Betty Who
Betty Who
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
It would appear that too many people in Glasgow had taken Betty Who as a question rather than a name. Fresh from a sold-out London appearance, the Australian (by way of California) singer faced a fairly sparse crowd at King Tut's, the sort of small audience that could make a burgeoning pop star simply go through the motions.
Ms Who - real name Jessica Newham - has plenty going in her favour, however, from the backing of RCA Records to a Katy Perry support slot later this year.
The 22-year-old still bounded around gleefully from the off, as if she was playing to thousands, and there was a terrific energy to the dance routines and high kicks punctuating the 45-minute set.
Such good spirits helped create a decent atmosphere, but Newham was best aided by the collection of songs she zipped through. This was the pop of the 80s, from the playful catchiness of early Madonna and the defiant feminism of Cyndi Lauper, slamming into the cool beats of Robyn.
There were a clutch of tunes here that could well be huge hits, including the teen movie heartbreak of Alone Again, the bold and brassy You're In Love and Right Here, which sounded like a suped-up Sexual Healing.
Yet even on such moments this wasn't pop presented as sexualised grind or strutting bravado, but as exuberant, somewhat off-kilter camaraderie. Her lyrics evidently touch upon crumbling relationships, but it was coated in a hopeful sheen that cheered the spirits immensely, right through to Somebody Loves You's summer-time vibe.
Pop fortunes are hard to predict, but she has both the tunes and personality to make her name.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article