Bad Vibes Forever

Bad Vibes Forever is the fourth and final studio album by American rapper XXXTentacion. It is his second posthumous solo album and his last album following his death on June 18, 2018. The album was released on December 6, 2019, and features guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Blink-182, Tory Lanez, Stefflon Don, Mavado, Ky-Mani Marley, Rick Ross, Vybz Kartel and others.[2]

Bad Vibes Forever
Studio album by XXXTentacion
Released	December 6, 2019[1]
Genre	Hip hop
Length	57:24
Label	Bad Vibes Forever Empire[2]
Producer	Cleopatra Bernard (exec.) DJ Carnage John Cunningham JonFX Ronny J XXXTentacion Robert Soukasyan XXYYXX Jasper Sheff Mally Mall Paul Judge Killstation Chanslin
XXXTentacion chronology
Members Only, Vol. 4 (2019) Bad Vibes Forever (2019)
XXXTentacion studio album chronology
Skins (2018) Bad Vibes Forever (2019)
Singles from Bad Vibes Forever
"Royalty" Released: July 19, 2019 "Hearteater" Released: October 22, 2019 "Bad Vibes Forever" Released: November 22, 2019

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	55/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
HipHopDX	[5]
NME	[6]
Pitchfork	3.5/10[7]

"Royalty" was released on July 19, 2019, as Bad Vibes Forever's lead single. "Hearteater", originally a scrapped track from ?, was officially released on October 22, 2019.[8] Bad Vibes Forever failed to match the chart success of XXXTentacion's previous albums, debuting at number five on the Billboard 200.[9] It drew similar underwhelming reviews to Skins.[6]

Background

Bad Vibes Forever was initially planned as XXXTENTACION's debut album, with a slated release date of October 31, 2016.[10] In a March 2017 interview, XXXTENTACION stated he was working on Bad Vibes Forever alongside 17.[11] 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.[12]

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.[13] Billboard confirmed the album's title as Bad Vibes Forever in August 2019, with a slated release for fall 2019.[2] 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.[14] On August 25, 2019, the songs "Hearteater" and "School Shooters (ft. Lil Wayne)" were confirmed for the album.[15]

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 title was referred to as Bad Vibes Forever, Vol. 1 and presented as "the final album".[16]

On November 20, 2019, the album's cover art was teased on social media by XXXTentacion's mother who stated that the album, back to being referred to as Bad Vibes Forever, would be "coming soon".[17] A followup album trailer revealed the release date for December 6, 2019.[18]

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.[19] The single was officially released on October 22, 2019.[8] A music video for the track was also announced, and features Ayala, who had previously accused the rapper of domestic abuse.[20] The music video was released on October 25, 2019.[21]

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.[18] 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".[18]

Critical reception

The album was met with mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 55, based on six reviews.[22] 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".[6]

Commercial performance

Bad Vibes Forever debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 65,000 album-equivalent units.[9]

