Songfacts®:

• "Goodbye" is a deeply emotional tribute song dedicated by The Kid Laroi to his late friend and mentor, Juice WRLD. The song captures Laroi's aching struggle to come to terms with the enormity of his loss.
  
  Laroi's lyrics unpack his grief. The chorus sums it up:
  
  I wanna say goodbye
  But I can't find a way to make it out alive
• The song opens with a somber piano instrumental, setting a reflective tone. It features a clip of Juice WRLD's voice from a 2019 interview on the YouTube channel Montreality. Drake previously sampled this on his Certified Lover Boy track "IMY2."
• The backstory to his song is the sort of thing you'd think only happens in movies. In early 2019, a starstruck and relatively unknown Laroi first encountered Juice WRLD during a meet-and-greet at Butter Sydney in Australia. The next day, Laroi found himself unexpectedly face-to-face with Juice in a hotel room, courtesy of Peter Jideonwo, Juice's manager. Juice WRLD ended up mentoring Laroi and bringing him along as a support act on his Australian tour later in 2019. Juice invited Laroi to join him in the studio; their first collaboration was Laroi's track, "Go!," with a verse from Juice he gave him for free, forgoing his typical fee of $200,000.
  
  Kid Laroi was at Chicago's Midway Airport on December 8, 2019, when Juice WRLD tragically passed away from a suspected opioid overdose. As detailed in the HBO documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss, initially, Laroi was perplexed by the presence of police officers outside the plane window. The situation took a dramatic turn when Juice had a seizure during their detainment. This sudden medical emergency alarmed Laroi and the others present. Laroi felt helpless; he couldn't help his friend during this critical moment. As the situation worsened, with blood appearing from Juice WRLD's nose and mouth, Laroi and others became increasingly distressed.
  
  Adding to the emotional turmoil, Laroi and others were handcuffed by authorities. In a later interview, Laroi said he would have liked to understood Juice WRLD's struggles better, but he was young and wasn't equipped to support the late rapper through his challenges.
• This isn't the first time Laroi has grappled with his feelings about Juice WRLD in song. His 2023 track "Where Does Your Spirit Go?" touches on similar themes.
• The Kid Laroi recorded "Goodbye" for Juice WRLD's fifth and final album, The Party Never Ends. It serves as a heartfelt tribute from the Aussie artist to his much-missed friend and acts as a genuinely emotional moment on the record.
• The Kid Laroi wrote the song with Blake Slatkin, Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat and Nate Ruess.
  
  Californian Blake Slatkin often works with The Kid Laroi, including on the hits "Stay" and "Without You." His other credits include 24kGoldn's "Mood," Lizzo's "About Damn Time" and Lil Nas X "Thats What I Want."
  
  American record producer, songwriter, and musician Benny Blanco has a long-standing history of creating chart-topping songs for the likes of Kesha ("TiK ToK"), Katy Perry ("California Gurls," "Teenage Dream"), Rihanna ("Diamonds"), Maroon 5 ("Moves Like Jagger"), and Justin Bieber ("Love Yourself").
  
  Norwegian DJ, record producer, and musician Cashmere Cat is Blanco's protégé. He has worked with artists like The Weeknd ("Die For You") Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello ("Senorita") and Selena Gomez ("Single Soon"). He also contributed to Laroi's "Stay."
  
  Nate Ruess co-founded the indie-pop band Fun with Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost in 2008. You'll remember them for their 2012 album Some Nights, including their hit single "We Are Young." Ruess has co-written numerous hits for other artists, including "Die Young" by Kesha and his duet with Pink, "Just Give Me A Reason."