American pop princess Nessa Barrett hit Glasgow’s iconic Barrowlands venue on 29th May. This was her first of 2 sold-out nights in the Scottish city, with her second night located at O2 Academy on 30th May. Barrett is currently on her UK & Europe leg of the Aftercare World Tour, and will continue across cities like Cologne and Berlin, before finishing in Paris on 23rd June.
Sombr
Opening the night was supporting act Sombr with a jam-packed 12-track long set starting at 8 pm. Dressed in a black fringe leather jacket, the 19-year-old New York singer was met with an eager crowd of fangirls as he opened with his 2024 single ‘makes me want you.’ He included some special unreleased songs like ‘I wish I knew how to quit ya’ and tracks with slower, raw authentic lyricism that hit different experiencing live.
‘Caroline’ was a special one – a soft pop tune with emotional vocals with Sombr playing the acoustic guitar while fans held up torches from the crowd. Recent single ‘Undressed’ was another popular setlist track, you could really hear the Glasgow crowd singing back every word, despite it only being officially released two months ago.
Sombr came up close to the barrier to engage with fans for ‘it would’ve been you,’ – with incredible energy with fellow guitarist and getting the crowd to move around. Closing the set was ‘back to friends,’ and was undoubtedly the crowd favourite. Released on 27th December last year, this track has not only gone TikTok viral but also mustered up a cracking 238 million streams on Spotify. This was definitely the song the crowd had been waiting for.
Sombr is set to continue supporting Nessa for the rest of her UK & Europe tour, before branching on his own ‘Late Nights & Summer Romance Tour’ later this year, with dates across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Nessa Barrett
22-year-old American pop singer Nessa Barrett brought her Aftercare Tour to Glasgow with a stunning show with several tracks from her sophomore album ‘AFTERCARE.’
Setlist opener ‘DIRTY LITTLE SECRET’ kicked off the first act of the show, alongside popular tracks ‘TAKE ME TO THE DISCO’ and ‘BABYDOLL.’ She then welcomed the crowd and expressed how happy she was to be in the Scottish city. Nessa was last in the UK for two sold-out London shows in 2023, in support of her debut album ‘young forever.’ I was lucky enough to attend these shows, and I can say that Nessa’s growth from the past 2 years is immense. This time round, she has extended her UK run to over a dozen dates across the UK & EU and will set foot in Australia in December 2025.
Performing older tracks from the ‘young forever’ era feels like reopening old wounds for Nessa, so the setlist tonight only included a handful of older tracks whilst the majority of the setlist was newly released tracks from ‘AFTERCARE.’ This is a new era for Nessa, and a huge step in her music career.
A notable setlist highlight was ‘EDWARD SCISSORHANDS,’ a track inspired by the critically acclaimed Tim Burton film. Nessa sat down for this track, whilst singing introspective lyrics about the struggles of Scissorhands not being able to express affection without hurting those around him – and mirroring it to experiences with people in her own personal life.
Nessa takes lots of influence in her songwriting from romance books, and much of ‘AFTERCARE’ explores crucial topics of intimacy & female self-confidence. Around halfway through the main set was ‘GLITTER AND VIOLENCE,’ a track popular with the crowd with storytelling that critiques and unpicks the public discourse toward sex workers. The lyrics: “They only want you in a cage, for your eyes only” calls out people objectifying women’s bodies, and the feelings of control and ownership felt toward women in their line of work.
However, Barrett has also mentioned in previous interviews that writing AFTERCARE has healed a part of her sexuality. Following a rocky childhood growing up in a strict Latin-Catholic church, Barrett is now more content with herself spiritually and often communicates her relationship with religion through her discography. Barrett refers to strip clubs and sex work “for the lost and unholy” through lyrics in ‘GLITTER AND VIOLENCE,’ contrasting sex work against the typical Christian values, whilst also symbolising her past struggles and spiritual journey.
The setlist progresses to ‘KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME BOY,’ a track from the deluxe AFTERCARE album. This was one of my favourites to experience live, with delicate yet haunting vocals with lyrics discussing feelings of self-loathing and unfulfillment in a committed relationship. Here, Nessa describes a lonely housewife trying to keep her relationship alive by impressing her husband with rich jewellery & neatly curled hair at her vanity. Yet, you can feel the yearn and desperation through the lyrics “I love you and you love vanity / If this is love, why does my heart feel like this?” illustrating her unfulfillment in love.
Nearing the end of the set, Nessa played a stunning cover of ‘Glory Box’ by Portishead, before diving straight into the encore with her most-streamed tracks ‘die first’ and ‘PORNSTAR.’
Nessa is set to continue her creative endeavours following the end of the AFTERCARE tour and already has a vision in place for ‘NB3’. She has previously stated she wants to include more jazz and indie elements to her upcoming work – and blend both the vulnerable elements of ‘young forever’ and the lessons she has learned from these experiences in ‘AFTERCARE’ through the work of her next project.
Listen to AFTERCARE here:
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