Jorja Smith @ The Showbox 11-19-18
Ravyn Lanae
It’s no surprise that Ravyn Lanae was the opening act for Jorja Smith – an enjoyable type of predictability. Lanae has been gaining a following of late, releasing R&B fan favorites such as “Free Room” (featuring Appleby), “Sticky”, as well as her brand new project, Crush EP. Lanae’s vibe, according to my friend Amara, could be described as: “Ethereal Clementine Royalty.” Whatever that means. Because Jorja Smith and Lanae have reach over the same music genres and the same fans, a good portion of the crowd could still sing along and get jiggy with Lanae’s performance. Speaking of the audience, it was a pretty predictable group consisting mostly for 20 something year olds dressed in either Urban Outfitters or some other hipster garb.
Jorja Smith’s entrance was quiet, confident, badass, and everything in between: owning the stage from the get go. As she rolled through her songs, Smith focused solely on hitting the notes, setting the vibe, and less on directly interacting with the audience. In no means was this a negative; in fact, it was a huge “W” for Jorja. Her composure throughout the show allowed for small smirks, smiles, and dance moves to get the crowd going. Random note: in between most songs, Jorja would go directly to her cup of hot tea to soothe the throat (Pictured here). How British of her~
The set itself ebbed and flowed, songs transitioning from more bass-pumped, crowd-moving pieces such as her performance of “Where did I go” to pieces that made you want to melt, like “Lost and Found”.
Normally, when artists take a minute or two to breathe in the middle of the set, the aura of the place slowly turns into chatter and mumbles. Not in this case. After her performance of “I am” from the Black Panther soundtrack, she walked off stage and the band picked up right where she left off. They riffed off each other, guitar solo-ed, and got the room pumping.
At the end of the night, Jorja, in her signature way, grabbed the audience and never loosened her grip. That’s what great performers do.