It’s truly Charli’s world and we’re all just (happily) living in it.
Wednesday night the SWEAT tour, presented by Charli XCX & Troye Sivan, with special guest Shygirl, stopped in Nashville. What better way to celebrate the end of BRAT summer than by seeing the album performed live?
Nashville embraced BRAT culture just as the world ratified “BRAT summer.” What I mean by this is downtown looked like it was St. Patrick’s Day or any holiday that uses the color green to celebrate. Located off Broadway, Bridgestone Arena was flooded with fans decked out in shades of green and rave fashion. It was as if the entire city was stripped of its country culture and cowboy boots and traded it in for a night of UK rave vibes. Bold sunglasses highlighted faces painted with dark makeup. Trendy mini skirts, baggy pants, and Y2K inspired looks covered the city’s main tourist strip. This overnight transformation was so much fun to be a part of. I, too, participated wearing a green top, black rave shades, and lightweight, baggy trousers.
Opening the show was Shygirl, who’s known for hits like “thicc,” “mr useless,” and “4eva.” The lyricist and DJ has been gaining a lot of recognition lately and is definitely an artist you’re going to want to keep your eye on. The set began with a gritty and fierce side and lightened up into a more upbeat and classic house tone as it progressed. The set up was very minimalist, on theme with Charli’s concepts. A white sheet with her visuals projected on it covered the headline setup, and she performed with a DJ and two dancers. Her performance was a great warm up for Charli & Troye as she kept the mood light, joyful, and bouncy with hints of fierceness that kept the crowd’s attention span directed at her.
Following Shygirl, the lights went out, and the screens flickered “CHARLI XCX & TROYE SIVAN PRESENT SWEAT” as Troye entered the spotlight with his dance crew. Last year, I received so many recommendations to check out or listen to Troye’s music with his release of “Rush,” so I was looking forward to seeing him live. Now having seen him live, it’s easy to call him an incredible performer, singer, and dancer. Throughout the night, he would perform two songs in-between a few songs from Charli, which created an interesting duality to the night. I’ll touch more on that later.
After Troye’s first two songs or so, the BRAT box rose from the catwalk. It was a small, square platform that had green curtains around all sides saying “brat” to imitate the album art, and the crowd went wild as it was revealed. As the “BRAT box” fell, Charli was presented standing in a bold pose, dressed in an outfit that was a crossover between party girl and runaway bride vibes. She had a white leotard, bright blue boots, and a veil that went down to her thighs. She greets the audience saying, “Nashville what the f*ck is up?! Are you ready or what?!” performing a very high energy rendition of 365. She welcomed Shygirl back to the stage, and as the duo broke out into party girl mode, raving to their own duet, the crowd was absolutely ignited.
As I previously mentioned, Charli and Troye would each perform a few songs, handing over the spotlight to each other throughout the night, sharing compliments back and forth as each hand-over was executed. While their styles have elements that run through a similar vein, there was definitely a duality demonstrated throughout the show as Charli’s energy was unfiltered chaos that maintained a consistent mood, vibe, “aesthetic,” and in comparison, Troye’s performance showcased ballad-like, beautiful moments with the energy picking up through each song. So, to see the show go back and forth like that was an interesting concept that reminded me of pop music’s version of DJs performing b2b (back to back).
“Did anyone out there have a BRAT summer this year?” Charli exclaimed as the crowd broke into applause. “Me too. Special shout out to the person on the internet who coined that one, I love you, and I love you all, Nashville.”
While each artist was captivating in their own ways, it’s been more than 24 hours since the show now and I’m still trying to process Charli’s brilliance. She has a fascinating life story that I think heavily plays into what she creates and keeps an authentic touch as she innovates. If you didn’t know: she began making music at the young age of 14 years old, and would upload her music to MySpace. She was discovered through MySpace’s platform by a promoter who invited her to perform at warehouse raves. By 2010, she was signing her first record deal and continued releasing music.
Her personal history in the scene shined through each song she performed. The way she was orchestrating the crowd was amazing- easily the best crowd control I’ve ever seen from an artist. The entire arena was eating out of the palm of her hands as she commanded the crowd to party.
It was amazing to see her essentially turn an arena into a nightclub in ways, because club culture isn’t normally what you go to an arena to see, especially in Nashville. To me, her performance proved that the popularity of dance/club music is going to continue to rise and she is an artist paving the way for it’s future.
If you have the opportunity to see this tour, you would be a fool to not go. View remaining dates & get tickets here: https://www.sweat-tour.com/
Photo Credit: Henry Redcliffe
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