It’s been nearly five months since we tragically lost Juice WRLD to an accidental overdose, after he suffered a seizure at Midway Airport in Chicago.
From then up until now, fans and the music industry alike have been mourning the loss of another superstar and talent taken way too soon.
Last Friday, we received his first official posthumous release; a single called “Righteous.”
The announcement came through a post made to Juice’s social media accounts;
“Tonight we will be releasing a song called ‘Righteous’ which Juice made from his home studio in Los Angeles. We hope you enjoy this new music and continue to keep Juice’s spirit alive. Stay safe everyone. Love Camela Wallace, Juice’s Family and the Grade A Team."
Prior to the song's release, Juice's mother also announced the establishment of the Live Free 999 Fund.
"Righteous" is a song that had been previewed by Juice and his team a few times before. The day before it's release, Juice’s long-time girlfiend, Ally Lotti took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the song.
The song is beautiful, and the beat features a simple guitar loop accompanied by some hard-hitting drums. It’s somewhat of a typical anthem from Juice, but some of the lyrics are also a scary reminder that the subject matter present in his entire discography, was way too real. He frighteningly sings “we may die this evening / Coughing, wheezing, bleeding,” which seems to be him touching on his intense substance abuse. Considering he’s no longer with us, it’s even harder to listen to him croon that he’s “taking medicine to fix all of the damage” and that his anxiety is “the size of a planet.” However, his music always was brutally honest and this is the main reason as to why and how he helped so many people who deal with the same struggles he did. While "Righteous" is not necessarily anything new from Juice, it further cements his legacy and showcases his musical abilities by showing us that perhaps the best of his music has yet to be released.
An accompanying video was also released, featuring various candid clips of the late artist. One quick clip that caught most viewers’ attention was of Juice in the studio with J. Cole. Prior to this video, this studio session was unknown to the public, so there’s now speculation about whether or not a collaboration between the two artists exists.
Juice's mother wrote that "choosing how to share his upcoming music with the world has been no easy feat. Honoring the love Juice felt for his fans while shining a light on his talents and his spirits are the most important part of his process to us." With this in mind, as well as the fact that his mother has been heavily involved, it's good that we waited months to officially hear Juice's voice through new music, rather than his estate rushing a release in order to profit off of his name.
”Righteous” is a thoughtful and careful step forward from Juice‘s estate. It’s rumoured that there is a large amount of unreleased work that Juice had recorded prior to his death, so we can only hope that this is the start of more Juice content to be released.
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