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Snoh Aalegra, Brixton Academy, review: Prince’s protégée is a glittering, moody gem

Snoh Aalegra has collaborated with A-list musicians from Dave to Drake - LA Times
Snoh Aalegra has collaborated with A-list musicians from Dave to Drake - LA Times

“Don’t feel yourself” is how Snoh Aalegra once explained the Swedish concept of jantelagen – a preference for modesty and aversion to ego – which held sway during her upbringing as a second-generation Iranian in Sweden. But when the 33-year-old singer, real name Snoh Sheri Nowrozi, took to the stage at a packed-out Brixton Academy last night, clad in a glittering silver catsuit and swathed in peachy fog, she seemed to have discarded that notion.

She was feeling not only herself, but plenty more besides. Aalegra promised to take everybody on a “rollercoaster of feels and temporary highs”, the kind that’s shaped her work from her 2017 breakthrough album, Feels, to its 2019 follow-up, Ugh, Those Feels Again, and last year’s Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies. She writes introspective songs about mercurial, complex feelings that resist articulation, and about situations that resist any feeling at all. Her moody mid-tempo music captures the current dating climate: confusing, unreliable, a profusion of vague “situationships”, rather than established relationships.

As she stalked the stage, it was easy to see why Prince took Aalegra under his wing during the final years of his life. She occasionally slid down the microphone or posed seductively on the floor, but she allowed her poised vocals, old-school soul ballads, and trap-flecked RnB to do most of the work. Striking a balance between aloof nonchalance and angsty vulnerability, the play between her bold stage presence and air of confiding introspection proved powerful.

Meanwhile, the energy of her records – luminous beats and vocal tinkering; inventive production that keeps her sound fresh rather than nostalgic – found its on-stage equivalent in her live band. Guitars, drums and keys lifted big hitters such as Lost You, Indecisive and Neon Peach, while the odd searing, Prince-like riff worked well against the more delicate instances of falsetto and a cappella in her voice.

Aalegra is already a sought-after feature artist who’s collaborated with the likes of Dave, Drake, Alicia Keys and Tyler, the Creator; it’s becoming clear that she’s a fully-fledged star in her own right. Rapt and clamorous from the opening track, Situationship, the audience – which included Janet Jackson – elevated every song and competed against Aalegra’s own robust vocals.

Nevertheless, for the uninitiated, the setlist may have begun to blur. Aalegra’s songs tend to lack big hooks or catchy choruses; she often sings in a low, intimate style that compels listeners to move in closer; and there was little chat between the tracks. The set operated at a similar level throughout, and risked flagging.

And yet the room didn’t stop moving, not even through the slower, lighter-waving songs of the second half. By the encore – a one-two punch of Aalegra’s most popular tracks, Find Someone Like You and I Want You Around – they were providing the majority of the vocals, flouting jantelagen so that the singer didn’t have to. “I want this to last forever,” they sang, over and over, and it was hard to disagree – hard not to be swayed by the sheer conviction of the crowd.


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