★☆☆☆☆
Juice WRLD’s posthumous releases have kept fans hoping for a thoughtful closure to the late artist’s prolific career. Touted as his final album, The Party Never Ends instead leaves many fans feeling disappointed.
Rather than delivering a cohesive celebration of Juice WRLD’s legacy, the album feels like a disjointed, poorly executed collection of tracks with uneven mixing and questionable feature choices. For a project that should have been a proper send-off, it instead feels rushed and messy.
The album opens with the titular track, “The Party Never Ends,” a reworked version of fan-favorite “In The Dark.” This new version is disappointing, the beat changes strip the song of its original energy, reducing it to only a hook.
“Tell them drugs to play they part / Relax and let the party start,” Juice says in the chorus, right before the song discusses his drug usage and how he feels left “in the dark.”
Fans also noted that the added vocals are likely session takes from another unreleased track, meaning they were never even meant for this song, but just slapped in to fill a void. This further emphasized the track’s patchy, makeshift feel, sadly foreshadowing the rest of the project.
Several songs, including “Misfit,” “Love Letter,” and “Best Friend,” are stem edits, lacking the polish expected from an official release. In this production technique, an existing song is modified by isolating and altering specific “stems” or parts of the track.
Even more frustrating, is that the few songs heard or leaked beforehand sound degraded. The mixing is inconsistent, with some tracks sounding like they were ripped straight from YouTube, which fans later proved true by looking at the songs’ spectrograms and comparing them to the YouTube version.
“AGATS2 (Insecure),” featuring Nicki Minaj, is another example of a misstep. The song’s title is a lazy callback to one of Juice’s biggest hits, “All Girls Are the Same,” solely to get listens from older fans. Instead of reusing the same chorus fans know and love, though, the two repeat a more lacking lyric.
“And your insecurities / Will get the best of me,” Juice and Minaj sing.
While competent, Nicki’s feature does little to elevate the track. The perception among fans seems unanimous: This was an unnecessary addition.
“Jeffrey” is another glaring slip-up on a possibly massive song, as it copies the mixing producer JCraig did in 2018. JCraig posted his mix on Instagram as proof and explained they used his production without credit.
The title and chorus reference Jeffrey Lamar Williams, better known as Young Thug, and serves as a tribute to him. Juice’s very close friend and music collaborator, the two were going to drop a collaborative album in early 2020 that fell through.
“Young Rich N—a, that’s a guarantee / I be with them killers like Jeffrey,” Juice croons over the slow beat.
What truly baffled fans the most about this album was the decision by the label to include a solo song by The Kid LAROI. While LAROI’s connection and friendship with Juice is well-known, adding him onto the album on a track without Juice feels misplaced in an album intended to honor him.
Not everything on The Party Never Ends is a letdown. Tracks like “KTM Drip,” “Barbarian,” and “Spend It” deliver the classic Juice WRLD sound with memorable melodies, precisely what die-hards were pining for. These pieces of the album remind listeners of Juice WRLD’s immense talent, making the rest of the album’s flaws even more glaring.
Another surprising victory for the album was Eminem’s feature on “Lace It.” Eminem finds his footing instantly, shifting the energy when he comes onto the song and keeping his flow until he departs.
“Try your best to reverse (No), unsuccessfully flirtin’ with certain death / And revertin’ to your promethazine urge / The f—in’ devil, he lurks, lose your best friend, he smirks,” Eminem raps.
Even with these small successes, one of the most common criticisms of the album is the song choice. Juice WRLD’s unreleased catalog is extensive and considered the largest of any artist. His leaks have long been celebrated for their quality, quantity, and emotional depth despite being throwaways. Instead of releasing the leaked tracks, fans feel the estate prioritizes “unheard” songs over quality, undermining the album’s impact.
Ultimately, The Party Never Ends feels like a grossly mishandled project. For an artist of Juice WRLD’s caliber, this album should have been a carefully curated celebration of his life and music. Instead, it comes across as a cash grab, with little regard for quality, coherence, or Juice’s fans.
