Last month CelebMix chatted with Au/Ra ahead of the release of her ‘X Games’ EP. Last night we headed down to La Maroquinerie in Paris to catch her set supporting Eden on his European tour.
Au/Ra couldn’t be a more appropriate name for the 16-year-old songstress. She was afforded a nearly 40-minute opening set and was mesmerising.
As the lights dimmed underground in La Maroquinerie, at the heart of Paris, Au/Ra made the final touches to her glowing emerald locks off stage. When the pop star emerged in her appropriately-coloured green kimono and coos the opening “boy I think you must be cool, because you used the alien face” of ‘Emoji’, the audience was transfixed.
That track is so cleverly written, cheeky and fun, yet making a poignant point on the role of technology in relationships today. ‘Emoji’ features on the X Games – EP and it is that recent release that makes up most of Au/Ra’s set.
That EP is a breath of fresh air and on Wednesday night, the tracks came to life. ‘X Games’ is delivered with a superb youthful haunting as Au/Ra warns of getting trapped in the “blue ticks on my shattered screen” whilst the crowd were treated to a first-ever acoustic version of ‘Ultraviolet’. With such a capturing stage presence and cleverly-written tracks, it’s easy to not realise just how good Au/Ra’s voice is. That version of ‘Ultraviolet’ is whistle clean, she effortlessly scaled from the low moody voices to the “you’re Ultraviolet, your beauty hides a pain behind it” of the chorus.
Unreleased track and fan-favourite ‘Drake’ talks of her failed attempts to find that rapper on video game Fortnite – which was met with hearty laughter from the Parisian crowd.
Inevitably, the set ended on Au/Ra’s huge hit ‘Panic Room’. With tens of millions of streams across platforms, there’s no arguing with the calibre of that single. It’s revved up to CamelPhat’s club mix at the end to round the night off with a bang.
Paris u were dreamy. thank u ??
— green bean (@heyitsau_ra) November 21, 2018
And this is only a support set. Quite how bright the future is for Au/Ra is frightening. If her dozen of released tracks and live show are anything to go by, this emerald diamond is going places – and she’s moving fast.
Have you been lucky enough to catch Au/Ra live? Let us know @CelebMix on Twitter!