More about: PinkPantheress

Walk into King’s Cross’ Scala, and you’re confronted by a stage draped in a white cloth with four or so candelabras hanging from the ceiling. It’s undeniable that it’s PinkPantheress’ show – the kind of cozy, Gothic atmosphere that seeps into the cover of her debut mixtape, to hell with it. A coveted group of around 1,100 people – Scala’s capacity – have been lucky enough to watch one of TikTok’s rising stars. 

The set barely reached thirty-five minutes, but PinkPantheress delivered DnB perfection at rapid-fire pace to the delight of fans. Those who might not be familiar with PinkPantheress’ music might have felt underwhelmed by the night’s proceedings – after all, her music toes the line between dancefloor-ripping beats and bedroom ballads. But Scala perfectly suited the tone of the evening, especially for younger fans who may not have gone gigging pre-pandemic. 

PinkPantheress herself is a genteel character, and much of her stage performance centred around her natural personality. She gently swayed and bopped to her songs, flanked by her DJ who acted as her hype man. She started the night with ‘Break It Off’, arguably one of the more energetic tracks off the mixtape. I wonder what the setlist would look like building up to 'Break It Off' instead, as it set the expectation for a more high-energy night which wasn’t always matched. 

As the songs are notoriously short, there often wasn’t much time to breathe between them. To PinkPantheress’ credit, she tried to lengthen the songs with various strategies. A short ‘Sunflowers’ break transitioned into ‘Pain’, PinkPantheress’ biggest hit so far. The whimsical ‘la la las’ were the perfect material for the audience to sing along to, and proved to be one of the night’s best performances. She also padded out the setlist with tiny morsels of dialogue (Haechan is apparently her NCT bias, for those who want to know). But true to form, she kept it relatively mysterious. 

She also played some new songs – ‘Picture’ was a fantastic pivot to some funky disco house (but keeping it ever as nostalgic as her music usually is), whilst ‘Take Me Home’ was a cute DnB song that shrouded some devastating lyrics: ‘I know that they’ll make an idol of me/I know that I’m not quite ready to be’. For the curious, you can find the two on YouTube – ‘I leak all my stuff’, as PinkPantheress put it on the night. 

The ending to the night was strange – after a brilliant performance of ‘I must Apologise’, PinkPantheress vanished whilst the DJ played PlayboiCarti for 15 minutes. It left everyone confused and was a jarring end to an otherwise successful night for PinkPantheress...

PinkPantheress’ set showed an artist still in development – which is to be expected from someone who is in the early stages of their career. But with such a strong fanbase and nightclub-ready songs, it leaves one excited for what PinkPantheress could do with proper financial backing, more songs, and larger venues. 

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More about: PinkPantheress