SAMIA Serenades The Music Farm

Apr 17, 2023

5 min read

Shows

By Clif Rhodes

There is something uniquely vulnerable and blissfully honest about singer songwriter Samia. Her songs feel open and vulnerable, almost like reading someone else’s personal diary. Her lyrics weave dark and poetic narratives which at times feel haunting and at others feel ethereal or dreamlike. All delivered and expertly elevated by Samia’s crystalline vocals.

Samia brought her latest tour for her hit album Honey to the Charleston Music Farm and delivered a performance that felt incredibly intimate but also electrifying.

The street lights reflected off the puddles of water dimpled in the concrete and the smell of wet asphalt was thick in the air as the crowd lined up at the doors to the Music Farm. The sudden rain that rolled through earlier in the evening was unexpected but definitely fitting. The crowd filed in and immediately planted themselves along the front row barricade eagerly awaiting the show.

The show openers did not disappoint. Venus and the Flytraps got the crowd energized with their angsty grunge sound. This five piece out of Nashville, Tennessee brought a big sound and a bad ass attitude. Venus and the Flytraps slayed with their songs Boys Are Cuter When They’re Crying, Scaredy Pants, and Red Hot. Their sound was fast, hot, and heavy and their lyrics dripped with feminine power and refreshingly aggressive confidence.

The crowd noise died down and became silent as the band took the stage. Their silhouettes outlined in the glow of the one light that illuminated the center microphone. Samia walked out on stage and was met with the roar of the crowd. Her smirk as she gripped the mic was all the acknowledgement the crowd needed, the organ began to belt out an ominous tone. The crowd fell silent and began to soak up the moody melody. She opened the show with the song Kill Her Freak Out. The song is a raw and unflinching confessional that highlights the aggressive ugliness that can spawn from love. It was the perfect song to open the show, setting the tone for the emotional rollercoaster everyone was there to enjoy.

Of course it wasn’t all about loss and heartache. Samia has an unbelievable talent to not only deliver melancholy tales of heartache with high energy synth pop songs like the song Mad at Me. A song about letting go, being with friends, and not caring what the rest of the world thinks. The lyrics demand you have a good time no matter what the world may throw at you, at least for night.

Samia at times would dance around the stage in the form of a rock and roll ballerina. Mixing the age old elegance of a pirouette with flirtatious body gyrations. Her interaction with the crowd was also something to behold. At one point a lucky fan enjoying the show via facetime was hoisted on stage mid-song by Samia herself. A treat that no doubt made that person’s night. As she integrated with the crowd you could really see how ready she was for fun. When a member of that audience volunteered to start a mosh pit for the Breathing Song, Samia laughed and simply stated “this would be the saddest song to mosh to”.

Breathing Song asks you to feel the release of growing into a different person after a severe trauma. A true showcase of Samia’s unbridled vocal talent and her ability to craft simple, haunting, revealing lyrics. The crowd really erupted when Samia performed her smash single Honey. A lo-fi party anthem about going out for a drink and the painful reality of coming of age. Even with darkly comical lyrics Honey still delivers all the emotion Samia has mastered.

The show was a beautiful juxtaposition of bleak, and bright. Her beautiful spot lit vocal solos had the crowd utterly silent and hanging on every word. She made every lyric feel personal, as if she was singing them just to you. It was masterfully balanced with energetic anthems that had the crowd belting out and losing control. Samia is poised to be listed among the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Lana Del Rey, company she undoubtedly deserves to be in.