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Leading into her track "Kocaine Karolina" at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse stage Friday night, Elle King told the sizeable Summerfest crowd that, "You’re really doing a lot for my confidence." As if the rising rock star seemingly needs any help in that department.

The daughter of comedian Rob Schneider, it would’ve been easy for some cynics to call King simply another product of Hollywood nepotism. But the 27-year-old rocker quickly and confidently debunked that, bursting onto the radio this year with her growling hit "Ex’s & Oh’s," showcasing a sound – an indefinable combination of rock, soul, blues and country twang – voice and attitude all her own. And from the opening moments of her 75-minute Friday night set through the encore’s final chord, she used that confidence and attitude to command the crowd’s attention and will an unpredictable performance to success.

The set list bounced from genre to genre – including a brief detour into island music of all places. Fireworks began erupting from the Amp right in the middle of the set. She performed a Beatles cover on a night with an actual Beatle on the grounds. Stories and statements sassily rambled. One of her biggest hits was left on the bench, while a Nick Jonas/The Weeknd cover mash-up was instead brought up to the plate. The night was full of zigging when you expected it to zag, and yet through it all, with King and her big-lunged Southern-fried Adele voice leading the charge, it all worked and totally made sense.

Emerging on stage like a country rock glam queen, decked out in a white gown and a shimmering lacquering of glitter, King opened up the night of breakup barnburners and eff-off anthems with "Jackson" and "Playing For Keeps," showcasing her raw gristly lyrics and vocals as well as her multi-genre sound. A rock number would lead into a country-twanged song, which would lead into a swampy rock hoedown and then maybe an old school crooning slow dance tune. When it comes to genre, she keeps a foot in several doors at once, with her soulful bourbon howls and whiplashing lyrical and vocal snarl as their unifying factor.

As the glue, King’s pretty much perfect, lending a raw, raspy authenticity to a rocker like "Can’t Be Loved" or the aforementioned swampy rock hoedown "Where The Devil Don’t Go." She’s bring that real attitude to her crowd interactions as well, praising the Summerfest crowd and telling unapologetic stories about guys dumped and gone – such as before "I Told You I Was Mean" – and men and women being equally terrible. Some of the chats were on the odd side – one such interaction brought up laughing at a fart – but as with her sound, there’s something enjoyably unpolished, unvarnished and, in the end, personable about it.

The show continued on its enjoyably erratic roll, heading into a rollicking cover of "Folsom County Blues" before a duo of ripping eff-off anthems – one complete with the first appearance from a sparklingly gold-rimmed banjo – and the toned-down, twinkly "Song of Sorrow." The latter of that bunch took a truly unexpected hard right turn into, of all things, reggae. It’s hard to say it particularly fit, but again it worked as a tribute to King’s vocal dexterity and fun that it didn’t hit wrong, an odd but endearing little style detour that, if anything, kept the audience on its toes.

"Kocaine Karolina" led into "The Compromise," a rumbling, playfully menacing tune that managed to hold the audience’s attention while a surprising spat of fireworks briefly threatened to steal the show. The fireworks would make a return visit during this middle segment of the set, but once again, King and her raw, big-lunged voice refused to be outdone by mere explosions in the sky, with the strutty blues tune "Chain Smokin, Hard Drinkin, Woman."

After the dark blues of "Ain’t Gonna Drown," King briefly ran into her first real roadbump: her earpiece, which seemed to bother her for spats during "Under the Influence." She fought on, however, and moved on to a cover of The Beatles’ "Oh, Darling," her favorite song of all time and a performance we the audience promised to keep a secret (sorry, Elle). The song appeared to be dedicated to a man off-stage, adding a layer of cuteness to the soulfully crooned number. Yet again, whatever genre she dabbled in sounded right with King’s pipes.

She then finally reached her big hit, "Ex’s and Oh’s," before wrapping up by talking about the past "sad 48 hours," preaching love over violence – not to mention straight up saying, "Don’t vote for Trump!" – and headed into a full-on rock tune and an earned encore of … no, not "America’s Sweetheart," her current radio hit, but instead a mash-up of Nick Jonas’ "Jealous" (huh?) and The Weeknd’s "Can’t Feel My Face" (wha?). No, the final duo of tunes – the rock number and the mash-up – didn’t quite mesh with one another or the rest of the set, and some almost certainly left disappointed her current hit went unheard.

At the same time, the encore pick so brashly out of left field, and well-performed, that you couldn’t help but appreciate it, an unpredictable end to an unpredictable show that kept the audience on its toes – and their eyes locked onto Elle King’s rising star.