Ellie Goulding Mourns ‘Sweet Soul’ Juice WRLD After His Death

Ellie Goulding was among the musicians who mourned the sudden death of rapper Juice WRLD on Sunday morning. The 21-year-old performer suffered a seizure at Chicago’s Midway Airport and never recovered. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“I can’t believe it… you were such a sweet soul. I’ll always remember meeting you and your family on the video set and thinking how close you were. You had so much further to go, you were just getting started. You’ll be missed Juice,” Goulding wrote on Twitter, alongside a broken heart emoji.

The “Lights” singer also shared a photo she took with Juice. In a third tweet, she simply posted a sad emoji.

“[Oh my God] he just passed!? [What the f—] happened why are rappers suddenly just dropping dead this is so sad. Im so sorry and shocked Ellie he is amazing on Hate Me,” one fan wrote to Goulding.

“Sending you love Ellie,” another wrote.

“So heartbreaking and so unexpected 🙁 he was such a young soul, life is so unfair,” another chimed in.

Juice WRLD reportedly arrived in Chicago from California. After the seizure began, paramedics were called to the scene, where he was found bleeding at the mouth. According to TMZ, he was still conscious when he was taken to the hospital, but was pronounced dead after arriving. His cause of death has not been determined.

The rapper’s real name was Jared Anthony Higgins and he was born in Chicago. He was considered a pioneer of “emo rap,” and scored a hit with his first studio album, Goodbye & Good Riddance last year. His second album, Death Race for Love, was released in March and debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. The album includes the singles “Robbery” and “Hear Me Calling.”

Goulding and Juice collaborated on the single “Hate Me,” which was released in June. The track debuted at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also gained popularity on TikTok, helping the song reach No. 56 in October.

Following Juice WRLD’s death, some fans pointed out he appeared to predict his own early death in his 2018 song “Legends.” At one point, he raps, “What’s the 27 Club? We ain’t making it past 21. I been going through paranoia.” Juice died just days after he celebrated his 21st birthday on Dec. 2.

“Legends” also references a man dying unexpectedly from laced drugs, which appears to be a reference to Lil Peep, who died after an accidental drug overdose in November 2017. The “We ain’t making it past 21” line was possibly a reference to XXXTentacion, a rapper who was murdered in Florida in June 2018. XXXTentacion was only 20 at the time of his death.

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