When I first saw this next song was one of the highest charting songs on the Alternative charts one day this summer, I was baffled – Juice WRLD, the late trap artist, having a hit on a rock chart?  No disrespect to a man who tragically died just days after his 21^st birthday, but this couldn’t be.  But this takes me back to an explanation I had before my #6 entry, regarding when I don’t mind hearing non-rock songs on what was once primarily a rock chart.

The first exception I made was for songs of all genres that just had a different sound than what is mainstream at the time, with “Hell N Back” as my example.  The second explanation is when the song is just that good.  I mentioned earlier Billie Eilish as an example a pop artist who has had equal success on the Alternative chart as she has had on the Billboard Hot 100.  In fact, it was the Alternative chart where Eilish first made a splash, when “You Should See Me In A Crown” and “Bury A Friend” made an impact months before “Bad Guy.”  And even though it’s truly a pop song, I don’t mind that “Bad Guy” was also a big hit on the Alternative charts because it’s just so good – a song with great lyrical content and already iconic music cues.  This song fits that description too, because even though this is a song by a trap artist and an EDM producer – it’s just that dang good.

And I never would have expected a great song in that vein from these two artists.

“Come & Go” – Juice WRLD & Marshmello

Pop
#2 peak, #54 year-end

Alternative
#7 peak, #46 year-end

So… full disclosure, I wasn’t a fan of Juice WRLD during his lifetime.  At the time of his death, I only knew his biggest hit “Lucid Dreams.”  Even when that song was big, I wasn’t aware of it because I wasn’t listening to any new music, and I learned about it the next year while watching Todd In The Shadows and other related review channels.  So for this entry, I went back and listened to some of his hits outside of “Come & Go.”  Of particular note were his first two hits, “Lucid Dreams” and “All Girls Are The Same.”  And sorry to everyone who loved this guy and mourned his death, but… these are not good songs.  They discuss romance with a lack of self-control or willingness to learn from mistakes.  I mean, “all girls are the same?”  Really?  And “Lucid Dreams” put forth lyric after lyric that inadvertently demonstrated that the guy was really the problem…

You found another one but I am the better one
I won’t let you forget me

Who knew evil girls had the prettiest face

You were made out of plastic, fake!

Yeah, didn’t sound like you were ready for a relationship.

To be fair to Juice WRLD, he admitted after the song hit it big that he wasn’t a fan of the overall sentiment of the song and how eager he was to release new music to replace it.  He admitted to Genius, “I probably figured out… I don’t know what true love is.”  So with that in mind, this year his collaboration with ubiquitous EDM producer Marshmello, “Come & Go,” was released from his posthumous album, Legends Never Die.  Let’s see how he did this time out.  I just hope it isn’t like-

I try to be everything that I can
But sometimes, I come out as bein’ nothin’
I pray to God that he make me a better man (Uh)
Maybe one day, I’ma stand for somethin’
I’m thankin’ God that he made you part of the plan
I guess I ain’t go through all that Hell for nothin’

Wait, correct me.  This is the same guy who wrote “Lucid Dreams?”  I swear, reading these lyrics, I just saw Juice WRLD grow from a kid to a man.  Now, instead of just complaining about what a jerk his last girlfriend was, he’s admitting his struggles in being the perfect boyfriend for his current lover.  Unlike on “Lucid Dreams,” he truly does love and care for this person.  It’s downright amazing hearing this, just two years later.  This time out, he’s taken the first step in becoming a mature man and boyfriend… taking responsibility for his actions.

I’m always f**king up and wreckin’ s**t
It seems like I perfected it
I offer you my love
I hope you take it like some medicine

Adding to it, Juice WRLD sounds great on this track.  He never had the best voice on a technical level, but “Come & Go” is much more natural to his vocal range, and even the auto-tune in the drop doesn’t take away from the lyrical sentiment, it just sounds like a way to blend his voice in with the music.

And speaking of music, what the heck happened to Marshmello?  I also did some research on Marshmello’s music for this entry, and while I don’t dislike everything he’s put his hands on over the years, I have to agree with the general consensus that his music is bland and safe.  Some of his stuff was decent, like the Selena Gomez collaboration “Wolves,” but then he’s also made “Frinds” with Anne-Marie (no, I did not get the title wrong, that’s how it’s spelled in the song).  And with “Happier,” it’s mixed.  Its good parts are largely because of Dan Smith’s singing rather than Marshmello, whose drop comes across as extremely distracting and generic.  In terms of Bastille collaborators, Graham Coxon wins this round.

But this time out, Marshmello begins with a somber piano melody that is affecting, and allows us to focus on Juice WRLD’s much-improved lyrics.  And then 50 seconds in, we get the element that allowed this to qualify for the Alternative chart, as well as something completely unexpected for a Juice WRLD song: a four-chord guitar riff.  And they sound fantastic.  The guitars sound clear and crisp, and they add to the romantic sentiment.  Juice WRLD has gone from sentimental in the verses to determined in the chorus, and he’s not going to ruin what he’s got.

Then we get to the drop.  A big reason for Marshmello’s mixed reception is because he hasn’t always gotten this part right.  Most of his drops sound less like climaxes and more like continuations of the song, such as on “One Thing Right” with Kane Brown.  But this time out, after the standard EDM build-up in the third and fourth repetitions of the chorus, we get an explosion of synths, lead guitar, and a trap beat.  It’s weird and somehow works because it’s just so glorious in its execution, how the elements of EDM, rock, and trap are all working together to celebrate this grand discovery of love.  And adding to that is the lead guitar riff in the final drop, which features a fantastic melody that just starts screaming towards the sky.  Who knew Marshmello could come up with good guitar riffs?  “Mello made it right,” indeed.

“Come & Go” is a story of redemption, not just in the lyrical content, but in the people who wrote and performed it.  Juice WRLD truly sounds like a changed man in the lyrics, and Marshmello paired it with by far his best beat to date.  Juice WRLD may be gone, but it’s kinda beautiful that he was able to figure it out before he passed.

SOURCES

Juice WRLD.  “Lucid Dreams.”  Genius 2018.  Web.  2 February 2021.

The Social Tune.  “Top 10 Worst Songs of 2018.”  YouTube 10 December 2018.  Web.  2 February 2021.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from WikiMedia

Image of Juice WRLD from TMZ

Image of Marshmello from Billboard

Music video image from Headline Planet