California-born R&B singer Kehlani Parrish comes with a backstory that includes being born addicted to drugs because of her mother’s habit, competing on America’s Got Talent and receiving a Grammy nomination for her mixtape You Should Be Here. Her experiences have left her with a landscape of tattoos across her upper body and a swagger that sweeps all before it. This one-off UK date is peppered with guest spots from London soul singer Angel and R&B boy band WSTRN, both of whom she trouncingly overshadows. Support act Nadia Rose, who isn’t shy – and has been nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2017 award – also barely registers next to the fast-talking, sweet-singing headliner.
The circumstances she has overcome are referenced during the handful of ballads that break up the menu of spaced-out R&B and mid-paced 90s throwbacks. The tremulous Be Alright is introduced with an allusion to the depression that led to an attempt to kill herself; an anecdote about being told she wasn’t pretty enough to make it in music leads into the tremendous, roof-raising Unconditional. These are her most Whitney-esque moments, and they’re impressive, but she’s more interesting when she’s being the 21-year-old from the Oakland hood, flanked by two dancers in pink hoodies. Niggas is a silky, sparse dismissal of “all the men who held me down”; even better is Table, a duet with north London rapper Little Simz and an uplifting display of women knowing their own worth. Next year could belong to Kehlani.
