Jackman. - Album Review
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to April and May of 2022: The world is recovering from Will Smith’s slap heard across the world, Elon Musk (who I am convinced is an AI robot) buys Twitter, and Jack Harlow is everywhere. Going viral on chicken shop dates in London, going viral on the Met Gala rep carpet, going viral by riding in a convertible with his bestie. Deals with Papa Johns, KFC, Doritos, probably the White House. There’s a 70% chance your girlfriend told her friends about the hot n’ steamy things she would do to Jack, and a 25% chance he’s under her bed right now. Meanwhile, it must be the second Bush administration again, because the entire country can unwillingly spell the word “glamorous” because of this man. Everybody on the planet is reminding you that Jack’s newest album, Come Home the Kids Miss You, is coming out on May 6th, and if they haven’t, then Jack’s newest album, Come Home the Kids Miss You, is coming out on May 6th.
Fast forward to today, a near full revolution around the sun, and Jack is nowhere to be seen. Well, other than as the lead actor (what?) in the newest White Men Can’t Jump revamp (Nevermind, makes sense). Musically, it’s been quiet from the Louisville native. Even leading up to the release to his latest album Jackman., fans barely had time to prepare for the album, as it was released two days after it was announced. You’d have to be in a three-month coma to avoid last year’s Come Home – you’d only have to sleep through your alarm to miss Jackman.
Somewhere in that difference between the albums lies the growth from Jack. Come Home was a wide net meant to catch popularity and relevance, and while those were hauled in, so too were people who bashed the net for lacking sentience and quality. Personally, although it was a mainstream success, Come Home was a step back for an artist who had proven that he only leaps forward.
With Jackman., it would not be surprising if the same people that blasted “First Class” for an entire summer never heard a single song off this album. This is highlighted in the first track, the self-aware “Common Ground” that puts the fish he caught from last year’s net on the table for everyone to see. Jack separates himself from his newly found demographic by pointing out the only thing they share is their skin color, even though that’s what caused many listeners to gravitate to him in the first place. From there, we move into the energy outlier of the album, “They Don’t Love It.” Carried by popping snares, this song gives us a lyrical reminder of 2019’s Confetti, and serves as the only song that has potential to be a single. In other words, he’s not fishing with the big net anymore. Step in the right direction. (I'm also done with fishing analogies, which is another step in the right direction.)
“Is That Ight?” walks side-by-side with “Common Ground,” as like the first track, it rejects what his recent popularity has brought him. Yeah, he's won over a lot of things he was desiring, but as with the new job you've been eyeing comes with unseen headaches, so too does Jack's new and enormous popularity. Meanwhile, “Denver” is this album’s “Baxter Avenue,” a journal entry made into a song. We hear Jack in two separate states of mind – one that battles with internal struggles of fame, the other that’s guarded against those that know him and protective over those he knows. “Denver” alone adds a level of authenticity that has been absent in his music for three years, a glance at Jack the person instead of Jack the persona.
We end the album on the painfully reflective “Questions,” a therapy session that Jack disguises as a song. The internal monologue and mirror inspection takes away every veil that Jack had placed on himself over the last year. Whereas most newfound fans have seen this charismatic sex icon in a white rapper’s body, Jack shows himself for how he views himself. It isn’t hard for anyone to reassign the people and pronouns and take ownership of the exact concerns that Jack holds, and perhaps that’s the part that makes Jackman. feel like it truly belongs with the people. As great as constant worship and sex with celebrities can be for a rapper, it also places a wall between them and their listener, separating rappers from the realm of realism that every human carries. That’s why some celebrities are seen as deities, and some are tarnished with no remorse. But songs like “Denver” and “Questions” are what reconnects the rapper to the human for the listener. These two songs won’t bring Jack any new fans, but as we’ve already learned, he isn’t looking for that right now anyway.
Jackman. is everything Come Home is not. It’s personal and apologetic. It’s dark and vulnerable. Even sonically, it’s quieter and swaps loud bass with crooning vocal samples as beats. Come Home won’t be Jack’s last attention-grabbing album, but Jackman. also won’t be his last sincere project, either. You’re not going to hear any of these ten songs take over airwaves or play in KFC commercials, but that’s the point. As much as this album is for the true fan, it’s just as much for Jack himself.
Top 3 songs: They Don't Love It, Denver, It Can't Be
Review: 7.1 lucrative brand deals / 10