reina 1st One-man Live A Million More

Text by Takazumi Hosaka
Photo by Kanon Inoue

R&B singer Reina, who is affiliated with the creative collective/label wau, held her first solo concert at WALL & WALL in Omotesando, Tokyo on Thursday, May 29th.

Their first album “You Were Wrong” released last year was nominated for the APPLE VINEGAR -Music Award-, a music award organized by Masafumi Goto (ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION), and in February of this year they released their first EP “A Million More.” The album, which develops from a variety of “R&B hors d’oeuvres”-like styles to a more luxurious and sophisticated style, stands out in the current domestic scene.

This performance was held with this latest work. The opening DJ was Lil Summer, a singer-songwriter from Fukuoka, the same hometown as Reina, who also participated in the EP. With a selection of songs ranging from alternative R&B to Afrobeats, she warmed up the floor with an exquisite temperature.

A little after the scheduled time, reina, dressed in a black dress and her band members dressed in white, appeared on the stage covered with a white curtain reminiscent of the artist visuals and EP artwork. The band members were of course the familiar members of wau, including Kota Matsukawa (Ba.), who produced all the songs on the EP, Ryuju Tanoue (Dr.), Kazuho Otsuka (Gt.), Koki Furukawa (Key.), Gai Seki (Per.), and Reo Anzai (Manipulator). The first song was “Dogs,” which opened with an intro that gradually stirred up the excitement. In stark contrast to the sound of the recording, the band’s performance was filled with a quiet heat and a seductive rap-like flow intersected.

As the MC said, “Welcome to the release party for our first EP, “A Million More,” and “We’ve prepared about 20 R&B songs this time, so please take your time and enjoy them,” she performed two lower BPM numbers, “dlftm,” which has a slow rhythm and sings, “Don’t look for too much in me,” and “Luxury,” which has a percussive beat that creates a resort feel.

In “Do The Thing,” the audience responded with cheers to the call of “are you guys ready?” Kazuho Otsuka’s passionate guitar solo also excited the venue, and after the band member introduction, “DEC18” had the floor dancing with its bouncy rhythm and light cutting guitar. The song is by voquote, an electronic/dance music project by Kota Matsukawa, and its danceable sound is linked to the mood of reina’s new work.

He shared the mic with Lil Summer, who also served as the opening DJ, for “Games,” a dreamy slow jam with a slower BPM than the original recording, and “HEAL,” with its memorable trap soul beat, showed a new side to it as a more organic soul/R&B number with a band arrangement.

The second half began with the MC saying, “I’m going to mix in some covers from now on.” She performed a cover of “Only,” a song from London-born singer-songwriter Smpha’s second album, Lahai. The original beat of the song was co-produced by El Guincho, who has worked on many of Reina’s works, including FKA twigs and Rosalía, and was reproduced with a simple band arrangement. The charm of Reina’s singing voice, with its elegant falsetto and subtle vibrato, was fully displayed.

Next, the two sang “U THINK”, a song under the name of voquote, in which they participated with VivaOla, and “BOLD”, also under the name of VivaOla. Since they have performed these songs at each other’s live shows up until now, they were in perfect sync with the band’s performance. They thrilled the audience with their solid performance of the four-on-the-floor beat of “U THINK” and the UK drill style of “BOLD”.

The second cover song was “Sweet Time,” an early song by Raveena, a New York-based singer-songwriter with roots in India. By covering a simple song straightforwardly, this song also made us appreciate the beauty of Reina’s singing voice and the melody of the song.

After performing the popular songs “my apologiesss” and “How Cute” from their first album “You Were Wrong,” they said, “I think all of you smart people know this, but there will be no encores, so please enjoy yourself to the fullest until the end.” After a tempo-inducing performance with “Good to me,” which features a danceable beat and gorgeous strings from the EP, and the tranquil ballad “Can I,” sung only with piano, it was announced that there were only two songs left.

“Drafts”, the last song at the release party for the first album, was filled with even more emotion, and the last song was the title song of the EP, “A Million More”. Although the lyrics evoke the idea of ​​loss and starting over with “Now I’m running through life without you”, it also talks about continuing to sing and write songs a million times in the future, and with this song, which is both elegant and powerful, she ended her first solo live show.

Although they spoke few words between songs, they expressed their gratitude many times, and their performance on this day was impressive for their attempt to communicate with the audience in front of them. Their sincere attitude is also reflected in their work style, which involves steadily progressing with trustworthy friends. Compared to last year’s live performance, Reina and the members of seemed even more refined and evolved. How far will they go in the future? I would like to continue to follow their activities.

【event information】

“reina 1st One-man Live A Million More”
Date and time: Thursday, May 29, 2024 OPEN 18:30 / START 19:30
Venue: WALL&WALL, Omotesando, Tokyo
Cast:
Reina

(GUEST)
VivaOla
Lil Summer

■Reina:X (Twitter) / Instagram