Nessa Barrett | St. Paul, MN
Tik-tok star gone-mainstream talent, Nessa Barrett, made her Minnesota debut at St Paul’s Palace Theater this week. While she didn’t sell out the 2500-capacity venue, the show had been moved from the nearby 600-capacity Amsterdam Bar and Hall due to high demand, proving that Barrett’s acclaim is quickly rising among Gen Z artists in the alt-pop space. Several hundred teen girls adorned in mini skirts, white hair bows, and bejeweled cowboy hats braved the cold to secure their spot in the pit inside.
Opener Isabel LaRosa received a warm welcome from Nessa’s fans, appearing on a stage basked in heavy red light in a motorcycle helmet and fringe jacket. Accompanied by her brother on electric guitar, LaRosa got the crowd singing along with a cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”, before closing her set with her own Tik-tok viral hit, “I’m Yours”.
Barrett emerged in a black playsuit, oversized hoodie, and fuzzy black boots from white curtains hung in the the back of an otherwise clean set - her guitarist Jeff Keylor and drummer Sage Weeber supporting her from either side of the stage. Opening with “Madhouse”, an alt-pop hit about her stay in a psych ward in August 2022, Barrett’s vulnerability about her mental health and unabashed lyrics about the challenges of early adulthood resonate with her young fans.
Throughout the night, the self-proclaimed “Baby Cowboy” navigated between acoustic ballads sung while perched on a stool at center stage, and her high-energy tracks. The unreleased “American Jesus”, a breathy and heavy tone, was a highlight of the set.
“Die First”, a wrenchingly honest refrain about the singer’s late best friend Cooper Noriega, followed by “Bang Bang”, a dark BPD-inspired revenge track, closed the main set. A half-hearted chant fizzled out during the encore break, but the energy reignited as fans sang along to “i hope ur miserable until ur dead” to cap off the night.
A little let down by the lackluster energy and wardrobe, especially after seeing highlights of LA and Chicago shows, the tour seems to have highs and lows. While the young singer has a long way to go in building stage presence and production value, it is clear that her fans felt connected and happy with her performance.
