Has Lil Uzi Vert‘s insistent Jersey Club-influenced hit “Just Wanna Rock” peaked yet? It seems doubtful, but it has reached the point in its arc when they’re performing it live for late-night audiences. I wonder what the average Tonight Show viewer thought when they turned on their televisions last night to be confronted by the image of the tatted-up, mohawked, piercing-dotted visage of the pint-sized Philly MC bobbing and bouncing across the screen with a small fleet of punk-garbed dancers. Probably something about millennials.
But hey, maybe they enjoyed it. After all, Uzi’s new hit has that unbridled, chaotic energy that makes it almost undeniably one of the most fun products of the post-pandemic era. Uzi barely raps on the song, letting the persistent kick drums do most of the heavy lifting, punctuated periodically by their piercing, filtered “Daaaaaaaaamns.” The whole song is like one extended dance breakdown; knowing this, Uzi brings the energy, doing as much movement as the backup dancers that crowd the stages during performances of the track.
So maybe “Just Wanna Rock” has as much of a chance to play as well for the older late-night demographic as it did for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice crowd. And if not, too bad. Something tells me that we’re going to be hearing this song for a long time.
Watch Lil Uzi Vert perform “Just Wanna Rock” on The Tonight Show above.