Officially Stefny

Let me preface this by saying that this review will be a lot more personal than the one that gets published.

First thing’s first: I wore my butterfly dress today because Caroline was playing a song called “Butterfly Net” and there’s also a line in “Hit Me Where It Hurts” that says “I’m feeling like a butterfly trapped inside a plane.” I also wore two (2) butterfly rings AND butterfly earrings. It’s truly a shame that she didn’t see me.

Now onto the good stuff. I’m a theatre nerd with a BFA in theatre performance and production, so stagecraft and lighting are always very important to me. The first song on her new album “Desire, I Want to Turn Into You” is called “Welcome to My Island.” She takes the island motif and runs with it for her set. Behind her is an island, and the aura behind/around it changes with each song.

For the most part, her setlist is the new album, in order. Of course, this is her 4th studio album (second under her own name) and she has had successful songs before, so she did throw those into the mix.

After opening the show with “Welcome to My Island,” Caroline and the band went into 2019’s “Hit Me Where It Hurts.” Despite my knowing this song very well and hearing it on XMU constantly, according to Wikipedia it was never a single. Although there was a Toro y Moi remix. Who knew.

She then continued through the album tracks with “Pretty in Possible” and lead single “Bunny Is A Rider,” which was actually released over a year and a half before the record came out. I had to look it up to make sure because I felt like this song had been out for so long that there was no way it was on this record. It was released in July 2021, while the album was released in February 2023.

Her next song was “Sunset,” the album’s third single and a song that made me want to take salsa lessons. It has a great Latin flavour that’s different from anything else on the record and anything I’ve heard from her before. It’s a lot of fun.

After that, she took to the mic to explain the genre of the next track. “I didn’t invent this genre,” she said, “but I certainly named it.” She calls it “scorny,” a portmanteau of “scary” and “horny.” And that actually very accurately describes the vibes of “Crude Drawing of an Angel,” a song she described as being about watching your partner sleep and wake, without their knowledge of being observed, and drawing them in their ignorance.

Next was 2019’s “Ocean of Tears,” which went straight into “I Believe,” both of which I really enjoyed, and loved the transition between them. While most songs had a clear start and end, these blended together nicely.

For “Fly to You,” the next song on the setlist, she gave a shoutout both to Dido and Grimes (who are featured in the album cut) and her drummer Russell for the excellent work he was about to do. My boyfriend even commented on what a monster this dude was, even before this song. But “Fly” definitely showcased his talents.

At this point in the set, it was time for another throwback. Caroline mentioned playing at Mohawk in 2021, followed by the title track from 2019’s “Pang.”

During or after this song, I made a note of how pure and clear her voice is. It’s truly incredible. It’s so effortless. I know it’s really not and I’m sure she’s worked extremely hard to perfect her skills, but it’s like she’s not even trying. She just hits ridiculous notes with such clarity and crispness, and while she’s flitting and dancing around on stage, it doesn’t remotely come across in her voice. It’s just like listening to the album. While I’ve never dreamed of accusing her of using autotune or other tools in production, you just rarely ever hear a live performer capable of doing what she does.

Her 12th song was “Parachute,” another single from “Pang.” The song in this place on the “Desire” album actually comes up in the encore, so stay tuned.

Next up was “Butterfly Net,” the song I was dressed for. Unfortunately, Caroline could in no way have seen me in the back of the crowd and thus could not bring me on stage for display.

The next portion was confusing to me. After playing the album entirely in order, albeit mixing in older songs, she then decides to swap the last two. She played “Billions,” the final track on the album, followed by “Caroline Shut Up” (another “Pang” cut she dedicated to other “self-sabotagers”), and then “Smoke,” the record’s penultimate song. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why she switched the order of these two songs.

Although I really expected this to be part of the encore, Caroline ended the set with her highest-charting single, “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings.” Which is really funny because when I posted an Instagram Story about how insane her abs were, my best friend responded with that.

Now’s where that album track we skipped earlier comes in. She started the two-song encore with “Hopedrunk Everasking.” She did speak about the song, but unfortunately, I couldn’t hear her over people beside me carrying on a conversation. Seriously, why do you buy tickets and go to a show if you’re just gonna talk the entire time? STFU.

Finally, Caroline and the band finished the 19-song set with “Door,” the first solo single that she released under her own name.

Overall, this was really an excellent show. Caroline, Russell, Mya, and Matt put on a hell of a performance. Unfortunately for me, the experience was tainted by audience members around me who either decided to carry on a normal-volume conversation the entire show or get super wasted and scream-sing every song even though you are certainly the only person doing that, and also you cannot hit those notes like she can.