Cuban-American singer-songwriter Isabel LaRosa first rose to fame after her single ‘i’m yours’ went viral on TikTok back in 2022. Earlier this year, LaRosa finally released her debut album Raven. In support of this album, LaRosa embarked on the ‘Psychopomp Tour’, which made a stop in Amsterdam’s Melkweg on the 13th of November.
At 19:30, only thirty minutes after the venue had opened its doors, the night’s first support act, Thomas LaRosa, took to the stage. Just in case his surname is not enough of an indicator, he is indeed Isabel LaRosa’s older brother. LaRosa, wearing a glittery long-sleeve shirt, came on stage with his electric guitar and immediately dove into the first song on his setlist, ‘Like a Dream’. As an artist, LaRosa has only released four songs so far, which were all played during this twenty-minute set. As he is Isabel’s brother as well as co-writer and producer on all of her songs, most fans were also familiar with his own music. On top of those four songs, LaRosa played Ari Abdul’s ‘Sinners’, a song he produced on which he also featured; two unreleased tracks; and a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Let Down’. Considering the time he had on stage was short, he managed to play a total of eight tracks and truly hyped up the crowd for what was to come next.
After a twenty-minute interlude, during which the crowd was able to vibe along to the pre-show playlist, it was time for the night’s second support act. At 20:10, Snow Wife, stage name of Emily Leann Snow, took to the stage together with her two dancers, Addy Wallace and Sofia Milagros Torres. Snow, who was a professional dancer before she made the switch to becoming a singer, walked on stage wearing a head mic as she was singing ‘Bodyology’. This immediately made clear that Snow would not just be singing, but also dancing – a lot. Every single song on her setlist was accompanied by sexy, flirty choreography. She continued with ‘FUCK’ and ‘WET DREAM’ before taking a moment to talk to the crowd. She mentioned how this tour granted her the opportunity to go to Europe for the first time and how she loved Amsterdam so much. She then asked if there were any other lesbians in the crowd tonight, which led to some loud cheering before she played ‘What Do Girls Do?’. While she performed this one without her dancers, they came back for ‘AMERICAN HORROR SHOW’, with Wallace even doing an impressive cartwheel in the middle of the stage.
Halfway through, Snow talked about her recent Bodyology EP. The word bodyology is one she made up herself to mean the study of pop music through dance and movement, which was what the project was all about. One song from this EP is ‘Pumps’, a “very sexy” love letter to a best friend, which she played next. Snow continued with the suggestive songs ‘69’, during which she asked the audience to show off their claws, and ‘Sweat’. Some in attendance might have been a little too young for the content provided by Snow, but the thirty-minute set, which ended with ‘Yoyo’, was intriguing to watch. “Thanks so much for cheering for me,” Snow stated before she left the stage.
Finally, it was time for the main act of the night. At exactly 21:00, the spoken introduction began playing over the speakers, accompanied by a video displayed on the two LED screens at the back of the stage. “Some people say that death comes to you like an old friend,” LaRosa’s voice sounded over the speakers. As a nod to the title of her debut album, a raven was displayed both on the backdrop as well as on the screens. As the intro faded out, LaRosa’s band, consisting of her brother Thomas LaRosa on the guitar and Rhys Hastings on the drums, came on stage first, quickly followed by the singer herself, wearing a bunny mask. She opened the set with ‘older’, ditching the mask halfway through. Oddly enough, LaRosa and her band left the stage right after the first song, which left the crowd confused, yet they started to enthusiastically chant her name. A minute later, the three of them came back to perform ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Famous’. Throughout the entire show, the LED screens showed videos that added a haunting atmosphere to the performance. A few more songs in, LaRosa addressed the audience for the first time tonight. She thanked everyone for coming and stated how amazed she was by the show being sold out. “I love you so, so much,” she said, “Do you wanna hear some more songs?”.
LaRosa continued with a cover of Ari Abdul’s ‘BABYDOLL’, a song produced by her brother, followed by more of her own music. During ‘Home’, the fans held up white paper hearts that had the text “you are our home” on them, which made for an adorable moment. Afterwards, LaRosa left the stage again, this time to ditch the trench coat she had been wearing so far and exchange it for a cropped long-sleeve top. She came back to perform the sapphic anthem ‘My Girl’, before addressing the audience once more. Her next song would be a sad one from her album Raven. She wrote about “giving a lot to somebody who didn’t treat me well”, staying in the situation because she felt like she deserved it. She told the audience, however, that they “do not deserve this shit, ever!”. As the first notes to ‘burning’ began to play, the fans lit up the entire room with their flashlights. LaRosa was visibly emotional and said so after the song was over: “you guys made me cry!”. The time for crying was then done, as it was time to go back to a bunch of fun songs. This run started with ‘HEARTBEAT’ and ‘Hope It Hurts’ and ended with ‘eyes don’t lie’. In between, LaRosa played a total of three covers, including one of The Neighbourhood’s ‘Softcore’, a band LaRosa is a huge fan of.
Before it was time to head into the encore, LaRosa played a total of four more songs. She started this section with ‘Her Face’, a newly released track about dating a guy while knowing he just sees his ex in you. She ended it with ‘Favorite’, the only song of hers played tonight that included Spanish lyrics, which were just as loudly sung along to as the English ones. “I guess that’s it so far,” LaRosa stated before leaving the stage. Not much later, another video began playing on the LED screens as the intro to ‘HAUNTED’ began playing over the speakers. This was her second-to-last song before finishing it all off with ‘i’m yours’. LaRosa and her band took their bows before leaving the stage for the last time tonight.
