YouTube/Tik Tok star-turned-bonafide bedroom-pop darling Alexander Stewart made his NYC headline debut this past Wednesday at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right. Stewart, on a mini solo tour, was recently announced as one of the opening acts for Charlie Puth’s summer tour, along with singer/bassist Blu DeTiger. Just days removed from that major development, and new song “leave me in the dark” released less than 24 hours prior to showtime, there was a lot to celebrate and be grateful for on what was a foggy, cold spring night in Brooklyn.
Stewart, a Toronto native, was supported by rising pop singer NERIAH, who warmed up the crowd with cuts from her newest EP, No One Cries Forever.
Baby’s All Right, one of NYC’s most viable for new artists to get their feet wet in a live setting before moving up to the Bowery Ballroom or The Mercury Lounge, was nearly full to capacity when Stewart took the stage at promptly 8:15 p.m. The crowd was, predictably, on the younger side, likely within the 18-25 demographic and avid social media users.
Stewart, who does not yet have a full-length project out, performed a majority of his more recent singles such as “House of Cards” and “when you love someone” (this writer was, selfishly, saddened by the omission of “Best Damn Thing”), as well as covers of “Stay” by Rihanna and “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith to round out the 45-minute set. Despite his transition out of being, primarily, a cover artist, his stripped-back arrangements of mainstream pop tunes have been the launching pad of his burgeoning career. It would have been foolish not to include at least a few in these shows. He picked ones he knew the crowd would sing along with him, which, of course, they obliged to.
He receives a warm welcome from the crown upon entering the stage, opening the set with 2021 single “24 Hours.” Immediately, he establishes himself as a vocal powerhouse, and seemed comfortable moving around the stage and interacting with the audience. Every high falsetto run or sustained belt note throughout the night received an encouraging, though not overwhelming, round of applause from the crowd. Deservedly so for his falsetto, which is ridiculously fluid and strong.
Most endearing was his obvious giddiness of being up onstage, as a headliner, in New York. The smile never left his face, and he repeatedly pumped his fists, turned towards the back of the stage with his hands in his hair, and allowed his voice to break while expressing gratitude. He shared the stage with friend and guitarist Flynn Tanner, who appeared to be all business, knowing that Stewart was jumping out of his skin.
About halfway through, while performing “Back To You,” his pitch, at least in his chest voice, began to decline slightly. Perhaps the excitement of the moment caused him to over-sing (In general, his voice consistently sounds close to the verge of breaking, though his pitch remains on-point), therefore it might be helpful for him to learn to control, or at least somewhat contain, that adrenaline moving forward.
His excitement was, of course, understandable, and extremely palpable. He seemed to have many “A-Ha!” moments throughout the night, but was particularly stunned during “leave me in the dark” which, as mentioned earlier, had not even been out a full day. Most seemed to know it by heart already (at least the parts that had been teased on social media) and sang it loudly, much to Stewart’s shock and awe.
“echo,” a song he said was, possibly, the reason why half of the crowd was there, closed the main set. He returned to the stage after heartfelt cheers from the crowd to close the show with “blame’s on me,” arguably, his most popular song. He sang the reflective piano ballad well and, at its conclusion, gushed that he did not know what he did to deserve that moment. What he did was work hard and is now being rewarded. Stewart’s NYC debut was, likely, the first of many.
Setlist:
“24 Hours”
“Backwards”
“Just One Goodbye”
“Stay” (Rihanna cover)
“leave me in the dark”
“House of Cards”
“Back To You”
“Memory”
“Stay With Me” (Sam Smith cover)
“when you love someone”
“echo”
“blame’s on me”
You can follow Stewart on social media:
Facebook // Instagram // Twitter // Tik Tok // YouTube
