The party never starts
Zach Payne, Sports Editor |
Since his death in December of 2019, the legacy of Juice WRLD has been marred.
Not by his music, which has risen in sales and maintained popularity on the top charts, but by how that music is produced and published by his label, Grade A Productions.
The label, namely Juice’s manager, Brandon “Lil Bibby” Dickinson, has had almost exclusive control over everything to do with his music. However, problems have arisen with being able to deliver the fans the music they want.
At first, everything seemed to be operating smoothly. In the months after his death, at the urging of Juice’s mother, Carmella Wallace, Grade A released the song Righteous in April of 2020. The lead single for his first posthumous album Legends Never Die, which was released July of 2020.
The album was originally to be named ‘Outsiders’ but it was changed after Juice’s passing. The album featured standout hits such as “Wishing Well,” “Conversations,” and “Tell me U luv me” featuring Trippie Redd.
However, this is also where one of the common threads with the Juice WRLD community arose: songs getting leaked.
The album was comprised almost entirely of leaks. With “Stay High” and “Screw Juice” being the only songs that were completely new to fans. “Titanic” was also mostly new, but a snippet had been posted prior to the album’s release. Even the interludes had been leaked beforehand.
Throughout the rest of 2020 and 2021, Grade A released more singles, capitalizing on the hype for new music after Legends Never Die. However, this is where more complaints arose.
In June 2020, The Kid Laroi released “GO” feat. Juice WRLD. A song that helped Laroi reach new heights as an artist. Laroi had previously been signed to Grade A, and joined Juice on tour in Australia as the opening act.
Thus, Grade A and Lil Bibby saw an opportunity to launch Laroi to true superstar status and released a new song “Reminds me of you” on the anniversary of Juice WRLD’s death. A song that was marketed as a collaboration between Laroi and Juice. And was released on all platforms as a single under Juice WRLD’s page. The problem was, he only had a 30-second verse on the song. A song marketed as a full collab was nothing more than a minor feature.
Fans were outraged after the release, calling out Grade A and Lil Bibby for using Juice’s name to promote The Kid Laroi. For months afterward, fans, friends, and family members of Juice began to call Laroi an industry plant.
In an effort to do right by Juice WRLD fans, in the summer of 2021, the first teaser for the next project, The Party Never Ends was released in the form of a trailer for the lead single “Go Hard.”
The trailer drew a lot of excitement for the new album. But after growing frustration from songs being leaked, Grade A pivoted and instead put The Party Never Ends back on the shelf and began the rollout for Fighting Demons. The lead single “Already Dead” was released in November 2021 and the album was released shortly thereafter in December 2021.
In early 2022, Bibby took some of the songs that were set to be part of The Party Never Ends and released them as part of a deluxe edition of Fighting Demons instead. Those songs include “Cigarettes,” “Go Hard 2.0,” and “Sometimes.”
In late 2022, Bibby revived The Party Never Ends, releasing “In My Head,” “Face 2 Face,” and “Bye Bye” in what was supposed to be the rollout for the album. But after leaks kept revealing parts of the album ahead of its release, the project was scrapped once again.
For a while after that there was next to nothing from Grade A on the next album. The single “KNIGHT CRAWLER” with Trippie Redd dropped in January of 2023, but fans were eagerly awaiting news on the album.
In February of 2023, Bibby once again announced the rollout for The Party Never Ends, releasing “The Light” (notably a leaked song) as the lead single, and announcing that this would be the final album they would release. But after “The Light” didn’t do as well as expected on the charts and more songs leaked, Bibby once again canceled the project.
As a result of the constant postponement of the album, the hype and anticipation has diminished significantly. And there hasn’t been much new music being released either.
“Doomsday,” a collaboration between Juice and Cordae released in June 2023. And “Lace it” feat. Eminem released in December of 2023. But that has been the only noise coming from Grade A regarding Juice’s music.
“Lace it” is expected to be the new lead single on the album. An album that still doesn’t have a firm release date. However, it’s now expected to release in June of 2024 — nearly three years after it was originally teased.
Considering the amount of time this album has been postponed, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which the album is released at all if Bibby and Grade A don’t stick to that June deadline.
It is now more than four years since Juice WRLD passed away. At a certain point, you have to let the artist rest and leave fans to enjoy the catalog of released songs and any leaks the community has uncovered.
For an album titled The Party Never Ends, we are still left wondering if the party will ever start.
