The lights dim at ALMA’s sold out show at XOYO in London, and a voice starts to reel off some facts about the 21-year-old Finnish songstress and her band, featuring her twin sister Anna. “She will be coming on stage in 3, 2, 1…,” as the lights start flickering and pop’s new favourite bright haired woman bounds onto the tiny stage and straight into the debut single ‘Karma;’ an upbeat track in which she threatens “you better run, that bitch don’t play.”
“I’m gonna play you some unreleased songs, is that okay?” she asks a screaming crowd, “I don’t have many songs out yet!” One of those unreleased songs is ‘Drunk Tattoos,’ which features more tropical beats and a catchy chorus – ALMA has found a formula and it totally works in her favour. Taking a beer from a fan in the front row, she paces the stage taking a few sips before handing it back. “I hope there wasn’t anything in that!” she laughs.
After bouncing around the stage to two songs she features on, Sub Focus’ ‘Do You Feel It’ and Martin Solveig’s ‘All Stars,’ ALMA slows the set down with a ballad called ‘Knock,’ taken from her debut EP, which showcases a different side to her and shows off her extensive vocal range.
A quick intermission has the band playing ‘Love Drunk,’ a song which Alma wrote when she was just 17 the overhead voice informs the crowd. ALMA returns to the stage and covers TLC’s classic ‘No Scrubs.’ A more chilled version than the original, featuring just her and her guitarist, before picking the pace up again with ‘Dye My Hair.’
Perhaps the song she is most known for in the UK, ‘Chasing Highs,’ is another upbeat track with tropical beats and another chance for her to show off her powerful vocals. However, she stumbles along the second verse: “I always forget these fucking words!” she laughs on the second verse, not that it matters because the crowd are singing it back so loudly, it’s hard to notice she stopped.
“Did you think we had fucking finished there, London?!” she shouts, as they launch into the fiery final track ‘Bonfire.’ As the song comes to an end, ALMA and ANNA jump in to the delighted fans arms and crowd surf.
ALMA is a fluorescent haired force to be reckoned with.
Chloe Chaplin