Since Pinkpantheress first snuck into cool kids’ playlists with 2021’s “Break It Off” — and truly exploded into the world of mainstream pop with 2023’s Ice Spice-assisted “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” — the British singer-songwriter has consistently offered an incisive reflection of Gen Z’s Internet-driven, hyper-self-aware, irony-anchored humor and culture. Her bite-sized tracks helped her become one of TikTok’s earliest favorites, but her witty, honest lyricism and infectious self-produced records that blend drum and bass, garage, and alternative pop helped her transcend the volatile social media app.
On Friday night (Oct. 24), just a week after dropping her inventive Fancy Some More remix project, Pinkpantheress delivered the strongest, most fully-realized show of her career at the launch of the North American leg of her An Evening With… Pinkpantheress Tour. Kicking off her two-night residency at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre with “Stateside,” Pinkpantheress spent her set hitting all of her marks across a tri-staired platform flanked by her hilarious DJ on one end and her terrific drummer on the other. Over the course of a little over an hour, she played her entire Fancy That mixtape, which hit No. 4 on the Dance Albums earlier this year, as well as catalog highlights like “Just for Me,” “I Must Apologise,” “Another Life” and “Mosquito.”
Marking her third headlining trek in as many years, this latest tour seizes every opportunity to flaunt Pinkpantheress’ growth onstage. Not only is she visibly more comfortable — her facial expressions, banter, and sass were dialed up considerably on Friday night — but she and her creative team have also truly figured out how to streamline her aesthetics when translating her music to a live setting. Part of why Pinkpantheress has proven to be one of the most alluring new pop stars of the decade is because of its cozy DIY energy; to bring that to a 3,250-capacity venue, she enlisted the Pinkettes, the adorable faux girl group she forms during the show with her two backup dancers, both of whom donned their best Pinkpantheress-inspired garb. With The Pinkettes helping fill the stage and giving Pinkpantheress co-stars to bounce off of, the show felt much more visually complete than last year’s Capable of Love Tour.
Of course, Pink’s signature 2009 JCPenney-evoking remained paramount to the show’s visual identity, helping present her as a soft antithesis to the ultra-glamorous glitz of some of her contemporaries. Pink finds the sparkle in both the mundane and the profound, which is why she can seamlessly shift from a kitschy flip of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet (“Romeo”) to referencing nice Internet memes during her banter intermission. That intermission also proved strikingly candid, with Pink giving a heartfelt speech about her growth in confidence and comfort onstage over the past four years. “I don’t know if anyone was there for those [early shows], but I was shuffling [around],” she said. “I’m 24 now, and I started when I was 19… to be showing this newfound confidence in front of people is really exciting.”
From her Lalaloopsy-esque styling and classic jazz choreography to a surprise Zohran Mamdani appearance, here are the five best moments of Pinkpantheress’ latest tour.