Track listing

Track listing adapted from Tidal.[23]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Introduction"	Jahseh Onfroy	John Cunningham XXXTentacion	1:43
2.	"Ex Bitch"	Onfroy Cunningham	Cunningham	2:01
3.	"Ugly"	Onfroy	XXXTentacion	1:31
4.	"Bad Vibes Forever" (featuring PnB Rock and Trippie Redd)	Onfroy Cunningham Michael L. White Rakim Allen Robert Soukiasyan	Cunningham	2:30
5.	"School Shooters" (featuring Lil Wayne)	Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. Onfroy Jasper Sheff Cunningham	Sheff Cunningham	1:33
6.	"I Changed Her Life" (featuring Rick Ross)	Onfroy Cunningham William L. Roberts II	Cunningham	1:48
7.	"Triumph"	Onfroy Cunningham	Cunningham	2:46
8.	"Limbo" (featuring Killstation)	Onfroy Noel Santana Paul Judge	Judge Killstation	3:14
9.	"Before I Realize"	Onfroy Cunningham Soukiasyan	Cunningham Soukiasyan	1:34
10.	"Ecstasy" (featuring Noah Cyrus)	Anneka Warburton Onfroy Marcel Everett	XXXTentacion XXYYXX	4:00
11.	"Kill My Vibe" (featuring Tom G)	Andre Lyon Onfroy Sheff Cunningham John Rodriguez Marcello Valenzano Ted Kay Thomas L. Godbolt	Sheff Cunningham	2:08
12.	"Hot Gyal" (featuring Tory Lanez and Mavado)	David C. Brooks Daystar Peterson Onfroy Jamal Rashid John Crawford	JonFX Mally Mall	2:14
13.	"The Only Time I Feel Alive" (with Craig Xen)	Craig Xen Onfroy Sheff Cunningham	Sheff Cunningham	2:43
14.	"The Interlude That Never Ends"	Onfroy	XXXTentacion	2:28
15.	"Daemons" (with Kemba featuring Joey Badass)	Chanslin Onfroy Jo Vaugn Virginie Matthew Jefferson	Chanslin	2:52
16.	"Attention!"	Onfroy Cunningham	Cunningham	2:00
17.	"Eat It Up"	Onfroy Ronald Spence, Jr.	Ronny J	1:45
18.	"Voss" (featuring Sauce Walka and Carnage)	Albert Walker Mondane Diamanté A. Blackmon Onfroy	Carnage	1:47
19.	"Royalty" (featuring Ky-Mani Marley, Stefflon Don, and Vybz Kartel)	Adidja Palmer Onfroy Crawford Josh Humber Ky-Mani Marley Stephanie Allen	JonFX	3:23
20.	"Won't Grow Old (I Won't Let Go)" (featuring Jimmy Levy)	Onfroy Jimmy Levy Cunningham Soukiasyan	Cunningham	2:11
21.	"Hearteater"	Onfroy Cunningham Soukiasyan	Cunningham Soukiasyan	2:16
22.	"Northstar" (remix; featuring Joyner Lucas)	Gary M. Lucas, Jr. Onfroy Rashid Spence, Jr.	Mally Mall Ronny J	2:46
23.	"Chase/Glass Shards" (featuring Ikabod Veins)	Onfroy Jordan Aristides Serin	XXXTentacion	2:18
24.	"Numb the Pain"	Onfroy Cunningham	Cunningham XXXTentacion	1:22
25.	"It's All Fading to Black" (featuring Blink-182)	Onfroy Cunningham Mark Hoppus	Cunningham	2:31
Total length:				57:24

Notes

• "Introduction", "Bad Vibes Forever", "Before I Realize", "The Interlude That Never Ends", "Won't 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 was 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.

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[24]

• XXXTentacion - vocals, production, executive production, composition
• PnB Rock - vocals, composition
• Cleopatra Bernard - executive producer
• Carnage (DJ) - composer
• Mavado (singer) - composer
• Brandon Brown - mixing assistant
• Johann Chavez - engineer
• Gary Clark - mixing assistant
• JonFX - composer
• John Cunningham - bass, composer, drums, engineer, guitar, mixing, percussion, piano, producer, programming, string arrangements, synthesizer, vocal producer
• Noah Cyrus - featured artist
• Brian Eisner - engineer
• XXYYXX - composer, engineer
• Tom G - featured artist
• Isiah Gage - strings
• Dylan Getz - design, packaging
• Thomas L. Godbolt - composer
• Viva Goings - mixing assistant
• Koen Heldens - mixing
• Billy Hickey - engineer
• Mark Hoppus - composer
• Josh Humber - composer
• Ronny J - composer
• Kemba (hip hop) - engineer, featured artist
• Joey Badass - featured artist
• Paul Judge - composer, producer
• Ted Kay - composer
• Killstation - featured artist, mixing, producer
• Dave Kutch - mastering
• Tory Lanez - featured artist
• Jimmy Levy - composer, featured artist
• Lil Wayne - composer, featured artist
• Rico Love - vocal producer
• Joyner Lucas - featured artist
• Mally Mall - producer
• Matt Malpass - engineer
• Ky-Mani Marley - composer, featured artist
• Sauce Miyagi - engineer, mixing
• Sergio Montoya - design, packaging
• Duong Nyugen - design, packaging
• Robbie Owens-Russo - design, packaging
• Vybz Kartel - composer
• Juan "Saucy" Pena - engineer
• Kevin Peterson - mastering assistant
• Chris Quock - mixing assistant
• John Rodriguez - composer
• Rick Ross - featured artist
• Kristina Santa - assistant engineer
• Sauce Walka - composer, featured artist
• Ikabod Veins - composer, featured artist
• Jasper Sheff - composer, keyboards, producer
• Alexander "Smitty" Smith - engineer
• Solomon "Sounds" Sobande - management
• Cheng Sok - design packaging
• Robbie Soukiasyan - composer, drums, engineer, guitar, mixing, producer, string arrangements, string engineer
• Stefflon Don - featured artist
• Yang Tan - engineer
• Jorge Tavares - engineer
• Trippie Redd - featured artist
• Cool & Dre - composer
• Anneka Warburton - composer
• Craig Xen - composer, featured artist
• Gerard Yusuf - engineer
• Oscar Zayas - engineer

