The beautiful and talented Betty Who will be taking over First Avenue on Wednesday, May 15th. To understand where Betty Who currently stands in her career, it’s best to imagine her as she often stood as a kid: solo, in front of the bedroom mirror, belting out hits, dancing like everyone’s watching. Because as the Australian pop queen walked away from her record deal and into her first independent album, she had a single mandate: “I am going to be the most me I can be.”
That is, in part, why her third full-length statement is simply called Betty. It’s pure her: a brilliant swirl of pop — ’80s, Y2K, and hyper-modern strains — that encompasses everything from intimate artful fare to darkly sexy bangers to full-on wedding reception shout-alongs. What’s more, these are songs about grown-woman emotions delivered by someone who rediscovered the drive and verve that fueled her rise through music in the first place. As Betty says, “It all came back to joy.”
There’s a reason Betty was tapped to remake the Queer Eye theme song for the uplifting series’ second season. It’s the same reason she’s soundtracked Pitch Perfect and made the Glee cast swoon, and that a certain legendary flash mob proposal video went viral to the tune of her 2012 debut single “Somebody Loves You.”
Joy has always been in the music, but for Betty herself the feeling had faded. “I didn’t understand how damaging it was to feel like I was never living up to expectation,” she says of her time on a major label. “When you’re in the middle of it, you think it’s driving you. When I came out the other side I realized, no, I was devastated.” She wanted to handpick her team, sink or swim by her own choices, and share music while it’s fresh. With Betty, she did all of that and made an album that, as she puts it, “I’m more proud of than I could possibly say.”
Make sure to get to the show early in order to catch opening act Rozzi. When Rozzi was 19 years old, Adam Levine heard a song she wrote and signed her as the first artist to his record label. Soon after, she was sharing the stage with Maroon 5 at famed arenas across the country and touring with artists like Kelly Clarkson and Gavin DeGraw. In 2018, Rozzi released her debut album, Bad Together, to critical acclaim with the single, ‘Never Over You’ hitting the top 20 at Hot AC radio. She has been featured in Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and Teen Vogue among others and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Today Show, and The Talk. Rozzi’s collaboration with American Ballet Theatre prima ballerina Isabella Boylston will hit select cities in 2019.
Tickets are still available HERE but I wouldn’t be surprised if this sells out so don’t wait to get yours.
Tour Dates:
May 7 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
May 8 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
May 10 – Seattle, WA – Neptune
May 12 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
May 15 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
May 16 – Chicago, IL – The Vic Theatre
May 18 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
May 20 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
May 22 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
May 23 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
May 25 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony
May 28 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
May 31 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
June 1 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
June 3 – New Orleans, LA – Republic NOLA
June 4 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn
June 6 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
June 7 – Austin, TX – The Mohawk
June 8 – Dallas, TX – Canton Hall
June 11 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
June 12 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
June 15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
June 16 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
