It felt like everyone and their mother had turned up to Stubb’s Bar-B-Q on Sept. 29 to see hyperpop pioneer Jane Remover on her "Live Exhibit" North American Tour. I knew Jane’s shows were intense, physical, and often chaotic, so I wasn’t surprised to be one of probably five people there that night over the age of 25. (Don’t worry, I think of myself as a fresh 26!) And, honestly, I was excited to get crowdkilled by a throng of 19-year-olds.
With support from longtime friend and DJ dazegxd, Jane performed a selection of songs from her latest album Revengeseekerz and the ♡ (Heart) EP with her signature live screaming. Opening her set with “TWICE REMOVED,” Jane then performed her latest single “Beauty Sleep,” and kept the energy high by bringing out Danny Brown for “Psychoboost.”
Jane also payed homage to hyperpop’s roots by covering Zendaya’s “Replay” before displaying the range of her projects through performing the leroy remixes of “Music Baby” and “Star people” and two songs from her venturing project “Drunk lullaby” and “Believe”. The excitement was also palpable in the crowd for “push”, an unreleased single from what could be Jane’s next album.
Unfortunately, between “Fadeoutz” and “Professional Vengeance”, Jane admitted to feeling unwell, theorizing she could be suffering from food poisoning in real time. (Overheating from Stubb’s could also have contributed, if the sweaty kids stumbling out of the pit on the verge of passing out were any indication.)
Though she did have to cut her set short, Jane was able to satisfy fans with “Experimental Skin/How to Teleport”, “TURN UP OR DIE”, and “Dark night castle,” before finally closing with “Dancing with your eyes closed”. It’s a testament to Jane’s performance skills that she was able to maintain such an electrifying stage presence till the very end. It also prompted me to jot down stupid jokes into my Notes app like “What I would say if I were food poisoning: ‘Jane Remover? I hardly know her!’”
The next day on my way to class, I saw multiple students walking around in their new Jane Remover merch. And at the bus stop, I even locked eyes across the street with someone in the same black shirt—printed with an illustration of Jane a la Ghost in the Shell’s Major Motoko Kusanagi. We nodded at each other, then smiled, like we both knew we were in on the world’s worst-kept secret.
Cover Photo by Juan Velasquez