Energetic hip-hop beats, pitched-up vocal samples, a saucy Doja Cat feature for good measure: recent singles like ‘Just Us’ and ‘Set You Free’ suggested that Jack Harlow‘s fourth studio album ‘Monica’ would stick to the playful, chart-friendly formula that has made him one of the most commercially successful artists of the 2020s. Instead, the album sees the 28-year-old veer off-piste, parking those recent releases and dropping a jazz-speckled, neo-soul nine-track featuring not a single rapped verse.
Discussing the change in direction on the Popcast podcast, Harlow said that rather than head towards the “safer landing spots” of rock or country that other white rappers such as Machine Gun Kelly and Post Malone have opted for, he “got Blacker” – a comment that has since been widely mocked on social media. He added that his conscious turn to R&B is “the one I genuinely want to take”.
‘Monica’ has a light, self-assured swing to it, the soft basslines, keyboard sequences and rimshots pulling together into a smooth live sound. Close collaboration with Norwegian producer Aksel Arvid and vocalist Ravyn Lenae (who offers guest vocals on four tracks) solidifies this sense of cohesion, as does the unified lyrical content of the album, which focuses on dissecting entanglements with aloof, independent women, often with a touch of typical Harlow self-deprecation.
Across the album, Harlow paints himself as a hopeless romantic, a slightly detached, ultimately powerless seducer who sings lines like “Baby I just wanna spend time with you / Why you going against the grain?” (‘Against The Grain’) and “I just need a chance to bring the woman out of you… Gripping on your body like I’m running out of you” (‘Trading Places’). On tracks like ‘All Of My Friends’, he explores a tendency to throw himself headfirst into love affairs, slipping into platitudes with lines like “But if I had you / It could be the end of my suffering / Something worth fully uncovering”.
Harlow is ready to take his writing to more introspective, emotional places, but it’s hard for his voice to cut through. Firstly, there’s the drowsy, languorous atmosphere created by ‘Monica”s almost excessively smooth R&B backdrop – while tracks like ‘My Winter’ swell and ripple delightfully with rough, coppery trumpets and chiming keys, elsewhere this project is so easy-listening that you stop listening at all. Secondly, there’s the lack of a genuinely impressive vocal at the project’s core. Harlow’s singing voice is nice, but forgettable. While the record contains some interesting commentary on relationships and experiences of solitude, there’s no punch to these ruminations.
In a world of bloated, super-sized releases unapologetically designed to sweep up cash from streaming services, Harlow deserves credit for veering away from commercial expectations, pursuing a fresh sound, and keeping things short and sweet. But praising an artist for limiting the runtime of a relatively mediocre album is no huge compliment. ‘Monica’ is an easy listen, something jazzy and inoffensive to put on in the background; shouldn’t we be expecting more from one of US hip-hop’s most high-profile young artists?
