So guys, I saw Harry Styles this weekend. It was amazing and life-changing (of course), but we already know how I feel about him. We’re here to talk about his opening act, Jenny Lewis.
You might be wondering, “Who the F is Jenny Lewis?” Everyone else is too – so much so that she made merch out of it.
Jenny Lewis is well-versed in the music world. She’s been in three separate bands: Rilo Kiley, The Postal Service, and Nice As Fuck. Rilo Kiley had a soft rock sound with Lewis leading on vocals. The Postal Service was a mix of indie and synth-pop with Lewis on background vocals. Nice As Fuck was an all-girl rock band with Lewis taking over the lead vocals again.
However, she hasn’t been tied down to making music with just these bands. Since 2006, she’s released four solo albums, with her most recent one in 2019.
From just her performance from this weekend, she seemed like one of the most chill people ever. She came out in a pantsuit with a glass prism on it, reflecting the colors of the rainbow. She had a microphone in one hand and a Modelo in the other. Not to mention, she had the cutest graphics on her screen as she performed.
Out of all the groups she’s been a part of, Lewis sounds the most similar to Rilo Kiley. She’s like a mix of Fleetwood Mac and Kacey Musgraves with a little bit of rock and roll. One of my favorite songs she played was “Red Bull & Hennessy”. It’s about the complications of a relationship, the highs with Red Bull, and the lows of Hennessy. The caffeine and depressants don’t mix very well. She introduced the song by saying “This song is not a cocktail recipe”, which I thought was hilarious.
Her obsession with her dog, Bobby Rhubarb, was a huge part of her act. My favorite part of her set was when she sang an unreleased song called “Puppy and a Truck”, a song she wrote during the lockdown, and it was one of the cutest songs ever.
She even brought a wired telephone on stage while her dog “called” from backstage. During the onstage conversation, her dog requested that we all bark at her so Jenny would sing her next song. Imagine being in a room full of 20,000 people barking at Jenny Lewis.
As someone who went to the show not knowing any of Jenny Lewis’ music, she knew how to get the audience ready for Harry Styles. Her vibes reminded me a lot of Kasey Musgraves, who opened on Styles’ last tour, and she blew up from there. They both seem to like the 70’s groovy cowgirl vibes. I’m definitely going to listen to more of Jenny Lewis: I needed something a little different to listen to and her sound just feels right.