Charts

Chart (2019)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25]	57
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26]	95
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[27]	11
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[28]	15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[29]	27
French Albums (SNEP)[30]	98
Irish Albums (IRMA)[31]	37
Italian Albums (FIMI)[32]	70
Latvian Albums (LAIPA)[33]	6
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34]	25
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[35]	15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[36]	41
UK Albums (OCC)[37]	53
US Billboard 200[38]	5
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[39]	1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[40]	3

References

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRIJ256Pn_U
2. David Peisner (August 22, 2019). "What To Expect From XXXTentacion's Second Posthumous Album". Billboard. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
3. "Bad Vibes Forever by XXXtentacion". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
4. Bad Vibes Forever at AllMusic
5. https://hiphopdx.com/reviews/id.3589/title.review-bad-vibes-forever-is-rough-compilation-that-will-still-please-xxxtentacion-fans
6. Kyann-Sian Williams (December 7, 2019). "XXXTentacion – 'Bad Vibes Forever' review: a posthumous record of thin, over-embellished material". NME. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
7. Stephen Kearse (December 14, 2019). "XXXTentacion: Bad Vibes Forever Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
8. Berry, Peter A. (October 22, 2019). "XXXTentacion's 'Hearteater' Gets an Official Release: Listen". XXL. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
9. Caulfield, Keith (December 15, 2019). "Roddy Ricch Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial'". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
10. "The Mars Files (EP. 25) XXXTENTACION [Powered MiamiSoundWav]". YouTube. September 29, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2019. The release date for Bad Vibes Forever as of now is October 31st.
11. "XXXTentacion's Debut Project 'Bad Vibes' to Be Released This Spring – XXL". Xxlmag.com. March 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
12. "XXXTentacion Shares the Titles of His New Albums – XXL". XXL Mag. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
13. https://www.complex.com/music/2019/06/xxxtentacion-new-documentary-anniversary-death
14. Fu, Eddie (December 3, 2019). "XXXTentacion's Upcoming Album 'Bad Vibes Forever' Features Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Joey Bada$$, & Joyner Lucas". Genius. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
15. https://genius.com/a/xxxtentacions-new-album-bad-vibes-forever-includes-a-lil-wayne-collaboration-titled-school-shooter
16. Zidel, Alex (November 12, 2019). "XXXTentacion Estate Teases His Final Album 'Bad Vibes Forever, Vol. 1'". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
17. Zidel, Alex (November 21, 2019). "XXXTentacion 'Bad Vibes Forever' Cover Art Revealed". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
18. Saponara, Michael (November 22, 2019). "XXXTentacion's Estate Sets 'Bad Vibes Forever' Release Date, Drops Title Track With Trippie Redd & PnB Rock". Billboard. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
19. Zidel, Alex. "XXXTentacion 'Heart Eater' Teased With Footage Of Bloody Ex-Girlfriend". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
20. Tigg, FNR (October 18, 2019). "Ex-Girlfriend Who Accused XXXTentacion of Domestic Violence to Appear in 'Heart Eater' Video". Complex. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
21. Saponara, Michael (October 25, 2019). "XXXTentaction's Bloodthirsty 'Hearteater' Video Features Ex-Girlfriend as a Cannibal: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
22. Bad Vibes Forever by XXXTentacion, retrieved February 5, 2020
23. "Bad Vibes Forever / XXXTentacion". Retrieved December 7, 2019 – via Tidal.
24. "Bad Vibes Forever / XXXTENTACION". AllMusic. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
25. "Ultratop.be – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
26. "Ultratop.be – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
27. "XXXTentacion Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
28. "Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40 Uge 49, 2019". Hitlisten. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
29. "Dutchcharts.nl – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
30. "Top Albums (Week 50, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
31. "Rod Stewart's You're In My Heart becomes his first Number 1 on the Official Irish Albums Chart this millennium". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
32. "Italiancharts.com – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
33. "Mūzikas Patēriņa Tops/ 50. nedēļa" (in Latvian). LAIPA. December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
34. "Charts.nz – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
35. "Norwegiancharts.com – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
36. "Swisscharts.com – XXXTentacion – Bad Vibes Forever". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
37. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
38. Caulfield, Keith (December 15, 2019). "Roddy Ricch Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial'". Billboard. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
39. "XXXTentacion Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
40. "XXXTentacion Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 18, 2019.