Dua Lipa, O2 ABC, Glasgow, review: Jazz-infused songs recall a smoke-filled cabaret bar
It is during the quieter, darker numbers that the strength of the 20-year-old's voice is most apparent
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Your support makes all the difference."Are you going to come forward and dance with me?" asks Dua Lipa a few songs into her set. The Glaswegian audience at first seems reluctant, but the 20-year-old singer's enthusiasm soon catches on and by the end of her 40 minutes on stage she has them calling for more.
Her recent appearance on the BBC's Sound of 2016 list of promising new acts may have drawn the punters in, but it was the strength of the London-born singer's infectiously dark mix of synthpop and R&B - and sultry voice older than her years - that first brought her to the attention of Lana Del Rey's managers in 2012.
The all-male backing band spend the set studiously hunched over their instruments, leaving her to work the crowd alone. It is a small venue and occasionally uncomfortable hushes fall between songs, but she does her best. "I saw some of you singing along there, thanks so much," she tells the front row, flashing them a smile after one number.
Several of her ten or so songs are such perfectly realised pieces of upbeat summery pop that it easy to imagine them entertaining crowds at festivals across the UK in six months' time. But it is during the quieter, darker numbers that the strength of her voice is most apparent.
Sections of these jazz-infused songs recall something that would suit a smoke-filled cabaret bar – and it is to her credit that she can make lyrics like "I've been working later / I've been drinking stronger / I've been smoking deeper" sound believable despite her young age.
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