Hate Me

Ellie Goulding & Juice WRLD, "Hate Me": Recording History and Billboard Chart Run

"Hate Me" by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD was released on July 12, 2019, as a track from Ellie Goulding's fourth studio album Brightest Blue, though the song would ultimately function as a standalone single during its commercial run. The collaboration between the British pop singer and the late Chicago rapper and singer represented a carefully constructed bridging of two distinct audiences, connecting Goulding's established pop fanbase with the younger, streaming-dominant fanbase that had made Juice WRLD one of the most commercially successful artists of 2018 and early 2019.

Ellie Goulding, born Elena Jane Goulding on December 30, 1986, in Hereford, England, had established herself as one of the UK's most commercially successful pop artists through her first three albums, with particular success in the United States where songs like "Lights," "Burn," and her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" had given her a multi-year string of chart entries. By 2019, she was at a transitional moment in her career, developing new music that would eventually comprise Brightest Blue while releasing standalone singles that explored different sonic and collaborative directions.

Juice WRLD, born Jarad Armani Higgins on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois, had risen with extraordinary speed to become one of the defining figures of the emo-rap and melodic trap movements that dominated streaming platforms in the late 2010s. His 2018 single "Lucid Dreams" had reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent an extraordinary period on the chart, establishing him as one of the most compelling new voices in hip-hop and setting the stage for his debut album Goodbye & Good Riddance. His collaboration with Ellie Goulding on "Hate Me" came at the peak of his commercial momentum.

The production on "Hate Me" reflects a blending of Goulding's signature electronic pop aesthetic with the melodic trap sensibility that characterized Juice WRLD's solo work. The track features piano motifs, atmospheric synth layers, and a rhythmic structure that sits between the precise four-on-the-floor feel of dance pop and the more fluid, expressive timing of trap production. This hybrid approach was carefully calibrated to feel natural to listeners from both artists' fanbases without betraying the distinctive qualities that made each artist compelling to their respective audiences.

"Hate Me" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at position 82 on the chart dated August 3, 2019, and began a gradual climb that would eventually see it peak at number 56 during the week of November 16, 2019. The song spent 19 weeks on the Hot 100, a tenure that reflected both the sustained streaming activity that the collaboration generated and the tragic circumstances that would alter the song's cultural context late in its chart run. The song performed significantly better on the Adult Pop Songs chart, where Goulding's established radio relationships gave it stronger airplay traction.

The circumstances surrounding the song's chart peak were deeply affected by the death of Juice WRLD on December 8, 2019, when the artist suffered a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport and was pronounced dead at age 21. His passing sent his catalog surging on streaming platforms, as listeners returned to his music in mourning and in tribute, and "Hate Me" benefited from this renewed attention. The song's themes of emotional pain in a relationship took on additional resonance in the context of Juice WRLD's death, as fans processed grief through his music.

The music video for "Hate Me," directed to emphasize the emotional content of the collaboration, featured both Goulding and Juice WRLD in a narrative context that visualized the song's themes of mutual hurt and the complicated feelings that persist after a damaging relationship. The video's production values and visual approach were consistent with Goulding's established aesthetic, while the inclusion of Juice WRLD's presence gave it a visual energy that expanded its appeal to his fanbase. The video accumulated significant YouTube views in the months following the release and continued to grow following Juice WRLD's death.

The song's 180 million YouTube views reflect the combined and sustained interest of both artists' fanbases, amplified by the ongoing discovery of Juice WRLD's catalog by new listeners in the years since his death. His status as one of the most significant artists of his generation to die young has created a memorial streaming economy around his work, ensuring that tracks like "Hate Me" continue to accumulate plays long after they would otherwise have faded from active circulation.

Collaborative Context and Industry Significance

The pairing of Ellie Goulding and Juice WRLD was seen at the time as an interesting cross-generational and cross-genre experiment, bringing together a British pop artist in her early thirties and an American rap artist barely twenty years old. The collaboration was part of a broader trend of 2019 pop releases that sought to bridge the gap between streaming-native hip-hop audiences and the more established pop radio audience that had traditionally been Goulding's primary commercial base. That it succeeded as well as it did commercially was a demonstration of both artists' ability to adapt their styles to collaborative contexts without losing the distinctive qualities that made them individually compelling.