Branding herself The Good Witch on her catapult to stardom, there’s no denying there’s a certain alchemy about Maisie Peters and her perfect pop as she delivers a swaggering headline show to a frenzied Hammersmith Apollo.
The 22-year-old is very much the name on every music fan’s lips after seeing her following rocket online thanks to viral TikTok tracks landing at every attempt.
What has made those 20-second TikTok clips such a recipe for success is Peters’ knack for quirky lyrics and giddy obsession with heartbreak – all that translates in the live show which opens with a voiceover of the star begging her fans to get ‘unhinged’.
The singer’s jump to a stage of this size, which sold out in less than an hour, may have come quickly but there’s a knowhow to Peters’ performance that nods to her seven years of laying down career-building bricks.
There’s nothing nervous about the South Coast star as she swaggers out to the opening murmurs of ‘Body Better’. You can tell Peters believes in the music she’s putting out and the wall of sound she’s met with shows she has every reason to do so.
Whether these fans have found the singer over the past year through singles in the run-up to sophomore record The Good Witch or have been streaming since her first BBC Introducing days, all have clearly tattooed the lyrics to the songwriter’s whole discography to their brains.
The rallying cries to ‘I’m Trying (Not Friends)’ and ‘Psycho’ are sound decibels that even the greats who have graced the Hammersmith Apollo are rarely afforded. Phenomenally, even unreleased track ‘You’re Just A Boy’ has fans on shoulders singing the lyrics back to Peters.
CelebMix wouldn’t be the first to liken the star to Taylor Swift, but that is a comparison that is even more evident on Thursday night as she stamps through the heartbreak of ‘Villain’ and chuckles when introducing a mash-up of her “most traumatising songs put together” – which happens to include a cover of Swift’s ‘Dear John’.
The night finishes with a flourish. ‘Lost the Breakup’ is nothing short of the perfectly formatted pop track with its twists and turns and the “la, la, las” of final ditty ‘Blonde’ nod towards Wembley Arena and, surely, even bigger to come.
Tickets for Maisie Peters’ Wembley Arena show are available here.