Is Jack Harlow Really That Bad? Here’s Our Review of His Governors Ball Music Festival Performance
Despite poor reviews of Come Home The Kids Miss You, Jack Harlow is done fakin’ humble, and actin’ like he ain’t conceited. Here’s Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s review of Harlow’s performance at New York City’s Governors Ball Music Festival.
Jack Harlow is the artist behind ‘First Class’ and ‘WHATS POPPIN’
On Spotify, Harlow proves that he didn’t peak in high school (and he’s still out here getting cuter). His song “First Class” holds over 280 million streams as of June 2022, while “Nail Tech” raked up over 100 million plays.
Within a music community, though, Harlow’s Come Home The Kids Miss You was a not-so-welcome addition to his discography — the 2022 album was recently dragged in a Pitchfork review.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet rated Jack Harlow’s album “just fine” back in May, landing on a “mediocre” rating of three stars. The musician still gets some cool points for his collaboration with Lil Nas X, something that he may or may not be coasting on, along with his charisma and curly hair.
Besides that, casual listeners may know him from his comments about a woman in scrubs or his new KFC meal. The rapper was also one of the featured artists in Friday’s Governors Ball lineup, performing on the Bacardí stage alongside a DJ.
Jack Harlow performed at the 2022 Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City
With his set pushed back from 7:30 to 8 p.m., a chant of “we want Jack” broke out around 7:50 p.m. The artist finally appeared around 8:10 p.m., rapping live renditions of songs “Dua Lipa,” “Nail Tech,” and “First Class.”
Before the performance even started, the songwriter projected clips of himself growing up and growing in popularity. (The inclusion of Emma Chamberlain’s “Love You” Met Gala interview was a nice touch.)
The artist paused between songs to check on the health of his audience, asking fans to drink water. Earlier, the artist poked fun at his appearance, saying that he looked like a guy named Chase who sells shrooms.
When it comes to his rapping and stage presence, though, this artist was just ok. Fans near the front passed around a beach ball and rapped along with Harlow. Others walked away after this performer finished “Industry Baby” without a Lil Nas X cameo.
Jack Harlow performed a snippet of ‘Industry Baby’ (minus Lil Nas X)
The bottom line is that compared to other artists, he’s really doing the bare minimum. Harlow didn’t have backup dancers like Channel Tres. He didn’t switch between guitars, tambourines, and keyboards like Aly & AJ.
That’s just a part of Harlow’s laid-back vibe, clearly, but when the most exciting part of your performance is smoke and fire effects, you know there’s something missing. Even his “outfit change” (aka taking his jacket off) was pretty underwhelming. The icing on the cake? He was wearing a New York Yankees hat… at Citi Field.
For die-hard fans or even fans of “First Class” and “WHATS POPPIN,” it was an exciting, Instagram Story-able moment. For festival attendees passing through, it definitely wasn’t the most memorable performance.
