Bubbly energy was in the air, and MICHELLE’s four singers were commanding the stage with presence beyond their years. Spice Girl-like energy, if you will. The music was pop-y, and R&B-y. I thought to myself, “The world needs music like this. The world needs pop stars like this. THIS is why the Bowery Ballroom is so absurdly packed tonight”.
Comprised of four singers and two instrumentalists, the New York City-bred sextet wields the confidence and song-writing required to spark fire in the eyes of young people across the globe. Their sound matches what you’d hear on a top hits radio station, but it feels more important than most of that. This isn’t a singer performing songs written by a superteam of 10 ghost writers. This is a group of young people pooling their experiences, influences, and talent together in what becomes a familiar, yet refreshing, sound coming from an unlikely place.
The group’s love for dance-pop became clear as they performed “POSE” from their latest album. A song about wanting to dance alone, with a minor allowance given in the line “As long as I pose, I don’t care if you’re next to me”. And you guessed it, the singers assumed poses, and to even their surprise, so did much of the audience.
Feeling a bit disconnected from their musical world, yet shamelessly enjoying their set, I did feel a kinship as one of the instrumentalists shared an experience of seeing the band DIIV. Suddenly I felt as though our circles weren’t too far away.
It became clear to me that MICHELLE is definitely happening in New York, and it’s only a matter of time before they are happening just about everywhere else. I don’t think it will be long before we see them performing on some of the largest stages in the world, and they are more than ready for it.
