Pure pop excellence is produced by Belgian artist Angèle during her Nonant-Cinq tour. The singer who just ended her North-American leg is still on a high after performing at Coachella and attending the Met Gala. However, she seems just as excited to be in the Ovo Arena in Wembley. That’s why her perfectly curated ensembles and magically fun dance routines are just a surplus to her already energetic, stellar music.
Yet, the Chanel ambassador also talks about some pretty heavy topics in her impressive repertoire. As to why she prefaces ‘Balance Ton Quoi’ with “Are you ready to fuck the patriarchy with us?” Angèle has the ability to produce a smile on anyone’s face, even if you don’t necessarily understand a lot of French.
One of the most emotional moments of the set was during ‘Ta reine’, which is her self-proclaimed anthem about lesbian love. Before going into it, she talks about how queer love isn’t always accepted and how in 70% of the world, they don’t even necessarily talk about it. So, when the melody starts and the rainbow flags come out, the ambience of the crowd shifts, luckily, in the best way possible. Because as the end is nearing and Angèle makes a heart with her hands, everyone swiftly follows.
But not everything is as loaded, tracks like ‘Libre’, ‘Tout oublier’ and ‘Démons’ got the entire venue mindlessly dancing. While her hit with Dua Lipa ‘Fever’ stunned with enticing visuals of the superstar in the background as Angèle takes on the reign for the night. Although her delicate soft-spoken voice-led songs by the piano break up the lively party for an instant, the audience was all the better for it.
‘Taxi’ shows off the vulnerable and delicate side of the 27-year-old, and ‘Je veux tes yeux’ proves that Angèle is one of the pop greats. Throughout the concert, she reinstates that not only is this just the beginning, but she will also come back. If this show was anything to go by, then she won’t just visit London again, she’ll become much bigger than anyone can even imagine right now.
The end of the gig is nearing by, and everyone at the arena has become accustomed to her charming “franglish”. It almost seems like the most natural progression to switch between talking in French and English all evening. Aren’t we all bilingual by now? Most likely, a lot of people in this crowd already are. Yet in Angèle’s case, it’s worth mentioning that she is trilingual as she is also competent in Dutch, Belgium’s other national language, which she proves during her final song ‘Bruxelles je t’aime’, by singing a sentence in Flemish.
The finale of the night is cathartic as the audience jumps up and down while proudly screaming “Bruxelles, je t’aime, Bruxelles je t’aime, (T’es ma préférée)”. Therefore proving that Angèle doesn’t only adore her craft, but that she is also pretty good at writing a love letter to the city that she’s from. And for just a snippet in a time, it’s like we’re all there, as the waffles are pouring down on the screen behind her.
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Words: Lauren deHollogne
