Isabel LaRosa, Saint Luke's and the Winged Ox, Glasgow review - TikTok pop and a school disco atmosphere

The bar staff at Saint Luke’s will rarely have had an easier night than this one. Such was the youthful nature of the crowd for Isabel LaRosa that there was little for them to do, beyond handing over occasional cans of Coke.

The atmosphere felt like a school disco, from constant sing-a-longs to whatever was blaring out over the PA (and a mass dance routine when Chappell Roan’s "Hot to Go" kicked in) to gaggles of arm-locked girls hurrying back and forth across the floor ahead of the main event.

Predictably, there was then delirium when LaRosa herself arrived, initially barely visible through a hazy red lighting display. Accompanied by backing tracks and her brother Thomas on guitar, she is very much a performer already geared for bigger venues, contorting around the stage and emanating breathless, peppy excitement about the show.  

As befitting a singer who has enjoyed massive success via social media, her moody TikTok pop is rapid-fire, songs buzzing in and out within two minutes. The main structure tended to layer her vocals over a thudding, relentless backdrop and bursts of guitar from her sibling, right from the opening “Eyes Don’t Lie”.

At her best, it marries those elements to skyscraper-sized choruses, with a towering “More Than Friends” unleashing both catchiness and a plethora of mobile phones and the zestful “Haunted” bouncing with energy, which let LaRosa also tap into the crowd’s considerable excitement. These are big, chart friendly songs and each was greeted like a huge hit, even if actual chart success in the UK has not yet occurred for the 20-year-old.

Perhaps that’s because some of the material is a little too flighty. LaRosa is by no means the only act to do this, but the sheer speed of the material, almost rushing to hit the big chorus as soon as possible, created a somewhat vacant feel to some of the songs. With no build-up, the big moments thudded in by rote, rather than being genuinely exciting, as on the overwrought “Without You” or the gone and quickly forgotten “Good Girl”.

Given the singer has only released a number of singles and EPs, variety is also an issue, even in a swift 50-minute set. An unreleased acoustic-led track did present some shade, but although it became a clap-a-long it otherwise failed to stand out, while a cover of Lady Gaga’s "Poker Face" was too similar to the original. That meant the set returned, time and again, to pulsing electro-pop and little else.

Yet LaRosa is talented, and there was enough here to excite, from the punchy, jabbing “Therapy” darting in to a celebratory “favourite”, the night’s lone encore. That track, a recent release, was only matched for crowd hysteria by “Older”, a song where she frankly demands an older man. For those screaming along, that lad would probably be 16, but it filled the dancefloor with enough teenage kicks nonetheless. 

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