Fighting Demons

The importance of Fighting Demons is indisputable in today's society. For decades, Fighting Demons has been a recurring topic in debates, research and discussions in different areas. Its influence ranges from personal, social, political, economic and cultural aspects, impacting the way people approach their daily lives. Fighting Demons has been the subject of attention of academics, scientists, opinion leaders and professionals, seeking to understand its scope and consequences. In this article, we will explore in detail the relevance of Fighting Demons and its impact on modern society.

Fighting Demons
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 10, 2021 (2021-12-10)
Recorded
  • 2018–2019
  • 2021
Genre
Length55:45
Label
Producer
Juice Wrld chronology
Legends Never Die
(2020)
Fighting Demons
(2021)
The Party Never Ends
(2024)
Singles from Fighting Demons
  1. "Already Dead"
    Released: November 12, 2021
  2. "Wandered to LA"
    Released: December 3, 2021
  3. "Cigarettes"
    Released: February 2, 2022

Fighting Demons is the fourth studio album by American rapper Juice Wrld. It was posthumously released by Grade A Productions and Interscope Records on December 10, 2021. The album features guest appearances from Justin Bieber, Polo G, Trippie Redd, and Suga of BTS. It serves as a tie-in for an HBO-produced documentary titled Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss, released on December 16, 2021.

Release and promotion

On November 11, 2021, Grade A Productions, in conjunction with Juice Wrld's mother, Carmela Wallace, announced the album with the release date of December 10, 2021. The album's lead single, "Already Dead", was released the following day, November 12, 2021, the song peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The second single, "Wandered to LA", a collaboration with Canadian singer Justin Bieber, was released on December 3, 2021, the song peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On December 9, 2021, a tribute event titled Juice Wrld Day was held at Chicago's United Center. At the event, the album was played prior to its release as a listening party. A few special guests appeared to perform and pay respect to Juice, including Ski Mask the Slump God, Trippie Redd, 24kGoldn, and Lucki. Juice's former DJ Mike P hosted the event.

The song "Girl of My Dreams" with South Korean rapper Suga was released as a promotional single on the album's release date on December 10, 2021.

"Cigarettes" was released for digital download on February 2, 2022, as the album's third single. The song peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. The complete edition of the album was released on the same day, alongside the newly released song "Go Hard 2.0".

The previously released singles from the two-track EP Too Soon.., "Rich and Blind" and "Legends", were later added to the album on March 18, 2022, alongside the newly released song "Sometimes".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic73/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Clash5/10
HipHopDX3.6/5
NME
Pitchfork6.5/10
RapReviews7/10
Rolling Stone

Fighting Demons was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 73, based on seven reviews.

A. D. Amorosi of Variety praised many of the guest artists on Fighting Demons, with Justin Bieber's verse on single "Wandered to LA" and Suga's verse on promotional single "Girl of My Dreams" being his two favourites. He mentioned that the album stands out over other post-mortem projects because, in comparison, there are "surprisingly (and happily) few features". Writing for NME, Kyann-Sian Williams gave the project a rating of 4/5 stars citing that Fighting Demons "shows the other side of Juice Wrld, which was never explored enough while he was alive" and that the project manages to deepen his narrative with a level of care rarely seen on posthumous releases. Reviewing the album for HipHopDX, Mackenzie Cummings-Grady stated, "Fighting Demons embodies Juice Wrld in that way: a flawed project with moments of brilliance that feels uncomfortable to listen to but isn't ashamed of its naked humanity. And in that aspect, it becomes a balancing act of the man and the artist, melding the two to create a project that's earnest and authentic – just like Juice Wrld".

Fred Thomas of AllMusic said, "Themes of struggling to overcome depression and drug dependency surface often on Fighting Demons, making it a heavier collection than the sometimes celebratory memoriam of Legends Never Die. It's not an essential piece of the Juice Wrld story, but it's also not without some solid reminders of his greatness". Rolling Stone critic Will Dukes said, "Fighting Demons, his second posthumous album is a tortured but overall grateful memento mori from a talented artist who left us all too soon". In a lukewarm review, Clash's Robin Murray wrote, "Ultimately Fighting Demons works almost as a tribute record, gathering fragments of his undoubted genius. Whether it's a true Juice Wrld album, though, is another matter".

