Under bright purple lights and shrouded by a white curtain that only revealed her silhouette, Ari Lennox gracefully sang to a sold-out crowd at Toronto's History. Supposedly her farewell ride — she announced last year that she plans to retire from touring after the North American stretch of her age/sex/location Tour — the Dreamville singer didn't address the reasoning behind her decision to step away from the stage during the show. Instead she focused on the here and now, confidently singing the opening lines of "POF" as the crowd swayed and grooved along" "See, lord knows I don't need no one / But it sure would be sweet."
Quietly confident and always powerful without belting or straining, Lennox's stage was stripped of screens, graphics, and the usual visual aids we've come to expect. The crowd was instead pulled into Ari's private space and asked to simply listen to her sing for the next hour and 10 minutes. Addressing a crowd made almost entirely of young Black people, Lennox curated a safe space to sing along, dance and be unapologetically Black. All the while, she looked every bit the bonafide R&B superstar decked in a glittering black dress and piles of charisma.
The crowd knew every word as Lennox dipped into the Shea Butter Baby portion of her set, performing 'New Apartment," "Whipped Cream," "I Been," "BMO" and "Up Late" in succession; it showed just how far the soul singer has come since opening for Lizzo at Budweiser Stage in 2019 to a half-empty venue. This was Lennox's first time headlining a show in Toronto, and she made it look effortless.
Lennox let the quality of her music take centre stage, never dipping into theatrics or stage clichés and scarcely pausing to speak to the crowd. She made it clear that she's an R&B singer and not a pop star, drawing on a deep well of quiet power rather than distracting with fireworks and set pieces. Following her lead were openers Jai'Len Josey and Alex Vaughan, who also performed straight-up and soulfully, with Vaughan's renditions of Ashanti's "Falling for You" and Destiny's Child's "Cater 2 U" getting big crowd reactions.
Lennox ended the show on a high note, closing out with "Shea Butter Baby" and "Pressure," leaving the stage only briefly before returning for her encore. While Lennox's future as a touring act remains in question, it's hard to imagine this will really be her final final outing given her continued upward trajectory as a performer. Lennox still feels like she has new peaks to reach, and if her growth indicates her future, odds are she'll return sooner than expected.
Quietly confident and always powerful without belting or straining, Lennox's stage was stripped of screens, graphics, and the usual visual aids we've come to expect. The crowd was instead pulled into Ari's private space and asked to simply listen to her sing for the next hour and 10 minutes. Addressing a crowd made almost entirely of young Black people, Lennox curated a safe space to sing along, dance and be unapologetically Black. All the while, she looked every bit the bonafide R&B superstar decked in a glittering black dress and piles of charisma.
The crowd knew every word as Lennox dipped into the Shea Butter Baby portion of her set, performing 'New Apartment," "Whipped Cream," "I Been," "BMO" and "Up Late" in succession; it showed just how far the soul singer has come since opening for Lizzo at Budweiser Stage in 2019 to a half-empty venue. This was Lennox's first time headlining a show in Toronto, and she made it look effortless.
Lennox let the quality of her music take centre stage, never dipping into theatrics or stage clichés and scarcely pausing to speak to the crowd. She made it clear that she's an R&B singer and not a pop star, drawing on a deep well of quiet power rather than distracting with fireworks and set pieces. Following her lead were openers Jai'Len Josey and Alex Vaughan, who also performed straight-up and soulfully, with Vaughan's renditions of Ashanti's "Falling for You" and Destiny's Child's "Cater 2 U" getting big crowd reactions.
Lennox ended the show on a high note, closing out with "Shea Butter Baby" and "Pressure," leaving the stage only briefly before returning for her encore. While Lennox's future as a touring act remains in question, it's hard to imagine this will really be her final final outing given her continued upward trajectory as a performer. Lennox still feels like she has new peaks to reach, and if her growth indicates her future, odds are she'll return sooner than expected.