Emerging RnB Sensations

At 8pm, Ocean approached the stage and started her set with a cover of ‘Distance’ by Yebba. Ocean added her own riffs to the song to give it a more personal touch. This was an impressive performance considering how difficult it is to match Yebba’s powerful vocals. Next, Ocean performed ‘Rock with You’ by Michael Jackson. You could see Ocean had begun to loosen up whilst she was performing as she was smiling more and started moving to the beat. The crowd really seemed to enjoy Ocean’s performance of this song as they were singing along with the chorus. Finally, she performed an original song ‘Clearly It’s Not Working’ that featured her friend from college who played the guitar, Dylan Biddle. Ocean told us that she wrote this song when she was going through a very tough relationship. The song was calming and had a steady beat; and I personally always love a bit of electric guitar. I think the decision of performing two songs that were well known to the audience was a smart move as this meant the crowd had higher energy as she transitioned into her original music.

Following this was Nathaniel, who started us off with a song he created with his cousin. Nathaniel is not an RnB artist; he is a rapper but you could see how he adapted his style to the audience. He chose some of his songs with a slower beat and had his cousin come to sing with him which added a level of RnB to his music. This showed versatility. All of the songs that Nathaniel performed were his own, his setlist was ‘De Temps’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Vsy’. One of Nathaniel’s songs featured him rapping in French which I thought made the song sound fresh and energising. It set him apart from other rappers on the UK scene by being able to speak two languages in a song. Unfortunately, I think the crowd were slightly surprised to hear someone rapping instead of singing and being similar to the two previous artists who had performed. Nathaniel did not let this stop him from performing to his best abilities and took it as an opportunity to showcase his music to a new audience.

Lahlia was up next and was personally my favourite artist of the night. Unfortunately, she does not have any of her own music out currently, but after having a conversation with her, I was reassured that she is in the process of changing this. Lahlia started her performance with ‘No Love’ by Summer Walker ft. SZA. The control she had in her voice really stunned me; she made it seem so effortless. Before introducing her next song ‘Sabotage’ by JoJo, Lahlia mentioned how nervous she was about performing and that she tended to get quite anxious about performances post-COVID. However, when she began to sing it looked as if all that anxiety went away and she seemed so comfortable up there with the mic, which came across in her vocals as well. Finally, she sang an original song that the crowd especially seemed to love. The vocals on the track and the slight liquid DnB beat was enlivening and really caught everyone’s attention. This song is sadly not out on any platforms yet but hopefully will be in the near future. Lahlia Cole is definitely an artist to watch out for.

Last but certainly not least was the headline act, Chido. I had not heard any of her songs before but was pleasantly surprised when I heard her sing. There was a lot of control and good breathwork in her performance. She had such a refreshingly unique voice that really added to her songs. Her setlist was ‘R.E.D’, ‘Leave My Place’, ‘Planets Apart’, ‘Foundation’ and ‘Ain’t Got You’, with the latter being my favourite of the performance. The chorus was catchy and really made me stop taking pictures, hold my camera and sway along. Her stage presence was exuding confidence, as if she knew that’s where she belonged. This really translated through to her performance as well. Chido also did not shy away from interacting with the crowd, she had the audience singing the chorus to one of her songs (‘Leave My Place’) and even requesting it for an encore. The crowd clearly loved Chido as they were singing and dancing along to the music. It was safe to say this was a successful first headline event for Chido.

The venue itself had good lighting and a basic stage with a drum kit and a couple of mics. However, the sound did not carry as well as it could have due to the low ceiling. The bass of the music being played would often drown out the performing artist, making it slightly harder to hear their lyrics. Nevertheless, the venue was the perfect size for this event as it was not over-crowded, but it felt like everyone was there to support the artists in a warm and welcoming way.