Shakethony Headtano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Jack Harlow album, Monica.

This is the fourth full-length LP from Kentucky native, rapper, singer-songwriter Mr. Jack Harlow, who is now 6 years deep into his career after blowing up off the "What's Poppin'" single back in 2020. But if you remember, Jack's output spans back much further than that, in a series of super derivative pop-rap mixtapes that mix elements of hip-hop and R&B, very Drake-coded at points. What I heard at the time was so unimpressive, I'm blown away that he ended up actually, like, hitting the mainstream at some point. And that he did.

However, now that Jack has kind of gotten what he has been fighting for this entire time, he's almost like the dog that finally caught the car, and hasn't really been able to make that much of a dent, creatively speaking. I mean, for sure, his first 2 records had some notable singles on them, for sure. But after the very barebones and disappointing Jackman dropped in 2023, I don't know, for me it kinda seemed like the writing was on the wall. A song like "Gang Gang Gang" should have never seen the light of day.

And I knew something was up the moment that this new Monica project got announced, because it was listed as being just 9 tracks, really short rollout, no teaser single. And rather than going forward with the music, Jack saw fit to instead push this new era with these really awkward short film type videos where he's having conversations with people, one of which involves him speaking with a couple of guys about how, yeah, they could never see him with a white girl romantically, which is not a commentary on Jack's dating preferences. It's not my business. I really don't care. But more of a question of why is Jack saying this and putting this out in the world, and what is he trying to communicate by giving this information to his audience about this time period in his career? And now that Monica is fully out, we have that answer.

Because on this delusional half-hour-long project, Jack essentially deludes himself into believing he can string together a series of tracks that are kind of in the vein of a D'Angelo, Soulquarians-esque fusion of hip-hop and soul and R&B. Which, Jack may very much be a genuine fan of that music on a personal level. In fact, there's nothing I read about Jack's efforts on Monica — and in previous records, too — as being, maybe, I want to say nefarious, with intent. But what Jack is attempting here on Monica is most definitely naive, not only due to the clear lack of knowledge and depth and experience that Jack showcases with his songs on this project. But also, I'm sorry, like, Jack just does not have the chops for this sound either.

The biggest compliment I can give Monica is that some of its tunes, some of its writing lyrically, at a baseline, is passable. Like, I could see these songs functioning as demos for tracks that could be redone by better singers with a band of collaborators and really kind of like improve them and make them sound better and passionate and exciting. But the state that they are currently in on Monica, I won't say is unlistenable, but it's definitely boring.

The opener "Trade Places" does have some decent vocal lines on the chorus, an okay groove coming off the beat, but Monica sadly does not really grow from there, and Jack's complete lack of ambition makes itself pretty clear by the third track. And then by the fourth track, "My Winter," his lack of vocal range is made apparent, because he tries to pull off this intro where, like, vocally he's riffing a little bit and trying to really set the tone by doing these vocalizations in his lower range, but he cannot hold a fucking pitch. He cannot stay in key. In fact, it's so bad, it's so awkward, it's so embarrassing, I don't know why anyone on his team let him release this.

Then after track 4, track 5, "Move Along", features James Savage, a guest vocalist on the project, and instantly, like, way better singer than Jack, apparently, like, on all fronts.

Honestly, the only song on this record that to my ears, as is, sounds pretty good, like, doesn't need to be messed with or futzed with in any way, the performance is fine, the instrumentation is a little bit bolder, and the song itself is the most solid on the album, is "All of My Friends". After that, though, the album just starts, like, repeating itself with many of the same hi-hat and kick patterns on the production side.

And once again, Jack showcases that he just doesn't know enough about this genre to do it justice, nor does he have the technical skill to overcome that lack of knowledge. You know, for example, guys like Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber — these are guys who, if you paired them with the right musicians and the right writers and producers, they could pull a record like this off regardless of how familiar they are with the style of music, because they are just talented vocalists who have the skill to be able to emulate certain styles within the popular music realm. That's literally their job.

A lot of people in the wake of this record being released, I have seen, invoke releases like Mac Miller's The Divine Feminine, a record that personally I'm not really a big fan of, but I can see why that album would be brought up, because that is an album where Mac Miller doesn't really showcase a whole lot of vocal chops, but he shoots for a similar musical style and overcomes that lack of technical virtuous skill with a knowledge and a personal appreciation for this style that many rappers, especially white rappers, don't necessarily have.

Beyond that, I'm just not sure there's too much more left to say about Monica. It's not an eventful album by any stretch of the imagination, and it really has panned out to be one of, like, the biggest nothingburger projects of 2026. Like, if it weren't for the fact that Jack's rollout around this album has spurred just this litany of relentless jokes at his expense because he's been publicly commenting on his "blackness", as it were – which I'm not going to get super deep into the ridiculousness of that right now. But again, if it were not for the discourse around that talking point, this album would be making no waves whatsoever. It really is one of the most pointless projects of 2026.

Why does this exist? Because I don't see it going over well with his rap fans that have ridden with him to this point and somehow enjoy as 3 previous albums. And while it may be digestible on the front of it being, y'know, a neo-soul-coded project, an R&B-coded project, I don't see whatever favor it's currying lasting for very long, because there's just so many better records and better artists out there, both old and new, in this style. I mean, hell, you could listen to the new Jill Scott album, you could listen to the new GENA record, and those dropped just weeks ago.

So I'm gonna leave it there, I'm feeling like a light to decent 3, on this project.

Anthony Fantano, Jack Harlow. Forever.