Mimi Webb review – algorithmic polish from TikTok’s heartbreak queen

Mimi Webb is proof that social media actually could make a profession. After her heartbreak ballads blew up on TikTok through the pandemic, she has risen by way of the ranks to change into one thing of a breakout star, touchdown on the BBC Sound of 2022 shortlist. When she makes point out of TikTok tonight, the entire room erupts: it's the purpose why so many teenagers have fallen for her internet-era takes on love and loss.

Webb is a self-confessed fan of Emeli Sandé and Sam Smith, and her blueprint is obvious: large radio-friendly ballads peppered with Gen-Z references. Good With out, the weepy viral sensation that she saves till the present’s shut, is executed flawlessly, whereas new music Home on Fireplace ups the tempo with a wholesome measure of spice, as she sweetly threatens arson in a match of lovelorn revenge. It’s the sort of hyperbolic good humour that turns her followers wild: the music has solely simply been launched however they’ve all heard the previews on TikTok and scream the phrases again into one another’s telephones with glee.

In between these gems, although, the night begins to plod. Webb is a slick, skilled performer. Her voice, a powerful and husky alto-soprano, is one in all true star potential, and her mega-watt smile stays undimmed as she paces the stage prefer it’s a treadmill. However she sticks devoutly to a well-rehearsed components, buying and selling spontaneous sincerity for an arsenal of cliches. Her shouts of “Arms up!”, “How we doing?” and “Keep hydrated!” are as unimaginative as a lot of her songs.

On Lonely in Love, she calls for for the millionth time for the gang to “Sing with me!”, however the stadium refrain is pitched far too excessive, effectively out of the attain of her now-silent viewers. It seems to shake her, a short crack in an in any other case excellent veneer.

As an artist who speaks to probably the most intimate of feelings, Webb clearly has coronary heart. However her lack of vulnerability on stage means that she should still be holding her viewers at arm’s size – virtually as if she was taking a look at them by way of a display.

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