10 Sad Juice Wrld Songs You Will Love

The late rapper Jarad Higgins, a.k.a. Juice WRLD, is known for creating a new definition of the rap genre for himself, and consequently, for millions of fans. Though he passed away due to an overdose in 2019 at the age of 21, his music continues to inspire people.  So without further ado, here are 10 sad Juice Wrld songs that we feel are not only great songs, but ones that make you reflect deeper on life and relationships with other people.

Sad Juice Wrld Songs You Will Enjoy

Let’s begin with the song “Dark Place.”

Dark Place

Dark Place is one of Juice’s only slow songs. In most of his music, it’s as if he hides his real feelings behind the bass and intricate instrumentals. This song is a major exception to that, while he solemnly sings about how he wants to reverse the toxic patterns he’s gotten into but feels that it’s too late.

He compares his mind to a coffin and says that he’s looking death in the eyes and he’s already gone. He knows that people say they care about him, but he feels like “they’re just in love with the music so they’ll never know about the pain I go through.”

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Wishing Well

In Wishing Well, Juice says he knows drugs are killing him slowly, and the pain of his thoughts feel like an anvil on his shoulders. He says his life is like talking on the phone with entities on different lines: his depression and his addiction. His depression uses his past against him, and his addiction is synonymous with the devil, always tempting him to do bad things.

On the third line, there is us, the listeners. He says now is the time for him to lie and tell everyone he’s fine because he doesn’t want anyone to worry. It tears him apart inside how badly he needs drugs, “if it weren’t for the pills I wouldn’t be here, but if I keep taking the pills I won’t be here.” He feels like in life, he is constantly holding his breath and waiting for something to come along and let him know it’s okay to exhale.

Righteous

Righteous was the first song to be released after the rapper’s death. Over a peaceful guitar riff, he talks about how much pain he’s in and he feels like he’s drowning. Although he obviously didn’t release it himself, it feels like a message to fans that he is finally at peace and his suffering is over (“I know that the truth is hard to digest”).

He compares his anxiety to having the devil in his head, and hauntingly references his own death, “when it’s my time I’ll know.” He tries to fix it by taking unprescribed medications, but he’s left with an even bigger hole than before. Upon the song’s release, his girlfriend went live on Instagram to thank fans for their support and let them know that all she wants is to continue his legacy.

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Burn

On the first song of his second posthumous album, Juice releases everything he’s feeling about his addiction and mental health struggles. While this is a common theme in his music, this one feels more intimate. Both because it was released after his life was lost, and because the lyrics are some of his most raw. It feels like listening in on a private therapy session.

He begins the song by saying he can’t take one Percocet, “start tonight off I just took 60,” and talks about how he keeps himself and his friends dressed in luxury brands like Chanel and Burberry. He contradicts himself quite often, a trait that he is painfully aware of, later saying that wealth has brought him pain and money isn’t the answer. Even though he says that drugs help him drown out his pain, he knows he needs to put them down. “I can feel ‘em punching my liver / if I let it kill me my mama will never forgive me.”

The dangerous cycle he’s been put through reminds him of hell (“sometimes I wonder if that’s where God really sent me”), which could be what the song’s title is in reference to. The chorus says, “hands up in the fire” and we don’t really get an explicit definition of what he meant by this. It could mean that he’s letting life shoot him, like an open fire, or flames in a literal sense as he feels like he’s in a living hell. 

Cigarettes

Cigarettes is one of the thousands of unreleased Juice WRLD songs. It can be found on unofficial streaming platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud. It seems like a ballad, but a troubled one by someone who has attachment issues. He compares smoking cigarettes to impressing a girl, in the sense that they’re both addictive and he’s searching for something deeper by doing both.

His writing about a girl in this song is very reminiscent of the way he writes about drugs. She helps him feel better about himself and he hasn’t had a bad mental health episode since he met her. Which are both good things to experience but relying on anything other than yourself to feel better will only lead to disappointment in one way or another.

