★★★★★
One of the best decisions made by Eurovision in recent years is separating the jury vote and televote, which both confirmed and challenged preconceived notions and dramatically heightened the tension. One of the most shocking jury/public splits was right here in the UK, when Alessandra (Norway), who was sitting 17th after the jury vote, came 3rd in the televote, taking her to 5th place overall. I attended Eurovision in the UK as press and was instantly captivated by Alessandra. ‘Queen of Kings’ is, undeniably, one of the best recent Eurovision songs, and Alessandra has continued to grow as an artist. Fresh off the release of her bold new EP, Peperocina, Alessandra played an intimate yet fierce gig at Gorilla in Manchester.
The support act for Alessandra’s two UK dates was up-and-coming London-based artist Mae Hill. She’s a very different artist to Alessandra, and thus not the kind of artist one would expect to open for her, but the audience absolutely loved her. Her deep, soulful, raspy voice is aurally delightful. She also has a great, bubbly personality that hid any nerves she might have had about playing for an audience that was mostly unfamiliar with her music. Her guitarist, Nicolas Beguin, messed up a few times at the start of one song. “I promise this is not my first time,” he joked, with Mae sassily responding, “I just found him outside.”
Her set included her two most-streamed songs, both of which have done well on TikTok: ‘Love Rehab (Dun Dun)’ (Issac Frank featuring Mae Hill) and ‘The Devil I know’. She was delighted that a few people knew the latter. She cleverly covered a well-known song (‘Disease’ by Lady Gaga) to keep the audience on her side, but we were all already submitting to her talent and charm. She also, bravely, performed a new, unreleased song, ‘Playing with Fire’.
Alessandra poetically opened The Queen Is Back Tour with ‘Queen Almighty’, the first track from her new EP. This is a confident, self-assured woman who is in charge of her own destiny.
Alessandra, who is half Italian and half Norwegian, is clearly inspired by Latin sounds, especially in her recent music, which is spicy and fiery. Her performance was very much giving Latina, especially during ‘Marameo’. She wore a corset and oozed sex appeal. But she also showed tenderness and vulnerability. She spoke openly about her feelings and experiences. She showed off her incredible vocals, in both ballads and bops. She engaged with the crowd, both verbally and physically, performing ‘Easy to Love You’ in the crowd. Gorilla is a tiny venue but this show had everything.
She, unsurprisingly, opened the encore with her debut single and signature song, ‘Queen of Kings’, a bold, proud, feminist anthem which had the entire audience bouncing and chanting. I had already seen Alessandra perform the bop at the first dress rehearsals (exclusive press previews) for semi-final 1 and the grand final at Eurovision in Liverpool but it was delightful seeing her offer a more intimate and less theatrical rendition of it.
She closed the show with ‘Pretty Devil’. An adoring fan handed her a pair of horns, which matched her sexy red corset.
Alessandra is one of the most exciting artists to come out of Eurovision in recent years. It’s hard to believe she’s only 23. Her songs are lyrically dexterous, and she appears wise beyond her years. She surely has a long career ahead of her.
Photo: Jay Darcy @ JaDar
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