The Return of Juice Jam

Photo credit: Jyonosuke Tanaka

After nearly two years of virtual sets and practically no live performances, music festivals are finally back in action. This past Sunday, Syracuse students got dressed in their best baggy jeans and candy-colored crop tops, pregamed with seltzer and barbeques, and mobbed Skytop to celebrate the long-awaited return of Juice Jam.

And it was pretty obvious that the students were letting their hair (and masks) down for the annual outdoor music festival that takes place every semester. This year, University Union hosted a line-up that had every Gen-Z and Zillenial cramming towards the front row to get a piece of the rhythmic electricity coming from the artists, including the internet’s favorite white-boy-of-the-moment: Jack fucking Harlow.

Photo credit: Jyonosuke Tanaka

Despite a dizzying mix of changing COVID-19 regulations leading up to Sunday, the slick-rapper-sex-symbol (thanks Addison Rae for the clout) was the cure to everyone’s COVID hangover (and real one, too). Harlow performed with the swagger that only someone painfully aware of their own hotness could. As girls flung their tops and bras on stage and swooned in the front row, he sauntered across the stage, showing off his cool-guy backwards lean. In true pick-me-boy fashion, he said in between songs that he was a Louisville fan with a playful shrug. Though the heartthrob sent every girl (and guy) into hysterics when he teased at the end of his set, “Ay Syracuse, let me know where the slumber parties are at.”

Before anyone was thinking about sharing a couch with Harlow, the earliest of concert-goers got to enjoy a set by Aux Cord Wars, the opening DJ group who was spinning old school anthems like “I Wanna Be” by the Spice Girls and TikTok hits like Beyoncé and Meg The Stallion’s “Savage” remix. Some of DJ Smeezo’s picks hit harder than others, but for the freshmen swaying in the crowd, it didn’t matter.

Floods of tube tops and sports jerseys poured from the arriving yellow school busses as Audrey Nuna, a Korean-American artist and ex-NYU student from New Jersey, took the stage. Her mesmerizing blends of R&B-infused ballads and fast-paced rap told her revelation about needing to be alone and learning how to grow up. The artist, who’s making waves at only 22, was decked out in an oversized all-white fit, looking like the Gen-Z angel sent down from the music heavens. And she’s just as angelic off-stage as she is on. “Life itself is inspiring,” she said backstage after her set. 

Photo credit: Jyonosuke Tanaka

Continuing with the bad-ass-women theme, Bea Miller, the former U.S. X-Factor contestant and current inspiration to anyone looking to try color-streaked hair, serenaded the crowd with her song, “its not u it's me,” explaining to the crowd, “You know when you say it's not you it’s me, but really it’s them because they suck?” Felt that one, Bea. 

Atlanta’s rap icon, B.o.B., wasted no time entertaining the crowd: “If you’re smoking that kush, put your hands in the air!” In his bright yellow beanie, he sent seniors back in time to middle school dances with early 2010s hits like “Magic” and the crowd favorite, “Airplanes.” Oh, and B.o.B also thought he was an airplane before he tried to crowd surf himself into a crowd of drunk freshmen. Twice.

Photo credit: Jyonosuke Tanaka

But, if B.o.B falling on you isn’t your thing, there were other ways to commemorate the day, including inflatable bouncy houses, a silent disco tent, free swag, and Insta-worthy photo backdrops (not to mention free polaroids in front of the iconic Juice Jam mural).

Whatever you did there, one thing was pretty clear: everyone was just happy to feel a little normalcy.