From humble beginnings in Oakland, Calif. to an international tour with multiple shows completely sold out, Kehlani is the poster child for following your dreams. On May 8, her “SweetSexySavage” tour, titled after her debut album, made its second stop in Michigan, this time in Detroit. Her concert, which initially sold out at Saint Andrew’s Hall and moved to The Fillmore where it once again sold out, drew a massive crowd. People packed into the venue with little room to move. 

The concert began with an opening from up and coming singer Jahkoy who was native to Toronto. He performed songs off of his most recent EP “Foreign Water.” Even though little known, he managed to pump the crowd up and inevitably left with more fans than when he started. 

Next, R&B songstress Ella Mai, raised in Southwest London, entered the stage. The London native began by singing her hit song “10,000 Hours.” Mai related to the crowd by telling stories of her life back home in London and introducing the crowd to her music. She ended her set with one of her more recent songs, “She Don’t”.

Then, Kehlani finally stepped onto the stage. Without hesitation she began with “Keep On,” a fan favorite off of her “SweetSexySavage” album. She effortlessly performed it with fantastic choreography and easily transitioned into another fan favorite, “Distraction”. Once she concluded with that song, she finally addressed the crowd. She easily found ways to relate to the audience and understood the vibe of the audience well.

After a  brief conversation with the audience, Kehlani performed a few songs specifically for her day one fans. One of these included “The Way.” She let the crowd rap Chance the Rapper’s verse since he was not with her. Throughout the night, Kehlani made sure each performance topped the last with incredible choreography  and impressive vocals.

Towards the end of the concert the bisexual artist came to reference her own sexuality and talk at first specifically to other LGBT+ concertgoers and then to the audience as a whole. She wanted to spread the message of love, appreciation and respect of one another. With the completion of her speech, she threw a rose into the crowd and began to finish off the concert by performing the last few songs off of her album.

For this to be her first headlining tour promoting an album, you would think that she was a veteran. She has been on tour before with her previous mixtapes, but never at this magnitude. The performance she gave was magnificent, especially considering the fact that she was ill just a few days earlier. Kehlani managed to give one of the best performances I’ve seen, and she is one of the only artists I’ve seen connect with their audience on a personal level.