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Empty

With many of Juice WRLD’s songs, it sounds like he walked into the studio and used the microphone in the same way one would use a diary, letting all his feelings flow out. Empty is one of those songs, he feels empty on the inside and uses pills to try to fill the hole but knows that it isn’t doing much for him in the long run (“these drugs acting like mosh pit, squishing me”).

He takes note of how far he’s come, (“from rags to riches, now we driving with the rooftop missing”) but still feels like he lives in a black hole that he can’t escape from. He’s thankful for what he’s made of himself and feels that he was “put here to lead the lost souls,” but even that purpose doesn’t make his own soul feel any less lost. He never gets peace and tries to find signs to keep going, but “all I can find is a sign of the times.”

Candles

In Candles, Juice talks about how his pain and trauma from his past relationships are seeping into his present ones. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s just insecure or if it’s a different sort of pain that remains after someone betrays you, but he feels like he needs to hurt this girl before she hurts him, and those are the only two options in his mind.

He’s fallen into toxic cycles of addiction and playing love games, and the only thing that can cease his unintentional self-sabotage is more pills (“just give me drugs”). Unlike most of his other songs, the title is not mentioned once in this track. So, the word “Candles” could be a reference to “old flames,” or something more cryptic like how the cycles of pain and abuse he keeps going through are slowly causing his soul to melt away.

Legends

This song was put out a year and a half before Juice WRLD died, but has some eerie similarities to his own passing. It is a tribute to other rappers who lost their lives at young ages such as Lil Peep (1996-2017) and XXXTentacion (1998-2018). It was released as part of an EP with only two songs, the album cover of which is a screenshot of text messages between himself and XXXTentacion.

He says he feels like no one else is speaking on this topic, so he needs to. The unexpected, premature deaths of other people in his industry scare him and he wishes there was a good explanation for it. Along with grief, they brought him a feeling of uncertainty surrounding his own future. “They tell me imma be a legend, I don’t want that title now, ‘cause all the legends seem to die out.”

Rich and Blind

Rich and Blind is on the same EP as Legends and has some references to other rappers who have died (“RIP to all my peers”) but is mainly him talking about how although his life seems glamorous and exciting, his soul still feels dark. (“Do you really wanna read my mind? I promise all that you will find is a lost soul, rich and blind.”)

He can’t seem to find his inner purpose. He knows that his fans appreciate his music (“this is dedicated to you if you’ve felt the lowest of the low”), but he still feels unfulfilled. He copes with humor so he doesn’t bring down the people around him, and “they tell me the death of me gon’ be the Perkies” (Percocet, a type of opiate that is abused for its narcotic effects. Eerily, his death was from an opioid overdose). 

He knows that he has destructive habits, but using drugs drowns out the chaos around him. He expresses concern that his use is getting out of control, and he fears that he faces the same fate as his associates. But most of all, Rich and Blind is a message to others who deal with mental health issues to let them know that they’re not alone.

All Girls Are the Same

In this song, Juice pours out his heart about how he feels ashamed that he got his heart broken in a similar fashion that he’d experienced before. He copes with this by drinking, traveling, and getting with more women. He knows this isn’t a sustainable solution to solving his problems (“who am I kidding”), yet he still insists that he just wants to have a real connection with someone, but he doesn’t seem to fit in and doesn’t know what to do.

He feels like he’s missing something when it comes to love (“tell me what’s the secret to love? I don’t get it”). He knows he needs to change his ways before he’ll see a change in the people he attracts, but the weight of his past relationships feels like a demon that’s constantly hanging over his head. So, it’s easier to just say that All Girls Are the Same than do any inner work to try to move on.

Conclusion

Since the passing, listening to sad Juice Wrld songs is a bittersweet experience. He lost his battle to depression and addiction but spent his whole life trying to get people to keep going. These messages are prevalent in his music, and despite his struggles, all he wanted was for fans to know that they’re not alone. 

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