Jarad Higgins was born on December 2, 1998, in , . In 1999, he moved to , and attended . Higgins' parents divorced when he was three years old and his father left, leaving his mother to raise him as a alongside one older brother. Higgins' mother was very religious and conservative, not letting Higgins listen to , though allowing Higgins to listen to rock and pop music he found on video games such as and , introducing Higgins to artists such as , , , , , and .
Higgins was a heavy user during his childhood and teens. He began drinking in sixth grade and using and in 2013. Higgins also smoked cigarettes, quitting in his last year of high school due to health issues.
He first learned to play the piano at four years old, having been inspired by his mother who later began paying for lessons, followed by guitar and drums. Higgins also played trumpet for band class. In his sophomore year of high school, he started posting songs to his which he recorded on his cell phone. Around this time, Higgins began to take rapping more seriously.
Career
Higgins began to develop himself as an artist in his first year of high school. His first track, "Forever", was released on in 2015 under the name JuicetheKidd. Higgins recorded a majority of his first tracks on a cellphone, uploading them to SoundCloud in his sophomore year. His name changed from JuicetheKidd, a name inspired by his affection for rapper and his part in the film , to Juice Wrld because it "represents taking over the world."
His first track produced by his last producer , "Too Much Cash", was released in 2017. While releasing projects and songs on SoundCloud, Higgins worked in a factory, but was fired within two weeks after finding himself dissatisfied with the job. After joining the internet collective Internet Money, Higgins released his debut full-length EP, 9 9 9, on June 15, 2017, with the song "" breaking out and growing his following.
In mid-2017, the artist began to receive attention from artists such as and , as well as fellow Chicago artists and . He subsequently signed with the latter's co-owned record label, Grade A Productions.
In December 2017, Higgins released the three-song EP Nothings Different. It was featured on numerous hip-hop blogs, such as Lyrical Lemonade, which helped Higgins's track "" gain popularity. In February 2018, a music video directed by was released. Following the video's release, Higgins was signed to Interscope Records for $3,000,000 and a remix featuring was previewed. "All Girls Are the Same" was critically praised, receiving a "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork. This song and "Lucid Dreams" were Higgins's first entries on a Billboard chart, debuting at number 92 and 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.
Higgins at the
In May 2018, "Lucid Dreams" was officially released as a single and given a video. It then went on to peak at number two on the US and quickly became one of the biggest streaming songs of 2018. Higgins released his first studio album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, on May 23, 2018. On June 19, 2018, he released a two-song EP, Too Soon.., in remembrance of and dedicated to deceased rappers and , the latter of whom was a day earlier. The song "Legends" from the EP charted under its debut at number 65.
Higgins's first single as Juice WRLD featuring a collaboration was released on July 10, 2018, titled "" featuring Lil Uzi Vert. The song was added to Goodbye & Good Riddance and debuted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next day, Higgins announced he was working on his next album. Following a series of leaks, Higgins' producer Danny Wolf released "Motions" on SoundCloud, giving the song an official release. On July 20, 2018, Higgins announced his first tour, "WRLD Domination" with additional acts and .
Higgins was featured on 's featuring on the song "No Bystanders" which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also made his late night television debut performing the song "Lucid Dreams" on on August 8, 2018. On October 15, 2018, the music video for the song "" was released and the lead single for the collaboration album Wrld on Drugs with was also released, called ""., Higgins' second mixtape and a collaborative project with Future was released on October 19, 2018, via . He also contributed to the for .
In December, confirmed that he and Juice WRLD would release a joint mixtape called Evil Twins in 2019. The pair also announced a 2019 tour featuring 30 concerts across North America, before Juice Wrld announced in February that his second studio album, , would be released on March 8, 2019. He then embarked on , alongside . On April 9, 2019, the music video for the song "Fast" was released. Later that year, he released other singles: "", with and of ; "", with ; "Run"; "", with ; and "" with .
