Jessie Reyez at The Met
When Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez dropped her new album this past March, Paid in Memories, I was excited for the forthcoming announcement of the tour. I couldn’t make her last show in Philly at The Fillmore when she toured Yessie in 2022, and since then, I’ve become an even bigger fan. I wrote about discovering Jessie in a past blog post, Jessie Reyez: A Great One. I was so thrilled when she revealed the 53-date tour in support of her new project. I signed up for her text messages to get early access and purchased tickets with the artist pre-sale for her show in Philly this time at a bigger venue, The Met. My sister was supposed to come with my husband and me, but my niece came down with a fever the day of the concert, so she had to sell her ticket. The good thing about Jessie’s music is that men like it too, and thankfully, my husband is one of them. We live an hour away from Philly and drove down after work. We were late for the opener, but luckily not the headliner. When we arrived at the theatre, there were still people going in. I forgot there’s people who purposely come later to miss the opening act. I had time to go to the bathroom, and I noticed how diverse the crowd was—different ethnicities, races, and ages. I was happy to see the depth of Jessie’s reach. I bought merch (a dope black T-shirt with Jessie posing in denim knee-high boots, a red top, and boy shorts) and we headed to our seats.
We had a good view of the stage sitting in the back underneath the mezzanine. It looked like she sold out the show that night. The pre-show playlist was a great selection of Spanish music, R&B, and Hip-Hop. I couldn’t help smiling because that’s what’s so fun about seeing a Latino act as a Latina myself; you get that Spanish flavor mixed in. Jessie went on around half past nine. The screen flickered, and a voiceover of Jessie with her words in yellow text from the pre-release promo video for Paid in Memories flashed across the screen, “Emotions get lost in translation because words aren’t colored the same. Ambition is one of those gray words for me, and success used to make me afraid. But it’s not that deep. You live some life, you make some art, and you find your way. So thank God, because in love, in money, in spirit, and memories, bitch: I’m fucking paid.” With her band on stage, she ran out in black shades and ten-inch heels, belting out the intro song on the album, “I Never Said I Was Sane.” I’ve loved all the intros to her albums so far; in my opinion, they’re always the hardest songs on the album. And “I Never Said I Was Sane” was no exception. Her long hair whipped in the air as she tossed her head back and forth, rocking out to the opening number. Pain in Memories is her third album and her first sober one. On the press run, she’s talked on podcasts about quitting alcohol, letting go of identifying with being the underdog, and keeping more upbeat songs she’s written for herself instead of giving them away to other artists. For that reason, I enjoyed Memories a little more than her previous bodies of work because there were more fun songs on it.
Jessie performed a medley of songs she has with R&B artist 6lack while the screen behind her portrayed images of them from music videos and behind the scenes. They’re supposed to be coming out with a joint album. Angela Yee asked her about it when Jessie went on her show, Way Up With Angela Yee, but she didn’t want to confirm anything. I hope that album happens because they’re one of my favorite duos. Their collaborations are always hits. He’s been featured on all her albums, so they share something special. Watching her live for the first time, I realized how she is on Instagram and in interviews is how she was on stage. She likes to be funny, she recited positive affirmations for us, she loves her parents and brought her dad out for a quick dance break, and she’s grateful to her fans. She’s a proud Latina and took a moment (as she’s done in all her shows) to speak boldly to a room of three thousand people about the harsh issues of immigration in the United States.
A special shout-out goes to her badass guitarist, Heather, who killed it on stage. We’ve seen her playing with Jessie for a long time in her performances and videos, so it was special to see her live as well. The stage consisted of two long screens that, from my angle, looked like they were on top of each other. Jessie performed her 2016 song, “Figures,” on a platform on top of the first screen with the second screen behind her. The summer heat did something to her acoustic guitar, messing up the sound, so she asked Heather to take over, and she, of course, delivered. Jessie’s best instrument has always been her unique voice. She did impress us with a rendition of “Great One” on the piano, blessing herself with the sign of the cross for good luck beforehand. I loved that there were so many throwbacks on her setlist. She sang some of my favorites from the new album like “Cudn’t B Me” that I only fell in love with after hearing it so many times as reels on Instagram! Every time Jessie dropped a new reel for this song, I thought it was a teaser for a music video. But I guess reels are more helpful to artists these days. After about an hour, she said goodbye and walked off with her band, only to return when people chanted her name for an encore. My husband thought she was going to perform “Only One,” a song he calls a bop, but it was another song from Yessie, “Still C U,” one of my favorites, that she sang instead in front of the stage to touch the fans.
It was a great concert, again, all of it done in ten-inch heels, quite a feat, in support of an album I haven’t stopped listening to. I just wish she had a title track because I love the album’s name. My absolute favorite song off Memories is “Beggin 4 Luv” and my favorite lyrics are in “Free.” I appreciated the song “Brother” and thought it was a real personal song, but my husband disagreed since she didn’t tell the full story and had a featured guest on the song. I got what he meant, but I was just happy she broached the topic. It was obvious from past interviews that she might not have been close to her brother. I just wondered what happened. At the top of the show, Jessie told the audience she wanted us to leave at the end of the night sounding like an 80-year-old smoker and feeling better than when we came in. Well, she succeeded. We all sang every song at the top of our lungs and I know I left excited at witnessing such a top-notch performance. Memories were made.
Have you listened to Paid in Memories? What was your takeaway? Leave a comment!
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