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Tuesday night (May 15), English singer/songwriter Ella Mai brought her impressive, vintage style to New York City's SOBs venue. Along with the 23-year-old's electrifying vocals and time-honored presence, the Instagram sensation-turned-rising R&B crooner delivered an important message to black women about embracing their flaws. But before the Interscope signee unloaded her refreshing ideas of feminism—or womanism—onto the eager NYC crowd, the London-bred artist ran through her lyrical gamut of love and break-up songs.
As the lights dimmed and her live band made their presence known by prepping their respective instruments, Mai's chilled, yet mellifluous voice magically filled the room. "New York City, what up," she mouthed into the microphone, which was followed by thunderous cheers from concert-goers.
The musical spectacle commenced with the upbeat, body-shaking record "Who Knew," as Mai sashayed on stage rocking an oversized green army jacket; she looked like she was from the fashion pages of New York City in the '90s. In fact, Mai later revealed that she went to high school in the City of Dreams, which explains her Empire State swag.
As shots of liquor settled into the systems of the venue's patrons, Mai ran through her cuddly (and somewhat seductive) record, "Breakfast in Bed." Women mouthed every word, while the fellas kept their poker faces intact, and semi-shoulder leaned to the bedroom medley. The mood shifted with jams "She Don't," "Anymore," and the Malcolm Gladwell-inspired "10,000 Hours." Here, with a slew of librettos meshed into themes of break-ups between former lovers, concert-goers were moved to think back on their exes, only to quickly dismiss them.
"Honestly, before I do this song, I cannot do it without saying, 'Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, DJ Mustard," Mai said to resounding cheers. The god-like energy that filled the shoulder-room only venue as the Troubled singer ran through the DJ Mustard-produced "Boo'd Up," was so spiritual that the musical gods had to spin it back.
However, the best moment of the night came when the rising R&B star reached into her own bag of thought to unearth words of encouragement unifying women of every color, shape and political ideals. "This is all because of you guys, and I can't thank you enough," Mai said. "It's a message that doesn't get put out enough, especially as a young black woman in this industry. We need more messages like this for the younger generation who is very influenced by social media. It's okay to wake up and look however you look. You are beautiful regardless." These supporting words were followed by the groovy record, "Naked," which the charming crooner performed with finesse.
This night was special because Ella Mai shed light on one of the most important, and often overlooked, lessons of feminism, or womanism: sisterhood and women embracing life's contradictions and flaws to discover their superwoman abilities.
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Slayyyter played her take on Turnstile’s ‘Birds’ onstage for the first time in Atlanta. You can watch footage of the performance below.
Slayyyter is currently touring with her ‘Wor$t Girl In The World’ show. She added the cover to her set at The Eastern on Monday night (September 21).
She sang ‘Birds: Slayyyter Version’ near the end of the main set, following ‘Brittany Murphy’. She then came back for an encore featuring ‘Brand New Chanel$’ and ‘Beat Up Chanel$’.
It was her first live performance of the song. She originally recorded it for Turnstile’s ‘Never Enough: Versions’, a collection of reworked tracks released on August 28.
The 22 track release brings together new interpretations of songs from Turnstile’s fourth album. Contributors include Elton John, Hayley Williams, Blood Orange, A. G. Cook, Faye Webster, Four Tet, Oklou, Floating Points, Nourished By Time, Alex G, Julien Baker and Mustafa.
Panda Bear recorded a new take on ‘Magic Man’, while Dying Fetus gave ‘Birds’ another interpretation rooted in death metal.
See Slayyyter perform the track live and listen to her studio recording here:
Slayyyter trades the original song’s hardcore intensity for a bigger electronic sound that feels at home alongside her latest album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’.
Turnstile first released ‘Birds’ on their 2025 album ‘Never Enough’. The song won Best Metal Performance at the 2026 Grammy Awards, where the album also won Best Rock Album.
In its five star review of ‘Never Enough’, NME pointed to ‘Birds’ and ‘Sole’ as reminders of Turnstile’s hardcore beginnings. It also praised the album for “furthering their unique, pop-facing take on hardcore”.
Slayyyter will join Turnstile on another stage next month. She and Die Spitz are set to support the band at the University of Kansas in Lawrence on October 6 for the ‘Never Enough Tour Pt. 2’.
It has been a big year for Slayyyter. Her third album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’, came out in March, and NME’s review highlighted its mix of “brash, sleazy pop” and late 2000s indie sleaze sounds.
Last month, she performed Hole’s ‘Violet’ for triple J’s Like A Version. Courtney Love called the cover “a delight” and encouraged Slayyyter to “keep wiping the floors with us”.
A few weeks later, Slayyyter took ‘Wor$t Girl In America’ to Reading Festival. NME’s live review declared that there was “undoubtedly a star before us on stage” and praised her “rasped, rocked-up delivery” and growing confidence as a performer.
