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Laufey epitomises a charming new era in contemporary pop, as classically-trained musicians – including Wasia Project and Ena Mori – are finding an audience online thanks to their forward-facing take on traditional jazz. The 25-year-old multi-instrumentalist has had a banner year: earlier this month, she scooped a Grammy for her masterful second LP ‘Bewitched’, following a recent NME cover and a sold-out world tour. Her teenage listeners see themselves in her heartfelt songs; Laufey’s music embodies the chaotic life changes that young lovers cycle through, using surging rhythms to evoke both romantic enlightenment and despair.
This simpatico with her following can be felt at the first of three sold-out nights at Hackney’s Earth Theatre. In the coming months, Laufey will return to London for further shows at the Roundhouse and Royal Albert Hall, meaning this evening feels like an underplay. The contrast between the screams that greet the Icelandic-Chinese artist’s arrival on stage, and what comes next, is telling. Spread across wooden, seatless tiers – with many fans sitting cross-legged as though at a school assembly – they respond to Laufey’s songs not with breathless cheering, but polite clapping and nods of approval. Jellycat plushies are raised above heads after a dreamy ‘Valentine’; there is nary a phone in sight.
A powerful exchange of emotional understanding continues to play out between artist and audience. Lit in soft-focus blue tones, Laufey waltzes between the double bass, piano and guitar, with support from a taut and characterful string quartet. In a pair of red Mary Jane shoes, she pirouettes from one side of the stage to the other during ‘Dreamer’, acting out the lyrics with her hands (“No boy’s gonna be so smart as to / Try and pierce my porcelain heart”). The crowd, meanwhile, act as a quiet but ever-present backing choir, their voices barely rising above a whisper.
The cozy daydream vibe of ‘Promise’ is matched by a backdrop of twinkling lights – the sole element of production drama this evening. Given the way Laufey delivers her songs via a permanent Hollywood smile, it’s easy to forget how sad some of them are. Each one contains granular detail, from a newspaper-reading crush left behind on the Tube (‘Beautiful Stranger’) to tears on a steering wheel (‘California and Me’). She begins the former by telling a story about one of her first-ever visits to the capital, before seamlessly (and cheesily) segueing into its opening chords – a graduate of the Taylor Swift school of Song Introductions, clearly.
Credit: Getty/Lorne Thomson
Briefly joined by her identical twin sister Junia on the violin, Laufey’s bossa nova-flecked hit ‘From The Start’ proves a shimmying highlight, but it is during ‘Letter To My 13 Year Old Self’ that she hits a vocal and emotional peak. She outstretches her arms as she sings; the room falls so silent that you can hear a bartender printing receipts in the back corner of the auditorium. “One day you’ll be up on stage / Little girls will scream your name,” she repeats, her deep, crystalline voice ringing out unencumbered.
‘Fragile’
‘Valentine’
‘Second Best’
‘Dreamer’
‘Falling Behind’
‘Beautiful Stranger’
‘Promise’
‘Like The Movies’
‘Nocturne (Interlude)’
‘Let You Break My Heart Again’
‘California and Me’
‘Bewitched’
‘Haunted’
‘Best Friend’
‘Lovesick’
‘From The Start’
‘Letter To My 13 Year Old Self’
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“Express yourself,” a whispered voice hushes through the main stage as the lights flicker. Doja Cat is about to take to the main stage to headline the final night of Coachella 2024, and when she emerges at the end of the runway in a hazmat suit, you know she’s going to do as those two words say.
For the rapper, expressing herself often means doing things others might not – either because her form of expression is too off-the-wall for the rest of the world or too controversial. Tonight, she proves the former spirit is well and truly alive, bringing a touch of brilliant weirdness to the desert.
After the opening two songs, she takes off the white suit that leaves only her face visible to reveal a body suit covered in long locks of blonde hair. Ominous tones roll out over the field as she crawls up to the main stage before ‘Demons’ cuts in, and she’s joined by dancers dressed in yeti costumes. If these are the demons she’s rapping about, they don’t look too bad – cuddly, almost – and she embraces them fully, climbing on one’s shoulders to deliver the final parts of the track.
This is just the beginning of the Doja Cat spectacle tonight, which includes multiple outfit changes and stage antics that get increasingly madcap. After a commanding ‘Tia Tamera’, she disappears behind a curtain, only her silhouette visible, as the buzzing sound of an electric razor whirrs, and she pretends to shave off the thigh-length blonde hair she’s been whipping around until now. When she emerges, she sports a shaved head and a look that can only be described as high fashion cyborg.
As the performance enters its final throes, she’s joined by a very special, unusual guest – the gigantic skeleton of a dinosaur. It rolls down the runway after her as she airs ‘WYM Freestyle’, looking like she’s about to be its next victim. Before the track is up, though, it appears to decide Doja is too formidable an opponent and retreats back to where it came from.
Formidable is exactly what the star is tonight, crafting a fiery set that bounces through her rap-focused songs and never lets the energy drop. ‘OKLOSER’, which gets its live debut tonight, is an infectious highlight, while ‘Balut’ drops the tempo to something a little more soulful but still powerful. When she brings out living human guests to join her on stage, she doesn’t come close to being overshadowed.
21 Savage appears for ’n.h.i.e.’, while Teezo Touchdown ups the weird, vocalising into a flower that seems to require his whole head to be submerged in its petals. A$AP Rocky makes his second appearance of the weekend for a ferocious ‘URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!’, trading bars with his host from the top of a scaffolding tower. Earlier in the evening, South African a cappella group The Joy bring light to ‘Shutcho’.
It’s unfortunate that the crowd tonight isn’t much bigger than it is – or that, other than the fans down the front, its energy isn’t far higher. Sure, it’s the final night of the weekend and the chilly desert winds are roaring, but the reception for Doja is disappointingly flat. Perhaps that’s because she doesn’t give the casual viewers what they want – her pop hits. There is no ‘Say So’ in this set, nor a rendition of ‘Kiss Me More’ – with or without a cameo from SZA. ‘Paint The Town Red’, her latest smash, is saved until the penultimate track in the setlist, but even when its opening notes drop, the response is muted.
Regardless, Doja sticks to her guns throughout and closes the performance in the kind of way that leaves the audience confused. After a brief break from the stage, the rapper reappears back at the end of the runway, which has now turned into a ring full of slimy, grey mud. She and her dancers get stuck into the mess as she closes the set with ‘Wet Vagina’, somehow not slipping and sliding through it but nailing the choreography.
As Doja strides back to the main stage and blows a kiss goodbye, the crowd hesitates, wondering, “Is that it?” They get their answer when the lights finally go out – a subdued ending, perhaps, but one that comes after 90 minutes of pure pageantry.
‘Acknowledge Me’
‘Shutcho’
‘Demons’
‘Tia Tamera’
‘Fuck The Girls (FTG)’
‘Gun’
‘OKLOSER’
‘Ouchies
‘n.h.i.e.’
‘Attention’
’97’
‘Balut’
‘Need To Know’
‘MASC’
‘Streets’
‘Agora Hills’
‘Ain’t Shit’
‘WYM Freestyle’
‘URRRGE!!!!!!!!!!’
‘Paint The Town Red’
‘Wet Vagina’
