If Jon Bellion had a child with Shawn Mendes, that child would be Jeremy Zucker.
Zucker, who graduated from Colorado College in the spring, hails from New Jersey and is quickly rising toward stardom with his first U.S. tour. At just 21 years old, Zucker released a music video for his hit song, “all the kids are depressed,” which has amassed over 30 million streams on Spotify. His second-most-popular song, “talk is overrated,” has over 25 million streams.
His rapid rise to fame is no joke. Though his audience base is as young as his music career, he has the potential to establish himself among the big names in the music industry.
On Monday night, Great Scott’s venue in Allston was packed with young, underaged concertgoers, distinguished by the prominent black “X”’s etched onto the back of their hands with Sharpie. A number of audience members also came with parental chaperones standing near the bar.
Something about Zucker’s songs about young love, mental health and substance abuse resonated with the young audience.
Zucker’s tight-knit fan base affectionately call him by his nickname and Twitter name “Jerm.” Concertgoers affectionately cheered for “Jerm’s” drummer, Jake Levensohn, while he set up the sound system prior to the show.
The show itself started very late. The first 45 minutes of the concert were dedicated to Zucker’s opening acts. Although they were entertaining, the crowd clearly wanted to see the main event.
Nearly 30 minutes after the last opening act, Zucker finally jumped onstage. He opened his performance with a slow, keyboard rendition of the first song from his 2017 album, “Motions.”
This song, “Heavy,” is about the complications of relationships. The song sounds unusually upbeat and synth-y, despite the sad lyrics. This juxtaposition brings to light the way in which Zucker deals with the complicated emotions in his lyrics, which are often masked with a much happier exterior.
His hit song “all the kids are depressed” addresses youth depression, and in it, he uses an acoustic guitar to instill a feeling of comfort and safety. The delicate notes contrast with the unsettling lyrics and heavy theme. The song’s chorus includes elements of EDM, or electronic dance music, and electronica, adding to the upbeat vibe.
During the set, Zucker maneuvered between the keyboard, the electric guitar and a MIDI pad controller with his drummer as his only accompaniment.
Aside from Jake, Zucker controlled most of the music that he played, which gave the songs a much more personal touch — just like the content of his lyrics. He demonstrated his versatile talents and stylistic diversity through the variety of instruments used in the set.
Zucker’s voice was smooth, yet raspy, and in most of his songs, he switched into an airy falsetto during the brief, quiet moments of the instrumentals. Those intimate breaks in the middle of the songs felt like the calm before a storm. His choruses followed with full high energy and long belts.
As is often the case with new artists, Zucker rarely deviated from the original tracks, with the exception of a few short and slow renditions of his most popular songs.
Zucker would benefit from more rawness in his performance through some acapella or freestyle moments. His lyrics are so relatable, and his whole artistic appeal showcases his vulnerability. If he could convey this rawness in his performances, he could provide concertgoers a realness that they could only experience at his live shows.
Overall, the short 40-minute set was emotion-filled and kept me wanting more. Zucker is still a budding artist who needs to fully bloom, but he has built a loyal, solid fan base who will support him in his growth to his evolved form as a performer.
Hopefully, he will come back to Boston in the future with even more to offer. But in the meantime, he is definitely an artist who deserves attention.
