Hope Tala delivers a love-filled set to NYC

Last week, Hope Tala brought her world tour to New York City at Irving Plaza to a crowd filled with absolutely thrilled fans. Irving Plaza is a small but well-known concert ballroom where a lot of upcoming artists play on their rise to bigger venues. Hope Tala’s New York City show comes fresh off the release of her debut album Hope Handwritten, which came out on February 28th.

The crowd was definitely filled with long-time fans because every time she performed one of her old hits, the entire venue would go absolutely wild. Usually, artists save their biggest hits for the end of the show, but Hope whipped out both “Cherries” and “All My Girls Like To Fight” within the first few tracks. Hope Tala’s voice is just so incredibly soothing to listen to, and she has quite a unique sound that’s somewhat a blend of R&B and Bossa Nova. You can really hear it in her track “Cherries” as well as “Mad.” You can really hear the Bossa Nova style come out in the drum beat as well as the light guitar strings. These were super fun and easy to dance to, so naturally, you could see the entire crowd dancing along. There were even a few couples who were partner dancing in the back of the venue, where there was a bit more space for moving.

One of the highlights of the show was the sweet moment Hope Tala shared on stage with her band member Lexi. She pulled out her acoustic guitar and asked the audience to sing along with her as she wished Lexi a happy birthday. The whole crowd pulled out their phone lights to shine around the room, and everyone sweetly sang Happy Birthday to Hope’s guitar player, Lexi.

Another wonderful moment was Hope’s surprise cover of Lily Allen’s song “Smile,” which everyone absolutely loved. There was even someone filming her on their Nintendo DS during this song, which made her crack up in the middle of a verse. Another amazing track was “Lovestained,” which is arguably her biggest track, and she became quite emotional with how many people knew every word. Hope had such a fun presence on stage and just gave off such earnestness. She really conveyed to the crowd how grateful she was to be up on that stage playing her art for everyone.

Hope closed her set with the perfect song to end the night, “Leave it on the Dancefloor,” which is exactly what everyone did.