stump really gives the song a big finish toward the end.

So yeah, there are sensible crossovers across this album that I think actually added to the quality of it. But beyond that, it's still the case that this record is jam-packed with moments lyrically that don't really show Juice at his best. Now, I know he had a tendency in the process of creating his music to just improvise and rift on instrumentals and basically pick from what was left over to share and put out the best stuff, which leaves us with a lot of recorded material, but that doesn't necessarily mean all of it is worth releasing or that it reflected well on him artistically. Clearly, this man was not at his peak when he decided to say, "Tour her through her Gucci crop top, now she need a crop top / Bae, let's have a conversation, my crotch, your twat."

There's that. There's also the painfully obvious bar on "Misfit". "I'm a misfit, that means I don't fit, nah, I don't fit in." Yes, that was made clear. And who can forget, "I feel like Mario, so I had her go and fuck on Luigi / I'm the shit like a pile of feces." Look, this is all just a slice of the lyrical shortcomings on this album. And not only is this an issue, but there are numerous tracks on this thing where the vocal performances are not all that great. Like on "Party By Myself", Juice vocally sounds so disheveled. It's actually concerning and really hard to listen to, especially given the context of the song and his passing.

There are other tracks, too, where the vocals are so touched up and processed and autotuned. It feels like I'm listening to a bad YouTube rip or somebody who is just a terrible Juice WRLD copycat, be that on "Jeffrey" or "KTM Drip". I mean, there are some very hooky, druggy, banger-type highlights that I do enjoy here and there, peppered throughout the album, like on "Cuffed" or "Empty Your Pockets", or the super heavy drums on "Oxycodone", which has really stand-out chorus, melodies and stylistically I just feel like, is emo trap personified.

"Barbarian", I thought was pretty listenable too, with its super persistent flows from Juice, but really, what do these songs add to his catalog that countless others haven't already? So yeah, The Party Never Ends, I think, is a slight improvement on the last posthumous Juice WRLD album. Yes, it's better, but not really by much, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent five on this one.

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?

Anthony Fantano. Juice WRLD. Forever.