Ghanaian-American singer Amaarae’s breakthrough Afropop track Sad Girlz Luv Money became a viral sensation in 2021, thanks to an audacious combination of sweet and innocent feathery vocals with snotty, money-grubbing, lustful lyrics. Her second album Fountain Baby – No 9 in the Guardian’s best albums of 2023 – went further still. With a genreless blend of west Africa’s leftfield alté sound, riot grrrl-esque mall-rock, and seductive dream pop, the album’s ambition and scope was focused through Amaarae’s consistent themes of love, lust, and dancing – themes which now translate magnificently on stage.
She arrives in a red latex number as a two-piece live band of an electric guitarist and drummer opens with instrumental track All My Love and move into Angels in Tibet, Amaarae rapping smoothly through the pacy tempo. The tremolo effect of the guitar and furious clashing cymbals mean that the small venue feels intoxicatingly immersive, and Amaarae duly brings this house down.