Commercial performance

Fighting Demons debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 119,000 album-equivalent units (including 4,000 pure album sales) in its first week. The album also accumulated a total of 155.49 million on-demand streams of the set's tracks in the week ending December 25.

Track listing

Fighting Demons track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Burn"Metro Boomin3:37
2."Already Dead"
3:51
3."You Wouldn't Understand"
2:50
4."Wandered to LA" (with Justin Bieber)
3:08
5."Eminem Speaks" 2:13
6."Rockstar in His Prime"T-Minus3:00
7."Doom"
Take a Daytrip3:37
8."Go Hard"KBeaZy2:14
9."Juice Wrld Speaks"Higgins 1:29
10."Not Enough"
  • Higgins
  • Bach
  • Lukasz Gottwald
  • Justin Craig
  • Pierre DeJournette
  • Christopher Barnett
2:51
11."Feline" (with Polo G and Trippie Redd)
  • Mira
  • Sidepce
3:32
12."Relocate"
  • Higgins
  • Mira
Mira3:28
13."Juice Wrld Speaks 2"
  • Higgins
  • Masamune Kudo
Rex Kudo3:10
14."Until the Plug Comes Back Around"
  • Higgins
  • Gežin
  • Lord
  • Andrew Migliore
  • Jack Cohen-Mungan
  • Gežin
  • Lord
  • No Love for the Middle Child
  • Audio Jacc
2:53
15."From My Window"
  • Higgins
  • Mira
  • Ryan Vojtesak
  • Mira
  • Charlie Handsome
3:07
16."Girl of My Dreams" (with Suga of BTS)
  • Higgins
  • Min Yoon-gi
  • Lord
  • Jagvir Aujla
  • Joshua Jaramillo
  • Karim El-Ziftawi
  • Jaegen
  • Josh J
  • Kookoo
  • Lord
3:46
17."Feel Alone"
  • Higgins
  • Miguel Curtidor
Danny Wolf3:50
18."My Life in a Nutshell"
  • Higgins
  • Mira
Mira3:08
Total length:55:45
Complete edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
8."Go Hard 2.0"
  • Higgins
  • Mira
KBeaZy3:35
Total length:59:20
Extended edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
3."Cigarettes"
  • Higgins
  • Mira
Mira3:47
Total length:63:07
Digital deluxe edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
5."Sometimes"
  • Higgins
  • Curtidor
  • Subhaan Rahman
  • Othello Houston
  • Danny Wolf
  • Haan
  • Otxhello
4:20
22."Rich and Blind"
  • Higgins
  • Biral
  • Baptiste
  • Russell Chell
  • Take a Daytrip
  • Chell
3:09
23."Legends"
  • Higgins
  • Biral
  • Baptiste
  • Russell Chell
  • Take a Daytrip
  • Chell
3:12
Total length:74:15

Personnel

  • Juice Wrld – lead vocals
  • Emerson Mancini – mastering (1, 4–9, 11–18)
  • Colin Leonard – mastering (2, 3)
  • Dale Becker – mastering (10)
  • Ethan Stevens – mixing (1)
  • Manny Marroquin – mixing (2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11–13, 15–18)
  • Max Lord – mixing (3, 6, 8, 14), recording (1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14–18)
  • Serban – mixing (10)
  • Joey Galvan – recording (2)
  • Louis Bell – recording (4), vocal editing (4), vocal production (4)
  • Austin Patton – recording (5, 9)
  • Patrick Ehrenblad-Plummer – recording (6)
  • Fili Filizzola – recording (10)
  • Logan Haynes – recording (13)
  • Viko Marley – recording arrangement (11)
  • Chris Galland – mastering assistance (1), mixing assistance (2)
  • Robin Florent – mastering assistance (1), mixing assistance (2)
  • Zach Pereyra – mastering assistance (1), mixing assistance (2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11–13, 15–18)
  • Anthony Vilchis – mixing assistance (4, 5, 7, 9, 11–13, 15–18)
  • Evan Jordan – recording assistance (16)
  • James Kang – recording assistance (16)
  • Camella Wallace – additional vocals (12)

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Fighting Demons
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) Gold 100,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for Fighting Demons
Region Date Label(s) Format(s) Edition Ref.
Various December 10, 2021 Standard
March 18, 2022

Notes

References

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