First and foremost, I’d like to preface this by saying I am usually the first person to stand up for my man Jackman Thomas Harlow because I, like many other women in America, have fallen hostage to the charm and wit that makes up one of the hottest rap and personality sensations of 2022. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, as a Jack Harlow fan who happens to listen to his music as well, I was highly disappointed by the lackluster simplicity of the lyricism and structure of the song. As many know, there was an enormous amount of hype around this song due to a preview of it going viral on TikTok—which can be credited to Jack’s charisma and the excitement around a sample of one of Fergie’s most well-known songs. Since that TikTok blew up, everything Jack Harlow has been posting has caught the eye of every high school and college-age teen; cultivating extreme anticipation for this song’s release on April 8 of 2022.
Now, for 3 of the main reasons this song falls short of the hype:
- The “Glamourous” Sample is the only thing that makes it
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I will say that the Louisville-bred artist did a good job of not just ripping off the song but using it to give it his own meaning and style, but I’m so sorry, Jack, not much needs to be said other than; strip the sample from the song, and you no longer have a hit. (It actually pains me to speak any sort of slander on this man).
- It’s too conversational
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I hate to say this because I feel like I learn so much about him through his conversational songs like “RIVER ROAD,” “Baxter Avenue,” and “Rendezvous,” but this one, well … is giving us nothing. One of the things that draw people to the 24-year-old rapper is his transparency and the fact that what he puts towards the media is seemingly who he is in real life, so the conversational style fits him … just not in this song. I will say that the second verse is a little better than the first as far as substance goes, but the only thing I learned about him is that he’s “got plaques in the mail” and that he’s got visions of his mom saying, “aye this house mine?” I’m all for a conversational song everyone once in a while, but I believe this style is best used by artists as a personal narrative rather than an odd compilation of lines that don’t even seemingly relate to each other.
- Not as lyrically genius as his prior work
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Don’t get me wrong, not every piece of music has to have some deep meaning or tell a story, but I think that what sets an artist apart from being trendy and being legendary comes down to their lyricism. Compared to his songs, “Route 66″ or “Tyler Herro,” I just don’t consider this piece of work to be on their level. With all the pauses he could have fit in a whole other verse. I love that we can see his charisma in this song, but I wish it wasn’t at the sacrifice of his clever writing.
This is not to say that I thought the song was entirely awful. I mean, the “I’m on Angus Cloud 9” line was fire. I just expect more from the talented artist who went global for his metaphoric brilliance as seen in his 2020 hit single, “What’s Poppin,” which also got much of its hype from TikTok. I know that Jack Harlow is capable of telling a story, hyping up an audience and making his listeners go “ooooo” out of pure fascination, but I don’t think that this song does either of those things to its fullest potential. As we’ve seen time and time again, Jack Harlow’s hype comes in waves but unfortunately tends to die down before he’s able to release his larger projects, which I believe might have to do with his singles not showcasing his true talent. Overall, I definitely see myself playing this song around friends—as it makes for a good head nod, and I quite literally cannot wait to see what he has in store for his sophomore studio album “Come Home the Kids Miss You” debuting May 6th, 2022.