It’s the first Wednesday night in May, and the 8 o’clock Hollywood traffic is booming around the abundance of free street parking spaces in walking distance of the Hollywood Palladium. Tonight is the finale show for English singer and producer PinkPantheress’s “The Capable of Love Tour” with opener support from Kanii, a D.C. musician known for his viral TikTok song “I Know.”
As soon as I walked into the Palladium, I was greeted by the bubbling hub of nostalgic 90s kids and today’s youth dressed in their favorite Hot Topic finds. The PinkPantheress fan demographic is all over the place, and I love that it resembles my favorite third space, the mall. It’s a fantastic nod to Nostalgia without even trying.
The chattery conversations about $28 drinks, favorite songs, and selfies are louder than the house speakers as Aaliyah’s “Back and Forth” plays. Still, everyone is having a great time waiting for the star of the evening.
When PinkPantheress appears, on time, may I add, she is greeted by a roar of praise, camera phones, and fans in tears as she struts the stage in her black ballerina flats, hip-hugger jeans, and cowl neck crop top. She’s a 2000s girl to the T, and more people should note the effort and research this 23-year-old has put into her artistry.
As she performs, a buckle purse adorned with mini stars held close under her arm; she points the mic with her white acrylic French tips towards the crowd as they recite songs like “Pain” and “Just For Me.” Her styling directly compliments her shy and sugary singing voice because it embodies the vibe of her music.
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When I was growing up in the early 2000s, I dressed just like her, and the music she makes is similar to what I was listening to on MTV and heard on soundtracks of famous movies of that time. This is what drew my attention to her.
PinkPantheress is the wonderchild of the social media age. Her music dances the fine line between EuroTrash and Italian Techno, Jungle and Hyperpop, UK Garage, and a dash of the most popular section we were all scrolling through in our MySpace days, as we tried to learn beat-making on Apple’s GarageBand. She’s genuinely fascinating.
But I digress. I could go on and on about how appreciative I am of seeing an artist with this level of artist development and proof of concept in today’s music industry. Still, we are here for a different reason. Let’s go back to the concert.
PinkPantheress brought out three surprise guests: Flo Milli, who performed her hit song “Never Wanna Lose Me;” Rema, a Nigerian Artist burning up the charts, performed “Another Life;” and Steve Lacy, the golden child of LA and everyone’s favorite sad boy, to perform “Dark Red.”
During all three of these surprises, the packed crowd condensed to get as close as possible to the front of the stage. I honestly wondered if they could see any better the closer they got through the sea of phones and heads, but the dancing never stopped. This phenomenon was something that I noticed, as did PinkPantheress.
Having the crowd never stop dancing is a feat that many artists can’t do when they perform in front of the usual too cool-for-school concertgoers in Los Angeles. But she was able to have people let go and have a great time. Hats off to you, PinkPantheress.
Closer to the end of the show, after PinkPantheress performed hit songs like “Boys is a Liar,” “Mosquito,” and “Capable of Love,” tears threatened to flow as she expressed her gratitude for the crowd’s positive reception of her and seeing the many faces lite up with love filling the room. It was a touching moment and gave us a glimpse into her down-to-earth personality. I don’t know her personally, but she seems very sweet. I hope she had a great time last night, as we all did.
P.S. – To PinkPantheress. If you decide to create your own glow stick, like you mentioned last night, it should have bangs.
Photos & Words by Asha Moné
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