“Rockstar in His Prime” by Juice WRLD

Juice WRLD was a musical artist whose numerous works tended to operate along the same motif. You often hear his name being mentioned in relation to “demons” or what have you. Such references were intended to be personifications of the various mental and emotional issues Juice was dealing with. 

And it is his inability to effectively overcome them which then led WRLD to the consumption of drugs as a remedy. And such was such a consistent plot in his lyrics that even Juice WRLD songs that didn’t squarely center on such a topic still reference it in one way or another.

“Rockstar In His Prime”

So in the title/chorus of this piece, the reason Juice is likening himself to a “rock-star in his prime” is not mainly due to the fact that he was a successful professional musician. Rather it is because true rock music is a genre where, just to be frank, the abuse of drugs is an established norm. 

So what Juice is saying is that he too is like one of such individuals on the top of his game, i.e. able to consume dangerous intoxicants but dodge the associated negative health effects.

But as we all know, even rockstars in their prime sometimes OD themselves to death. So concerning the first verse of this song, it’s like if the listener doesn’t take time, one may hastily conclude that Juice WRLD is celebrating such a lifestyle. But as the track progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that he’s rather trapped therein. 

And that’s where the aforementioned motif further comes into play. The character of both the Devil and God are brought into the mix. And whereas Juice implies that he’s more inclined to follow the advice of the latter, it is in fact the nagging of his internal “demons”, such as anxiety, which inspires him to remain perpetually high.

Thesis Sentiment of “Rockstar in His Prime”

But still, the thesis sentiment of this piece revolves around the vocalist’s belief that despite this modus operandi, he will not damage himself to the point of death, being stronger than that, if you will. 

Of course that did not prove true for Juice WRLD in real life, even if he did OD in a very unconventional manner. So the obvious implication is that he wrote this song at a time whereas he knew drugs were a problem in his life, but concurrently the prospect of actually ODing to death was one he didn’t deem realistic.

When was this song released?

On the track listing of Juice’s 2021 album (“Fighting Demons”), “Rockstar in His Prime” appears as the sixth song. And since this song wasn’t released as one of its albums singles, it officially came out on the same day as the album. Actually only just a handful of singles were released in support of “Fighting Demons”. They include:

• “Wandered to LA”
• “Already Dead”

FYI: Since Juice’s untimely death in 2019, a number of his posthumous albums have been released. “Fighting Demons” happens to be one of them.

Writing and Production Credits

The official list for the composition credits for “Rockstar in His Prime” consists of Juice and T-Minus. T-Minus is a renowned record producer from Canada. Over the years, he has worked with greats including the likes of Eminem, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Drake.

In addition to co-writing this song, T-Minus also solely took charge of its entire production.