Hoodie Allen & Jake Miller – El Rey Theater – Los Angeles, CA – October 1, 2019 (A PopEntertainm

Updated: Jun 19, 2022

Hoodie Allen & Jake Miller – El Rey Theater – Los Angeles, CA – October 1, 2019

Welcome to Whatever USA, where it doesn’t matter where you came from, it only matters where you end up. Hoodie Allen, real name Steven Markowitz, is a 31-year-old singer, songwriter, and rapper touring this new album on his Whatever USA Tour, including a concert last Tuesday in Los Angeles. Growing up in Long Island, one of the common themes of the album is his hometown and how he has grown from who he was ten years ago.

Hoodie attended the University of Pennsylvania, always in pursuit of music and releasing mixtapes with Obey City in 2009. When he got a job at Google, it was short-lived once he finally had the opportunity to do live shows and release more EPs. It was not until 2014 when he debuted his first album but that did not prevent the singer from charting extremely high on the charts.

Hoodie Allen is the epitome of built-from-the-ground-up as he currently self-releases all of his albums, newest being Whatever USA, released this past August 2019. As the rapper grows older, he continues to strive after a decade in the industry and release music that means more than just charting and replaying on the radio. Whatever USA was created with personal connection in mind and stays true to Hoodie’s sound and creativity.

The album features guests such as Christian French, Spencer Sutherland, and Gianni and Kyle, the latter two which Hoodie was joined on stage for their songs together, “Giving Up on Us” and “60 Seconds”. During the show, Hoodie played songs from every album and even added a spin to hits like “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and “Buy You a Drank” by T-Pain, in which he serenaded a fan in the crowd.

Fans were not at just a show but an absolute party celebrating Whatever USA and its counterparts. The El Rey Theatre was first flooded with balloons and cryo jets, in addition to the bright lights, before Hoodie threw cakes into the crowd while singing “Cake Boy” and rode through the crowd on an inflatable raft during “Small Town”. Hip-hop and R&B suit the artist’s work unquestionably as he raps in almost every song but still maintains the peppiness of pop music. Not only are his songs catchy, but his show exemplifies the high-energy and liveliness that a fan could call the best night of their life. This comes from a genuine and caring artist like Hoodie Allen that desires deep connections with his fans.

As the encore commenced, Hoodie and his band members performed “No Interruption” to their loyal fans who rapped along and jumped for the confetti released at the last chorus.

The opening act was Jake Miller. Miller is a 26-year-old who has been active in the industry for almost a decade.

The crowd was full, and the stage glowed with bright letters as Jake Miller took the stage in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey. As a fan of YouTube, Miller said everything a musician wants to learn is possible through tutorials, which he watches for his own mixing and composing. At every song, the audience was on their toes, dancing and moving their hands to his set.

Jake, a native to Florida, stated that he currently lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He got his start in a national talent show for musicians in 2011 and proved that hard work really pays off in 2013 when he released his first album, Us Against Them, under E1 Music. Since then, the singer-songwriter has put out two more albums and numerous EPs as independent and, later, for Sony Music.

Although Los Angeles is known for its strong number of pop stars, Jake exemplifies what it is like to be a down-to-earth guy with a gift to sing and rap. During a pause with the audience, he expressed that not only does he write his lyrics, he creates the beats to all his songs and, most recently, he was busy recording his new EP Summer ‘19 in his own bedroom.

Miller sang and rapped an older, yet popular song “Me and You,” in which he said, “I need everyone front left to right and front to back jumping as high as you can,” and they followed. He even pulled out an electric guitar to cover the hit song “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers.

He performed songs from Summer ‘19 including “COULD HAVE BEEN YOU” and “15 MINUTES” as many fans sang along, having already memorized the lyrics. The pop and hip-hop singer told the audience he went through a break-up and wrote 250 songs about it, eventually landing on “LAST TEXT” as a single released in August after his release of the “Based on a True Story” EP.

Make sure to get tickets to the Whatever USA tour to see Jake Miller open for Hoodie Allen because unlike Jake, these tickets won’t wait for you!

If you feel like you need a party in your life, attend a show on Hoodie Allen’s Whatever USA tour because it will not disappoint.

Mia Jessie