SHOW REVIEW: Amaarae @ The Belasco
Amaarae
Amaarae is for the girls. More specifically - Amaarae is for the beautiful mid 20-somethings sporting Depop leather, a vaguely vintage shoulder bag, and liquid blush that complements their horoscope. An Amaarae show is equal parts concert and workout, considering her music was designed for you to wine your hips; my girls and I left the Belasco after her April 2nd show having sweat into our pleather and mesh, knees and backs worse for the wear (see: aforementioned mid 20-somethings).
First and foremost - Amaarae’s warm welcome of her fans into the Temple of Fountain Baby, the setting for her summer 2023 record Fountain Baby, fit perfectly against the sweeping design and striking intricacies of the Belasco. We found our best view of the stage and set via the balcony, where we watched a packed house of about 1000 attendees dance to a pre-show playlist filled with Britney, Mariah, Whitney, and Missy. Following opener Amindi (whom I am a fan of but unfortunately cannot comment on as I was trapped in class during her performance…[redacted] when I get you……) we people-watched and sipped on overpriced drinks while waiting for Amaarae to arrive…which she eventually did, at 9:30, about 45 minutes after her opener. From there we were off to the races, screaming along to show-starter “Angels in Tibet.”
Amaarae blends Afrobeats with dance with electronica with R&B with rock with pop with rap—in essence, she is genreless. She moved through her setlist with almost alarming speed; the whole set lasted a tight 60 minutes, and in that time she covered 13 of the 14 songs on her album plus a few previous hits like 2020 success “SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY.” An acrobat with her vocals, Amaarae played with modulations on the fly and switched seamlessly between an emotional, acoustic rendition of “Reckless & Sweet” into the rough rock needed for “Sex, Violence, Suicide.”
There is a certain duality to her—she keeps the audience guessing, but always leaves them satisfied. She dances to her songs like she herself is in the audience, and half the time you can’t hear her clearly because of how loud the crowd is screaming her lyrics back to her. I’ll admit, the semi-regular concert-goer in me did notice a few areas that would improve with more touring; more visually cohesive lighting, fewer wardrobe malfunctions, and—a personal pet peeve of mine—not encore-ing a song she performed earlier in the show. That said, she closed the main portion of her set with “Come Home To God,” which would have been gift enough had she not brought out Aminé to perform their popular collab off of 2023’s KAYTRAMINÉ, “Sossaup,” as the grand finale.
All-in-all—she has the star power (enough for my Nigerian roommate to dub the Ghanian-American an honorary Nigerian…a BIG admission), she just needs the rest of her touring prowess to catch up. TL;DR would I see Amaarae live again? If her next album has a fraction of the groove-ability of Fountain Baby, you bet I’ll have the presale code.
-DJ T AKA Tahlia Vayser