Okay, here I realize a pop-act like Tove Lo is completely out the realm of the normal Allston Pudding reader. To be honest, purchase I couldn’t help myself. Sometimes pop songs penetrate my indie-rock stratosphere like a disease, ed and upon first hearing it, I undeniably fell under the spell of Tove Lo’s breakout debut single “Habits (Stay High)” while driving home late one night this past summer. Whether you’d like to admit it or not, the song is catchy as fuck and that’s what pop music is made for so there’s no point in denying the likability of something that was meant to capture your attention. However, once I saw the video, (yes, I occasionally watch VH1 videos too) I knew I had to go see this girl on her first national tour that stopped in Allston this past Sunday Night at Brighton Music Hall.
Why did the video drive me to her show you might ask? Something about Tove Lo comes off more honest and sincere than any other pop act today. The video captures the essence of the lyrics about a young girl lost in a big world who will do anything to distract herself from the heart ache of a past relationship. In the process, she’s an absolute mess whose having a helluva a good time, but at the expense of a lingering, deeper rooted problem. That’s heavy for a pop-world that’s over-saturated with straight up anaconda booty shaking innuendo you can’t seem to avoid. For Tove Lo there’s no metaphorical translation of the theme; she puts it all out there. Whether it’s about going to sex clubs (does she mean strip clubs?), getting the munchies, or literally staying high all the time in avoidance of a grim reality, I couldn’t help but thing about how indicative this is of the realities many young millennials face a world full of big problems. Granted, it’s about a relationship, but not necessarily about doing drugs. Okay, maybe it is about doing drugs, but for me it took on a bigger theme of self-medication and finding that something that drives you, and in the process helps you to overcome issues you might be overtly aware of but don’t need to dwell on. Am I over intellectualizing it? Maybe, but that’s the beauty of music, its always open to interpretation.
As for her show on Sunday, Tove gave us an energetic and passionate set comprised of the rest of the material from her debut record Queen of the Clouds. It all does kind of falls along the same theme mentioned before, and can be a little repetitive, but in its repetitiveness you realize that this girl is doing it all, or mostly by herself. There doesn’t seem to be a team of writers, mixers and producers propelling her to pop stardom. It’s clear that the music production has some assistance, evident by her touring band of two drummers, and a multi-faceted keyboardist/guitarist/synth player, but they seem to be there to capture her creative impulses. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Tove Lo would be paying her dues at Brighton Music Hall if she was getting the typical pop branding we normally see in that world. For someone that mostly listens to rock bands I never got bored with Tove’s set. There was a good amount of booty shaking like you’d expect and why not? But the songs come off more personal, passionate and mature than anything else in that’s going on in pop music right now.
The show was capped off by an extended intro for “Habits” and had that “moment you’ve all been waiting for” vibe that you only get from an act with a giant chart topping single. The sold out crowd went for a sing-along and missed the timing which was hilarious, but Tove laughed it off and totally brought the song to another level live. She nailed every note of it and sneaks in sincere and deliberate cracks in her voice that you can’t help but fall in love with. Before I knew it I realized I just watched an entire set of pop music and really dug it. Tove Lo is a real talent, and if you can rid yourself the preconceived notion of how embarrassing and scary most pop music might be as a representation of our culture, she’s an example of its accessibility in a truly positive way. She’s not an act like Lorde who has tried to completely separate herself from the starlet pop culture, but also not like a quite a mainstream manufactured prop doll. Tove Lo falls somewhere in between which helps her seep over into somewhat of an alternative genre. This seems to fit well with a mature, yet mainstream, musical audience that’s not too snobby to admit that they might like a song they actually heard on the radio or saw on VH1 but totally over the blatantly recycled beats and manufactured strip tease acts that characterize the rest of the top 40 charts.
