Review: Clairo at 9:30 Club
Photo by Jasper Soloff, courtesy of them.us
The 9:30 Club was packed to the brim for Clairo’s concert on Tuesday night. A rising star who found near-overnight success two years ago when her lowkey, low-res webcam music video for “Pretty Girl” went viral, Clairo distanced herself from her lo-fi bedroom-pop roots with her polished 2019 debut LP, Immunity. Her show made her songwriting evolution clear, and while the 21 year old is still figuring out the ropes of a headline performance, a strong connection with her audience made the night memorable.
There were a few hiccups. Clairo’s voice was under strain from the beginning of the set, as she told the crowd, “I’m about to lose my voice,” only three songs into the set. Not much later in the show, she took a break to consult with a sound tech on faulty in-ear monitors, an issue that was never resolved.
Her fading voice didn’t keep her from strong performances on some album cuts like “Impossible,” “Bags,” and “Sofia,” some of the biggest songs of the night. With the exception of a few sleepy cuts where Clairo’s voice blended into the background, the crowd was keyed in. Songs from across Clairo’s catalog - from her earliest singles to Immunity album cuts - sparked singalongs.
Ultimately, Clairo’s performance was, like her recordings, defined by her songwriting. Understated and gentle, Clairo is an expert at conjuring the unique pains felt by teenagers in evolution. “Bags” and “Sofia,” a pair of songs that find Clairo grappling with how honest she can be about her bisexuality, are hesitant, noncommittal, but ultimately hopeful vignettes of a young person becoming who they want to be for the first time.
Those two songs, two of the biggest hits of the night, are just examples of the powerful universality and relatability that Clairo so easily taps into. From her emergence onto the national stage with the “Pretty Girl” video to her recent forays into club pop and piano balladry, the stakes of her stories find the vital drama in the day-to-day.
Those stakes were mirrored by her unshowy performance. The drama in a Clairo show doesn’t spring from intricate choreography or dramatic vocalization, but from the lack of flourish. The subtext seems to be, “I’m just like you, and I’m going to prove it.”
That’s not to say there was no indication that Clairo is a star, though. The encore performance included a solo performance of an untitled song written on tour and the three most vibrant songs of the night - “4EVER,” “Pretty Girl,” and the Mura Masa collab, “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again.” The last song felt like a relief, both to a vocally exhausted performer and a crowd that was willing to dance to even the softest songs. Clairo isn’t a top-tier performer yet, but if she keeps writing the kind of songs that got her here, maybe she doesn’t have to be.