On Dec. 14, fans crowded El Rey Theatre to witness Korean American artist Sarah Kang take the stage. Using a blend of jazz, R&B and pop sounds, Kang infatuated the audience with her heartfelt lyrics.
“It sounds nostalgic, even if you haven’t been listening for a long time, it sounds familiar,” said attendee Dani Pearson. “It’s just a really beautiful [and] rich sound.”
The night began with Korean American artist HOHYUN, who similar to Kang, focused on writing intimate lyrics, showcasing his vulnerability. This was reflected in tracks such as “i can’t escape the rain,” where the artist discussed his battles with depression, a prominent theme throughout his new album, “Petrichor.”
HOHYUN used “Petrichor” as a way to open up about his struggles as well as discussing Asian men’s mental health, a topic HOHYUN felt was taboo. This vulnerability allowed HOHYUN to deliver an extra emotional punch to the audience, maintaining this energy with “Tomorrow,” a song that HOHYUN said was made to directly address his struggles as they were approaching their peak.
His mental health journey was a key component in his “Petrichor” album, additionally nuanced with “FLAWED,” a track that depicts feelings of imperfection despite receiving help. Throughout his entire set however, he still performed with a bright and vigorous energy, reflected in the final song of his set “Sunset Boulevard.” As he splashed fans with water, HOHYUN provided a drastic contrast to his emotional set with an eccentric closer that left the audience in excitement.
Following HOHYUN came Kang, who opened with “let’s run away,” a song that loosened up the crowd with an energy that felt unique to her. Performing the song with her was Orion Song, an Asian American artist who would be one of many guest performers in Kang’s set. Much of Kang’s discography features other artists, which increased the anticipation of who would come on stage next.
Kang continued her set by delving into songs from her nostalgia-twinged album “before & after,” which she released earlier this year. Even energetic tracks on the album, such as “summer after senior year,” possessed a touch of bittersweet nostalgia. The high energy would quickly calm however, as Kang brought back HOHYUN to perform “loml,” a song that used both artist’s comfortability with slow songs to create a performance similar to a lullaby.
The slow and emotional momentum would then suddenly spike with “end credits,” which Kang described as one of her favorite songs. Kang used this song to discuss death in a unique way, where instead of discussing the painful and grieving moments, she used death to create value in living.
The track, which uses guitar as the sole instrument, made for an incredibly nostalgic performance. Kang would even double down on this feel with “goodbye and godspeed,” a song that held a similar idea of conclusion. Even though the songs had minor differences in subject matter, the emotion coming from Kang’s voice left the crowd in awe all the same.
While the crowd had become comfortable with Kang’s nostalgic songs, their comfort would quickly turn into a roar of cheers as Kang welcomed Taiwanese American singer Luke Chiang onto the stage. Having a similar musical style to Kang, he and Kang combined to create a warm and cozy performance of “bittersweet.” Though Chiang was only performing one song, his presence was enough for much of the audience to take out their phones to record.
As Kang approached the end of her set, she performed “before & after,” yet another track that reflected her love for the nostalgic energy. Even as her vocal chords tried to give out, Kang pushed through to deliver a beautiful conclusion to the night. But as the audience exclaimed “one more song,” a long piano solo instrumental ensuedAfter the beautiful solo, the audience’s anticipation was met with a triple encore by Kang.
During this encore Kang performed fan-favorite “Summer Is For Falling in Love.”. Kang combined her usual warm and cozy elements with the summer season, taking a usually bright and exciting summer concept and slowing it down, easing the audience.
Kang closed the night with “cheeze,” a left turn from the rest of her emotional discography that served as a lighthearted way to bring the audience back to reality. As she closed the concert, fans could only cheer in complete delight.