Jack Harlow is from Louisville, Kentucky, but without the defiant “I’m a Kentucky boy til’ death” shoutout on 2018 breakout “Sundown,” you wouldn’t know it. His fourth full-length project in just as many years, Confetti sounds like it could be made by any 21-year-old that grew up with access to Hot 97: He reflects on driving around his city listening to The Blueprint on CD and raps over samples of Usher’s “U Don’t Have to Call” and Trey Songz’s “I Invented Sex.” His music has no identity. But he has a natural charm and energy that helps you overlook the fact that you’ve heard countless albums like this before, just by different names.
Prior to Confetti, Jack Harlow’s big singles were 2017’s “Dark Knight” and the aforementioned “Sundown.” The self-confident bounce of the former earned him his current record deal with DJ Drama and Don Cannon’s Lil Uzi Vert-cursed Generation Now label. The more polished “Sundown” boasts a Neptunes-influenced beat from his frequent collaborator 2forwOyNE that complements his low-key swagger. Both songs balance a light, teen-movie party atmosphere with warm reflections on his hometown.
This is Jack Harlow’s sweet spot, and when he remains there, he cranks out enjoyable DJ-set filler. Album intro “Ghost” is upbeat enough to ignore Harlow’s painful one-liners (“I got all the whipper-snappers and the lil’ rascals”) while serving as a reminder that DJ Drama’s “Gangsta Grillz” tag is timeless. On later tracks like “Heavy Hitter,” Harlow’s natural charisma elevates typical first-record-deal topics like dating women who use him to build their LinkedIn connections. The light-spirited “Walk in the Park” would’ve made sense on the back half of an Aminé or KYLE project.
But like so many emerging rappers, Jack Harlow seems to think that for his music to take the next step, he has to sing. On the Da Honorable C.N.O.T.E-produced “Sunday Night,” his fun-loving personality is lost in the minute he opens his mouth: “I know that a ‘you up’ text would be fucked up, but I’d be lying if I told you I ain’t wanna,” he sings weakly. He talks about relationships so impersonally that he might just be reciting the plot of the last television series he binged. His vocals suck the life out of his coming-of-age reflections on “Goin Back Down,” and his Louisville tales only come to life when he connects with his hometown hero Bryson Tiller for the sappy duet “Thru the Night.”
Jack Harlow’s music is harmless. If you come across any of Confetti’s standouts on a Spotify playlist, you won’t be moved to complain or click over to his artist page. At his best, he can make above-average slappers like “Heavy Hitter” and “Ghost,” and that’s enough to keep him afloat. Well, that’s until the next Jack Harlow comes around, with a new name, representing another underappreciated city, and then we can have this conversation all over again.
