Yesterday evening, I had the great pleasure of attending UK grime-pop princess Katy B‘s debut US performance at Le Bain as part of the Giant Step/Steve Madden Music Series.
After meeting up with my friend Jake, my worst nightmare Jon (of Alis-Blog, he’s literally the worst) and Jon’s roomie Justin, we began to mingle (Read: drink.) The free Svedka flowed freely as we all began to teeter dangerously close to a hip-deep swimming pool conveniently placed in the center of the fancy loft, as if begging for any one unsuspecting party-goer loaded up on one too many Sea Breezes to take a nosedive into the water at any given time. For the record, I was confident it would be me.
Luckily, it was not me. No one fell. And at around 8:15, a tiny, fiery headed pop star came strolling right past me toward the left of the pool. As a professional journalist, I decided to savor the few seconds spent standing next to each other by staring open-mouthed and stammering something along the lines of a “ha–I–uh–I.” Nailed it.
Then, another girl flanked with a semi-entourage scooted by. What–I…HOW? Could it be? YES: It was Adrienne Bailon of Cheetah Girls and 3LW fame, wiggling her way through the crowd like the spicy mamacita she is. I JUST COULD NOT EVEN.
After a quick introduction by the ‘stage’ perilously close to the pool, the pint-sized pop star waved enthusiastically to the crowd and happily declared this to be her first visit to the USA before launching into her first of three songs of the night: “Katy on A Mission.”
The vocals were top-notch, even if the sound speakers were far too low and tinny. Katy was a good sport throughout, joking with the crowd about her songs (“they’re basically all about clubbing”) and whipping through two more of her UK singles: “Broken Record” and “Lights On,” her collaboration with Ms. Dynamite.
As stripped down and limited as the show/stage was, Katy’s soulful, melodic vocals still shined bright. After her third song, Miss B cleared the stage (again passing by me, producing yet another “Buh–I–hah–I!”), the party-goers began to make a beeline for the rooftop.
But not me…I knew better.
And so, I stood my ground against the raging waves of the quickly deserting crowd of trendy twentysomethings and well-mannered hipsters, keeping my eyes on the ultimate prize until she passed by: Miss Bailon. Mustering all the Cheetah Girl inner strength I could, I said: “Adrienne, can I please get a picture?”
SUCCESS: Miss Bailon was so sweet. “Of course!” she smiled, “Follow me, we’re going to the back.” And so, after squeezing through to the red carpet sponsor wall thing-y in the back of the loft, Jake and I stood patiently (because baby, I’mma do right) watching her taking glam shots with friends and fans.
Adrienne Bailon (3LW, Cheetah Girls), Bradley Stern (Professional blogger/Tweet mentioned on The Voice.)
Finally, Adrienne, Jake and I took like seventy billion photos together, gossiped about Raven-Symone* and practiced live acoustic versions of “Cheetah-Licious Christmas,”* all the while cackling loudly* and making the rest of the revelers green with envy.*
*May or may not have happened solely in my mind.
After harassing Adrienne (I call her Adri-Baby for short now because we’re really close*), we cleared out to the rooftop and soaked in the gorgeous skyline as darkness fell. Katy later made an appearance on the roof that night walking ’round and socializing with some friends, but she just seemed far too chill for me to giddily fan-boy out and bother her. BUT LET IT BE KNOWN NOW: Katy B: You did rull good, girl. America’s going to LOVE you!
Many thanks to Giant Step, Steve Madden and Fly-Life for inviting me to this fabulous event, and shout-out to The Standard/Le Bain for keeping it sassy classy.
This night would also not be made possible without Miss Adrienne Bailon, whose flawless vocals and fierce general being have continued to provide inspiration/motivation to live life on a daily basis.
Katy B’s debut album On A Mission will be released in September. “Katy On A Mission” was released on June 21 in the US. (iTunes)
