Jack Harlow had an early Christmas gift for his hometown fans over the weekend when he teamed up with the Louisville Orchestra for a pair of “No Place Like Home 2024” shows at the city’s Whitney Hall. The fourth annual event — where attendees are asked to “dress to impress” — took place on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 29-30) and once again featured the Orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams backing Harlow during a set of his classically-augmented classics.
Harlow added a bit of extra spice into the mix this year, though, when he busted out a velvety cover of Elvis Presley’s 1961 Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 weeper “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Fan video of the special moment found Harlow, dressed in a dark double-breasted suit with a light blue shirt and black tie, expertly crooning the song over the sweep of strings to whoops of delight from the audience.
Comments on the sold-out shows suggested that fans are ready for the rapper/actor’s pivot to crooner, including one poster who wrote, “he needs to release this,” as well as others who said, “countdown to the ‘i’m not just a rapper, i’m an artist’ interview,” “og fans know he can sing” and “Was so sweet for Jack to dedicate this song to his grandma in the balcony. The whole show was amazing, he should release orchestral versions of all of all his albums.”
According to WLKY, that wasn’t the only singing detour Harlow took, as he also very capably covered Frank Sinatra’s beloved standard, “Fly Me to the Moon” on night two, which he dedicated to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday — and to his granny on Saturday, alongside hits from his catalog. The Courier-Journal noted that a couple got engaged during “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Harlow dropped his first new single since 2023’s “Lovin on Me” last month, the samba-esque “Hello Miss Johnson,” which he performed live for the first time at the shows. The song’s release was accompanied by a video that plays out on CCTV, where Harlow flirts with Miss Johnson’s daughter. The track is the second single from the rapper’s as-yet-untitled, unscheduled fourth album, Jackman, which was released in April 2023.
During a show at New York’s Brooklyn Paramount in September Harlow teased his next musical era, telling the audience, “I do got some very special s–t on the way… Next time I see you, we gonna have something to talk about.”
