Eclectic alt-pop singer Sub Urban warmed up the crowd for AURORA at New York’s SummerStage in Central Park on June 4th.
Blending together dark pop sounds layered with circus themes and catchy trap inspired beats, the artist fully immersed himself in the performance. It’s clear that the musician, who averages over 10 million global weekly streams, was extremely comfortable on stage. That is, outside of his decision to wear a black cropped sweater and jeans on an 80 degree summer day.
Despite making multiple remarks about regretting his outfit choice, the artist didn’t let the heat deter him from fully immersing himself in dance. The diverse crowd, ranging from parents with young children to groups of young adults, embraced the energy and joined in on the dancing. As the show progressed, Sub Urban went full camp and began using distorted vocal effects reminiscent of V for Vendetta, with a sly smile as he did so.
Sub Urban, who has surpassed 1.5 billion streams worldwide, released his major label debut album, HIVE, the day before the show. Listen to HIVE on Spotify and enjoy photos from his performance below.
Katelyn Tarver kicked off her headline tour at Mercury Lounge in New York City on Tuesday, December 7.
The L.A. based singer-songwriter is no stranger to the spotlight. She began her career in entertainment by starring in TV shows such as Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush and HBO’s Ballers. It was only natural that Tarver transitioned into a music career after appearing on NBC’s primetime show Songland. The show puts undiscovered songwriters in front of top recording artists and producers, giving them a platform to pitch their original creations. Tarver ultimately went on to win the show in 2019, thus launching her music career.
Tarver’s confidence and command of the stage is impressive, albeit not surprising given her background. Throughout her set, she interspersed comedic anecdotes and casually interacted with the crowd. The artist shared that performing to a live audience was a bit nerve wracking since she hadn’t toured for a few years and was so used to performing to a ring light and a computer for her Instagram live shows.
Tarver’s nerves quickly dissolved and were replaced with a quiet sense of confidence. Her relaxed demeanor allowed the crowd to settle in comfortably and become active participants in Tarver’s set. While the artist shared stories in between songs, various members of the crowd interjected with their responses and even asked questions. One question that stood out was one about Tarver’s age. Looking surprised, she responded with a playful scolding and laughed as she said, “I’m older than you’d think”.
Though her career is already full of major milestones and years of success, Katelyn Tarver shows no signs of stopping. Following the massive success of “You Don’t Know”, which has amassed over 57 million streams, Tarver released a new album on November 12. Listen to her album, Subject To Change,here.
Katelyn Tarver is currently completing a short run of headline tour dates and will be opening for JOHNNYSWIM on his spring 2022 tour. Find tickets and dates for all of Tarver’s tour dates here.
Jeremy Zucker returned to New York City for the first time since moving to L.A. on Thursday, November 18. Performing at Terminal 5, the artist was supported by the fast-rising Toronto-based pop punk band, Babygirl.
Describing their music as “pop songs with sad guitars”, Babygirl has quickly amassed a dedicated following. With a pocket of enthusiastic fans packed into the front of the crowd, the band played singles such as “Easy” and “Million Dollar Bed” from their latest EP, Losers Weepers. Their fans sang back every word without missing a beat, singing particularly loudly for Babygirl’s 2018 hit, “I Wish I Never Met You”. In between songs, the crowd professed their love for the band and screamed in support.
As the night progressed, the anticipation grew for the packed Terminal 5 crowd. Chants of “Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!” began filling the room as Jeremy Zucker’s set time approached. As the lights dimmed and Zucker’s intro song rang out, deafening screams filled the air.
The New Jersey-born artist initially gained major traction within the music scene during his senior year of college in 2018. Torn between completing his degree and pursuing music full time, Zucker chose to finish off college and immediately went on tour upon graduating. It’s safe to say this choice has not held the artist back whatsoever — since that time, he’s amassed an incredible 5.3 million global streams and sold 3 million albums.
Unable to tour his 2020 album, Love Is Not Dying due to the global pandemic, and releasing a new album, Crusher in 2021, Zucker performed a carefully curated mix of the two albums with other singles interspersed. Starting with “we’re fucked, it’s fine” off of Love Is Not Dying, Zucker managed to contain the wildly enthusiastic crowd during the opening number. Zucker then transitioned into “Therapist” off of Crusher — the more upbeat song perfectly matched the audience’s excitement and allowed the artist to showcase some of his dance moves. Though Zucker faced sound issues as the set progressed, he did not skip a beat and continued on.
