Rainworld was an unreleased mixtape by Bladee, originally planned to be released in 2014. It is commonly speculated that it was replaced by Eversince, which released in 2016, though there has never been an official statement regarding why the project didn't see a release date.
Background
Rainworld was announced by Bladee as a mixtape via a Tweet in October 2013. Later, in December 2013, it was revealed as slated for a 2014 release in the Soundcloud description of Everlasting Flames.
Sparse mentions of the mixtape continued throughout 2014, via social media posts and song lyrics. In October 2014, the Rainworld Hoodie (VFILES) released, though already by then mentions of the project have halted.
The last runs of the Rainworld Hoodies were sold in 2015, including the NeVeR Rainworld Hoodie design. The common pairing of Drain Gang's NeVer logo and the Rainworld logo, on merchandise and in promotional material, has led to speculation among fans that Bladee was hinting at the project being scrapped.
In 2016, Bladee's debut album Eversince released. It is often thought that parts of the Rainworld tracklist ended up on the debut album, given that Bladee was teasing lyrics from Eversince via social media while the last runs of Rainworld hoodies were still being sold, but this remains entirely unconfirmed.
Tracklist
The tracklist for Rainworld was never officially revealed. However, a few of Bladee's releases are linked to the project via song descriptions, leading to some speculation that these songs could have been considered for the mixtape:
- The Soundcloud description for Bladee's single Ghost Hands, features "BLADEE RAINWORLD".
- The YouTube description for Bladee's single Crushed, features "RAINWORLD".
- The YouTube description of the music video for Bladee's single reborn, features the tag #RainWorld.
Additionally, due to the time period they surfaced, unreleased Bladee songs such as Cash in my Jeans, Everything Can Go and 2BELOVED are very commonly speculated to have been made for Rainworld, though there is nothing linking them to the project officially.
Impact
Despite the fact that it was never released, Rainworld continues to inspire discussion, fan art, and memes among Bladee's fan base. A major contributing factor to this is that the phrase "Rainworld" appears frequently in Bladee's lyrics through to today, appearing on such tracks as It Girl, I'm Goofy, Hero of My Story, Westfield, Romeo, and others. It is unknown whether these are referring to the scrapped album itself, or to a more abstract concept.
Numerous fan bootlegs of Rainworld have gained popularity over the years, featuring live recordings of unreleased songs alongside other miscellaneous SoundCloud/YouTube singles from the era.
Merchandise
Rainworld Hoodie (No Crystal)
NeVeR Rainworld hoodie
