In January of this year Norwegian singer-songwriter, Sigrid, followed in the footsteps of Adele, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith by winning the BBC’s Sound Of… award. An incredibly well-received performance on Graham Norton’s chat show followed sending her single “Strangers” flying up the charts. Follow-up singles haven’t quite scaled the commercial heights of that track but she’s spent the year building her reputation as a live performer. Tonight’s show in Birmingham is the first night of her biggest UK tour to date.
It’s hard to think of many other artists who have sold out this 3,000 capacity venue before even releasing their debut album. It’s clear from the audience tonight that she’s already amassed a large and diverse following as fans of all ages cram onto the floor early in anticipation. Sigrid bounces onto the stage, overflowing with energy from the offset, to her current single “Sucker Punch” which a large part of the audience already know all of the words to. It’s just been added to the Radio 1 playlist this week and so time will tell if this will give her the chart success that her label are looking for but it’s certainly a hit with this crowd already.
The second track, “In Vain”, is a yet-to-be released song. It’s very difficult for artists to play unreleased material in rooms this big. With no album yet released, a lot of tonight’s set is going to be unfamiliar to this crowd. Fortunately, Sigrid‘s infectious energy and undeniable charm gets this crowd on side easily. The track begins acoustically giving the singer an early opportunity to showcase what an incredible voice she has; even stronger than hinted at by the songs she has released so far, it’s powerful but incredibly restrained.
Sigrid then runs through six tracks that can be found across her two EPs and it’s evident that a lot of tonight’s audience have invested time in these songs already. This part of the set raises questions about how important the traditional album is in the current climate; Sigrid doesn’t have one but she’s sold out yet another massive tour and the tracks that she’s put online get an incredible reaction from the crowd even if they haven’t yet set the pop charts alight. “Schedules”, “Plot Twist”, “Raw”and “High Five” have everybody dancing and singing along. Sigrid‘s voice remains clear and note perfect, free from the backing vocals and technical trickeries that often plague pop sets like this. It’s not buried in the mix but leading the charge as her band, although strong and tight, play around her rather than on top of her. Sigrid darts across the stage, rarely staying in the same spot for more than a few seconds at a time, constantly maintaining the enormous amount of energy displayed on that Graham Norton performance at the start of the year.
For “Dynamite” and “I Don’t Want To Know”, perhaps Sigrid‘s two strongest songs to date, she is just as enthralling stood still accompanied by a keyboard. Her voice soars across the room surprising people with just how good her voice is. More new songs follow but the energy does not drop; the rapturous applause growing louder after each song. Clearly an impressive vocalist, songwriter and performer, Sigrid‘s biggest strength lies in just how damn likeable she is. Confident but unassuming, the singer relishes every minute on stage, her enormous smile sincere and never dropping from her face. People want her to do well and that is something that you cannot manufacture.
She ends the set with her 2017 breakthrough track, “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, which she explains was written in response to being ignored by producers in a writing session. Like many of Sigrid‘s songs, the verses are subtle with sparse production allowing her to show off the range of her voice including her soon-to-be trademark falsetto before the gigantic pop chorus erupts.
For the encore, she plays “Focus” solo at the keyboard. She delightedly tells the crowd “that’s how I fucking wrote the song” – clearly thrilled that the audience enjoy her more tender, heartbreaking moments as much as the pop bangers that she’s got such a great ear for.
Of course, the night ends with her mega hit “Strangers” which sends everyone off into the night with smiles as enormous and genuine as hers.
Whatever happens with the album, it is beyond doubt that Sigrid is in this for the long-haul.
