Bad Vibes Forever

Bad Vibes Forever is the fourth and final studio album by American rapper XXXTentacion. It was released through Bad Vibes Forever and Empire Distribution on December 6, 2019. The production was handled by XXXTentacion himself, alongside DJ Carnage, John Cunningham, JonFX, Ronny J, XXYYXX, and among others. The album features a wide range of guest appearances from artists including PnB Rock, Trippie Redd, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Killstation, Noah Cyrus, Tom G, Tory Lanez, Mavado, Craig Xen, Kemba, Joey Badass, Sauce Walka, Carnage, Ky-Mani Marley, Stefflon Don, Vybz Kartel, Jimmy Levy, Joyner Lucas, Ikabod Veins, and Blink-182. The album serves as a follow-up to his first posthumous album and third studio album, Skins (2018).

Bad Vibes Forever was supported by three singles – "Royalty", "Hearteater", and "Bad Vibes Forever". Bad Vibes Forever received mostly mixed reviews from critics and debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, earning 65,000 album-equivalent units.

Background

Bad Vibes Forever was initially planned as XXXTentacion's debut album, with a slated release date of October 31, 2016. In a March 2017 interview, XXXTentacion stated he was working on Bad Vibes Forever alongside 17. 17 was released as his debut album in August 2017, followed by the EP A Ghetto Christmas Carol in December. That same month, XXXTentacion announced that his next three albums would be titled ?, Skins, and Bad Vibes Forever.

XXXTentacion's second studio album ? was released in March 2018, the last project he released before being murdered in June 2018. His first posthumous album, Skins, was released in December 2018. On the anniversary of his murder, his estate announced an upcoming album and documentary planned for the year. Billboard confirmed the album's title as Bad Vibes Forever in August 2019, with a slated release for fall 2019. The album was reported to feature guest appearances from Stefflon Don, Lil Wayne, Lil Nas X, Trippie Redd, Rick Ross, Joey Badass and more. However, the song featuring Lil Nas X would later be scrapped; stating that the fans didn't want it at first, it was because of one of Lil Nas X's tweets from his old Twitter account. But it was resolved, right around the corner from the release of the album. On August 25, 2019, the songs "Hearteater" and "School Shooters (ft. Lil Wayne)" were confirmed for the album.

On November 12, 2019, a teaser for the album and XXXTentacion's clothing line, also titled Bad Vibes Forever, was released through his Instagram story. In the video, the album was presented as "the final album".

On November 20, 2019, the album's cover art was teased on social media by XXXTentacion's mother who stated that the album would be "coming soon". A followup album trailer revealed the release date for December 6, 2019.

Promotion

"Royalty", featuring Ky-Mani Marley, Stefflon Don and Vybz Kartel, was released on July 19, 2019, as the album's lead single.

"Hearteater", originally a scrapped track from ?, was teased on October 18, 2019, with a picture of XXXTentacion's ex-girlfriend, Geneva Ayala, eating a bloody heart. The single was officially released on October 22, 2019. A music video for the track was also announced, and features Ayala, who had previously accused the rapper of domestic abuse. The music video was released on October 25, 2019.

The album's title track, featuring Trippie Redd and PnB Rock, was released on November 22, 2019, following a teaser video released the day before. The teaser video showed the two artists, as well as Billie Eilish and Lil Skies, recounting the impact XXXTentacion had on their lives, with Eilish referring to the artist as "a beam of light [that] tried to do everything for other people".

Critical reception

According to Metacritic, which calculated an average score of 55 based on six reviews, the album received "mixed or average reviews". Kyann-Sian Williams, writing for NME, called the album "better than last year's Skins, but still a case of diminishing returns" and "a serious case of over-embellishing thin material".

Commercial performance

Bad Vibes Forever debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 65,000 album-equivalent units.

Official videos

• Royalty (October 2, 2019)
• Hearteater (October 25, 2019)
• Bad Vibes Forever (December 5, 2019)
• Hot Gyal (December 12, 2019)
• School Shooters (April 10, 2020)
• Chase / Glass Shards (October 16, 2020)

Track listing

Track listing adapted from Tidal.

Notes

• "Bad Vibes Forever" briefly appeared on the mixtape A Love Letter to You 4 by Trippie Redd.
• "Introduction", "Bad Vibes Forever", "Before I Realize", "The Interlude That Never Ends", "Wanna Grow Old (I Won't Let Go)", and "Numb the Pain" are stylized in all lowercase.
• "Ugly", "Limbo", "The Only Time I Feel Alive", "Attention!", "Hearteater", and "It's All Fading to Black" are stylized in all caps.
• "Chase / Glass Shards" is stylized as "CHASE / glass shards".
• "Daemons" is a remix of an earlier XXXTentacion song which is titled "Angel 2 Demons" which was further a re-recorded version of another XXXTentacion song titled "Who the Fuck is God?" and originally featured J Soul.
• "Ecstasy" is a reproduction of an earlier XXXTentacion song of the same name.
• "Voss" is a re-release with different credentials. It was Sauce Walka's "Voss featuring XXXTentacion". and was on his album Drip God. Carnage only took producer credits.
• "Northstar (Remix)" is a remix of an earlier XXXTentacion song named Shining Like The Northstar and has a new beat from Mally Mall and Ronny J.

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.

Charts

References