Today, Jack Harlow turns 28, and he releases an R&B album. Harlow recorded his new LP Monica at New York’s Electric Lady studio after moving to the city, and it represents an extremely unexpected career pivot for the onetime pop-rap hitmaker. Harlow’s last full-length was the relatively low-key 2023 rap LP Jackman. On Monica, he reintroduces himself as a neo-soul singer. In a new interview, Harlow explains the transition by saying, “I got Blacker” — a wild thing for a white artist to say.
Today, Harlow is the guest on the New York Times Popcast with my guys Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli. In the free-flowing conversation, Harlow says that he scrapped an album that he’d been working on for two years because it wasn’t “exciting” to him: “It just struck me that I would want to do something a little more egoless. As I’m getting older, I’m having more trouble reconciling being braggadocious on record… I love softer, more melodic stuff. More than anything, I think I made this out of, ‘What do I want to hear?'”
When the conversation turns to race, Coscarelli says, “White rappers are afforded more freedom to change the genre at will.” Caramanica points out, “Country music, for example, has become a safe landing place for former white rappers. Rock music has become a safe landing place.” Coscarelli continues, “You didn’t retreat into a whiter genre. In fact, you arguably went deeper into Black music.” That’s when Harlow cuts him off and says, “I got Blacker.”
He doesn’t mean that literally. He smiles a little when he says it, as if he knows how it sounds. Allow him to elaborate:
I love Black music. I love the sound of Black music. And of course, I’m hyper-aware of the politics of today, that safer landing spot that a lot of my white contemporaries have found. And of course, it appealed to me to do something that I felt, at a time when there’s certainly people that expect me to take the routes y’all are taking, to take the route that not only might not be expected but is also the route that I genuinely want to take. So all the stars aligned in that way for me, to be honest.
I’m not gonna pretend that what you’re talking about, I was like, “Huh, I guess you’re right!” I know that there are multiple things appealing about this route, but I also came to the decision, I’m proud to say, off of what feels good in my ear. I love R&B music. I love the sound of soft, intimate, melodic music. So I want to be understood. I want to write melodies that invite people to sing along…
I’ve always loved D’Angelo. I’ve always loved Erykah. I’ve always loved the intimacy and plush quality of that music, and if you look at my discography, there’s little hints of this. There’s Rhodes piano playing on “First Class.” There’s songs throughout that are — I really don’t like erratic music. I don’t like loud music. I like soft music. I like smooth music. I spend a lot of time sitting in silence. I like silence. So when I play music, I don’t want it to part from silence. I don’t like going to the club because of the volume.
It goes on from there. You can watch that podcast interview below. The race part of the conversation starts at the 12:36 mark.
Harlow recorded Monica with PinkPantheress collaborator Aksel Arvid on board as executive producer. Singer Jermaine Paul plays bass on the entiire LP, and jazz great Robert Glasper plays piano on a few songs. Ravyn Lenae, Omar Apollo, and Mustafa contribute guest vocals.
I’m on my first listen right now, and it does sound a lot smoother than I might’ve expected. As a singer, Harlow isn’t about to launch into swooping falsetto runs, but he sounds comfortable in his own skin. If anything, the weirdest thing about it is that it might be almost boringly competent. Hear it for yourself below.
Monica is out now on Atlantic.
Jack Harlow done turned into a Soulquarian.
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod ?? (@big_business_) March 13, 2026
