Sigrid Puts on an Electric Performance for a Sold-Out Show in Toronto
Norwegian singer-songwriter and winner of the BBC Music Sound of 2018, Sigrid, is celebrating her very first North American tour! On Tuesday night, she put on an energetic, fun and dazzling show for a sold-out audience at the Danforth Music Hall.
New York-based, singer-songwriter, Raffaella opened for Sigrid on Tuesday night with tracks from her recent EP, Ballerina. In her songs, she cleverly captures the iconic indie-pop sound of artists such as St. Vincent and King Princess with comedic lyrics and very stripped instrumentation. As she sang, she danced around the stage, showing off her pirouettes and arabesques en pointe. She closed with the first track on her EP, “Soroicide,” which is about her experience in a sorority at USC when she was a college student. She sings, “I wish I could be as basic as you/I’d be snapping filtered photos of food” as the audience echoes with laughter. Her lyrics are honest and too relatable for any millennial, which is what makes her songs so successful.
After Rafaella’s performance, Sigrid comes on stage. She opens with the title track to her debut album, “Sucker Punch.” The tightly-packed crowd goes wild as the first three notes of the bouncy synth hits. As soon as she comes on stage, you can tell that she’s done this a dozen times before; she’s relaxed and ready to sing her heart out with her fans.
Although Sigrid is only 23 years old, she has a very clear image of what she wants to portray in her music and how she wants others to see her. She wears minimal makeup and sports a plain white tee with light-washed jeans. In previous interviews, she has said that she wants to be her true self and be as honest as possible with her fans. This is also obvious when you listen to her songs, “Business Dinner” and “Don’t Kill My Vibe” in which she talks about being looked down upon by men in the industry. She is an artist who stands up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to show it to anyone.
One of the things that impressed me about this show was that she was able to play every song on her debut album as well as some older releases such as “High Five”, “Raw” and “Schedules.” The defining factor that made this concert so outstanding was that Sigrid’s songs were made to be played in a concert hall in front of a live audience. From the “Hey!’s” in the chorus of “Mine Right Now” to the upbeat anthem of “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” the audience was singing their lungs out with her through the entire concert.
During “Dynamite”, the band left her on stage alone with a keyboard as she played and sang. Fans began pulling out the flashlights on their phones and there were even a few lighters in the crowd as they swayed back and forth to the slow ballad. Her beautiful voice transformed the atmosphere completely, soaring above the hall and into the night sky.
Surprisingly, she closed with “Don’t Feel Like Crying” rather than “Strangers” which was a bit of a surprise. When she began singing “Strangers”, she invited everyone to stand up and dance. The entire hall filled with electric energy as people began jumping up and down while belting “We’re falling head over heels for something that ain’t real/ It can never be us/Just you and I.”
There was no encore after “Don’t Feel Like Crying” but she definitely did justice to all of her songs and fans left feeling very satisfied with her performance. I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more of her in North America in the future.