Towards the end of the night, Zucker took a break to call out the fact that he grew up right across the pond from New York City. Pointing to the second level, he gushed that his family and close friends were all in attendance, making the night extra special for him. One of the close friends was fellow musician, Chelsea Cutler, who came out to perform “you were good to me” off of their joint EP, Brent.
It’s safe to say the audience thoroughly enjoyed the night, as almost each and every face was lit up with a smile as the crowd dispersed from the venue.
Performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 10th, JAWNY walked onto the stage with a cheeky smile as Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” blasted. The song was one of the many mid-2000’s hits that the artist played before his set — all of which the crowd sang along to in unison.
As Swift’s song ended and JAWNY’s time began, he played the opening notes of “Take it Back” before abruptly stopping. A crew member had gotten his attention because an audience member felt unwell and needed a medic. The entire room instantly tensed up — just days before the show, the tragic events at the Astroworld festival had transpired, leaving the concert world in a state of shock and grief. Unlike artists at Astroworld, JAWNY instantly quieted the crowd, made sure the audience member was getting help, and even gave her one of his water bottles.
The crowd cheered as the artist threw a bit of shade,
“This is what we do when someone isn’t feeling good…we stop…the…show” he emphasized.
Despite being visibly shaken up after the incident and having rolled his ankle at the Oakland stop of the tour, the artist put on a stellar performance filled with energy.
JAWNY interspersed humorous stories in between performing hits such as “Honeypie”, “4Tounce”, and “For Abby”. Known for his witty storytelling, the artist shared that he constantly runs over his set time because he rambles on for too long, and sassily remarked,
“I always go over time and get in trouble with the venue…so I’ll shut the fuck up and play.”
Ironically, the artist ended up performing a multi-song encore for the crowd, though we trust that he kept his word and didn’t go over time.
JAWNY released his latest project, The Story of Hugo, in July of this year. Listen to the project here.
Adam Melchor returned to his native tri-state area to perform at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, November 5.
With his family in the crowd, the artist filled the night with special memories for everyone in attendance. Melchor began the night somewhat nervously divulging the stories behind his songs and expressing his immense gratitude to the crowd.
As the night progressed, Melchor’s nerves settled, allowing him to get more personal. Prior to playing the song “Jewel”, he shared a story about the moment his sister said that she saw herself being with her boyfriend (now husband) forever, who were both in attendance. He found the moment so sweet that he had decided to write a song about it.
He then continued on with a different story, this time about his friend/song writing partner. The friend’s neighbor had just gotten a “broken rooster”, who was cawing at all hours of the day. When the two met up for a songwriting session, Melchor wanted to focus on the sweet moment with his sister. As the session progressed, they got stuck on a verse. After spitballing ideas for awhile, they exchanged glances and Melchor said,
“So the second verse is going to be about the rooster huh…”
As he performed the song, the crowd collectively laughed as Melchor sang the verse that goes,
“There’s a rooster in the yard behind us
Crowing at all hours of the day
He must be blind but
He only has to get it right just once
Like I got it right with you
‘Cause you’re my jewel”
Rounding out the family affair was his dad joining Melchor and his band on stage to perform “Real Estate”. Melchor shared that when he was growing up his first exposure to music was at his friends’ houses. His dad would often pick him up and ask everyone about their afternoon. When Melchor shared that they had been playing music, his dad picked up the guitar and casually whipped out a few licks, leaving the young Melchor and all of his friends in absolute astonishment.
You can listen to Adam Melchor’s debut album, Melchor Lullaby Hotline Vol. 1, here.
Christian Leave warmed up the crowd for beabadobee at Webster Hall on Thursday, November 6.
At just 21 years old, the critically-acclaimed artist has collected over 6 million total streams and has become a mainstay on some of Spotify’s most popular playlists, such as Lorem, Indie Pop, and The New Alt.
His popularity was highlighted the moment Leave and his band ran onto the stage. The large crowd began enthusiastically cheering and jumping with such voracity that the floors of Webster Hall shook beneath them.
