“The song’s about to start…can you hear it? The door’s about to open…can you feel it?”
NIKI’s ‘Buzz World Tour’ show in London began with these words, delivered in dark velvety harmonies that surrounded an arena quiet with anticipation.
When I first saw that tickets to see NIKI’s show were on sale for £20, I was a little hesitant to take the opportunity. While I, like many others, obsessively had ‘La La Lost You’ on repeat throughout 2020, I only truly knew a handful of her songs. As someone who had the time of her life screaming every lyric at the Eras Tour this summer, I had always thought of concerts as a joint celebration for die-hard fans, and a bit of an awkward experience if you were just a casual listener.
What I didn’t expect was a concert as joyous as it was intimate, despite being held in an arena that had the capacity to fit 12,500 people. From tongue-in-cheek comments like dedicating ‘Focus’ to “anyone who has had to deal with clowns…” to a clear friendship with her bandmates and crew, you could tell NIKI was having fun. One special moment was when she brought out Maisie Peters as a surprise guest. It was pure joy as two young female artists reunited after beginning as online friends supporting each other’s musical endeavours from their own hometowns. The pair sang their hearts out to ‘There It Goes’ – an ode to London as a city that allows us to let go and loosen up. As someone who has newly moved to the city, I am a sucker for songs that unashamedly romanticise the city, inevitably becoming the soundtrack to my daily commute.
While I knew little about NIKI before attending, I did know that she was born and raised in Jakarta before moving to the US to find a place in the music industry. Even though I had always admired her for finding mainstream success in the Western music world as a Southeast Asian artist, I never realised how often her music had explored this split identity. Her longing for a home that she had chosen to leave seeped through many songs that contained this bittersweet sentiment. Introducing “Autumn”, she dedicated the song to those who had multiple places to call home, no doubt recalling her own. In honour of the holiday season, NIKI also donned a set of reindeer antlers and performed ‘Hallway Weather’ live for the first time. Hearing it for the first time as well, I was captivated by how she managed to perfectly encapsulate the emotional mess of loneliness and guilt that arises as the winter season approaches.
“And you wonder how your parents did it, when do you know somewhere is home?”
This lyric struck me the most, having just moved halfway across the world and living a life filled with multiple relocations. Looking around me, I realised many the audience members looked like young students too, who had probably left their own homes to come to London and might have been spending the upcoming holidays away from loved ones. In this moment, the show felt more like a hug from an older sister who had left home and made it big, reassuring all of us watching below that in the end it was worth it.
In the end, whilst I did not know every word to every single song, I would not have changed anything about my experience. In the weeks post-concert I have listened to the set list countless times and discovered new favourites from NIKI’s discography. I now realise that live music is a great way to discover new artists. Taking on the role of an observer does not take away from the intimacy of a concert, but rather can lead to its own special moments.