Goodbye and Good Riddance, A Retrospect

With the new Juice Wrld Album on its way, followed by the documentary, it seems like it’s a good time to look at one of Juice Wrld’s first Albums. Goodbye and Good Riddance is Juice Wrld’s debut album, released in 2018, starting his career with a boom, most noticeably by his 3^rd track, Lucid Dreams. With the time passing and new music dropping, one question is left, does this album still hold up?

Starting off with his first song, All Girls Are the Same, we get an idea of what the album is going to contain. His sad and stressed tone makes the listener feel a sense of sympathy and pity, making the listener want to hear his story and what he has to say. This song uses minimal metaphors and imagery, but by doing this, the song is more personal, making it seem like he’s venting to the listener directly, thus making the listeners-particularly the heartbroken- connect to the lyrics. The beat compliments his sad and stressed lyrics. The album divides itself into three sections, the introduction, the interlude (the truly heartbroken) and the “recovery”. The next song to follow the interlude, Candles, starts off with the line “I don’t know if its because my heart hurts or if I’m insecure, I’m not sure”. Transitioning from the songs such as All Girls Are the Same and Wasted, which were songs that depicted anger, frustration, and denial, we are now getting a more confused, sad, and hopeless tone. This song best shows how many heartbroken people feel, when you don’t feel anything or a feeling that can’t be described by simple words. “Love don’t end good for me, no good for me, she’s good for me, too good.” is later then said, but the key part this play is how he goes from portraying his ex as a terrible person like before, to someone who is too good for him. This contrast of ideologies really shows how he really is confused, from not knowing if it’s because of how bad the breakup left him, or if he really is just insecure of himself. To end this section of the true heartbreak, the song Used to be introduced. One thing about this song that differentiates itself from the other songs is how this song truly shows the feeling of heartbreak, with the beat, flow, and lyrics. At first, we get the lines “it don’t hurt as bad as it used to”, and “my last girl left me cold, frozen in the snow”. Delivered by a tired tone, we can hear how much this took a toll on him. This later shows how reckless he has become due to this feeling, something that has been shown with people who lost someone they loved, from death or in this case, a breakup. By showing how much he went from being sad and depressed over the situation to simply not even caring about his own health can be relatable to the listener, who might be going through a similar situation. Following this, we get to hear how much he has changed through the breakup. In the song “Long Gone” he does acknowledge the fact he will miss her, stating that he has kept her memorabilia. But by this point, he claims that the feeling of wanting her back is long gone. This later followed by his last few songs show that he has still been scarred by the heartbreak, but is now moving past that, with some ways that a lot of people have gone through a lot of these situations. By being out with friends, spending time to think and just live, and medication.

Now the question remains, will this album still hold up? In this case, it is a yes, for many reasons. Firstly, the amazing beats, catchy flow, and attention-grabbing lyrics are enough to capture the attention of the listener and in some cases, the heart of those who are heartbroken. For those who are going through a breakup, the album has tracks that could explain a feeling most people can’t seem to get out. Even if the listener isn’t sad over a heartbreak, they would enjoy the easy to digest songs. This album is a classic, which would last a very long time.

Until Next time with the next retrospect/review