Surprisingly, this energy did not overwhelm Leave, who performed the majority of his set with a cool and calm demeanor. We look forward to watching the young artist continue to grow and creatively evolve in the coming years. In the meantime, listen to his latest EP Days Like Lost Dogs here.
As the beginning notes of “The 1” rang out, the crowd at Baby’s All Right eagerly whipped out their phones to record María Isabel’s entrance. The New York City native couldn’t contain her excitement at selling out two hometown shows.
“You guys have no idea how happy I am to be here, I love you all so much,” she gushed.
The crowd laughed and began shouting how much they loved Isabel, leading to a back and forth exchange of “I love you” between Isabel and the crowd that lasted about 30 seconds. Isabel carried on with her set, performing “Stuck in the Sky”, “Where Does the Love Go?”, and “De Na’” amongst other fan favorites.
Easily the highlight of the night, Isabel took a break from her discography and excitedly led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to her brother JJ, who turned 21 that night.
Carly Shea is definitely an artist to watch. Though only in the beginnings of her career, she’s certainly not inexperienced. We had the opportunity to have a video call with Carly and talk about her latest single, the music video, and her plans for more music this year. Read on!
CROWDSURFER MAG: You just released “Waste My Time!” It’s your third single of this year, how does it feel to be putting out all the music?
CARLY SHEA: The first singles I released was more the excitement of releasing, but now I’m just like, I need to do this for myself to have something positive. But it’s been good! I want to do a release every month if I can.
CSM: Where did the inspiration for “Waste My Time” come from?
CARLY: The song itself is the first thing I made in New York City. I just wanted to make this fun, upbeat, vapid pop song. It started out with a melody idea, and I really wanted the producer to take this scale of British schoolchildren singing and manipulate it. It turned into this fun, quirky, dance-pop track.
CSM: I really enjoyed watching the music video as well. Of course, I’m partial to anything set in NYC. What was it like shooting the video?
CARLY: It was one of the most hectic and fun experiences ever. The guy running a pinball arcade yelled at me, we got rained on… It was wild!
Photos by Draco Mansion
CSM: What can you tell us about your previous singles?
CARLY: “Lemonade” is a track that I think is closer to what I’m going to be releasing in the future in terms of the sound. I have two different types of tracks I’m going to be releasing moving forward that are pretty different from “Waste My Time,” “Forever,” and even my next single “Feel.” One is more dark pop and the other is pretty soulful but weird. Hopefully it works!
CSM: Tell us about “Feel!”
CARLY: It’s also an older track, and it’s a track I wasn’t even sure I wanted to release originally. But I relistened to “Feel,” and even though it’s an extremely old song, the meaning to me reminded me of everything that I’ve been going through and that I’m sure that everyone has been going to in quarantine.
CSM: When does “Feel” come out?
CARLY: July 30th!
CSM: Other than releasing music every month, do you have more plans for this year?
CARLY: I’m going to challenge myself to improve. I have a hard time writing stuff that always makes sense, so I want to work on my songwriting and making it more cohesive. I want to keep pushing my stuff, continuing with voice lessons, and I want to just get better!
CSM: So, you’ve only recently began your career as an artist. What do you want people to know about you?
CARLY: I think that I would like people to know that I hope that however they connect with the music is my goal. It’s important to me that you can take something away from it. And that I want to create music and art that is true to myself. Sometimes it will be super fun, upbeat nights out, and sometimes it will be about traumatic experiences. I want people to know I don’t want to shy away from what makes life life.
Photos by Draco Mansion
CSM: Last question: If you could tour with anyone, who would they be?
CARLY: That’s a really good question! Part of me says it should be relevant genre-wise, so I’d say it’d be really cool to tour with Dorian Electra or someone like that. But deep down if I could tour with anyone it would be Hall & Oats or Steely Dan… that would be the dream!
“Waste My Time” is out now and you can watch the music video here!
Alexander 23 opened up for Chelsea Cutler on March 3, 2020. We were all instantly in love with the neon heart sign that he had on stage, and clearly falling in love with him as he played his newest single “I Hate You So Much,” and covering bops such as Miley’s “Party In The U.S.A.” Take a look at all the photos below! And then check out our other coverage from concert if you haven’t already: Chelsea Cutler photos and the X Lovers interview.
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