{"id":1791,"date":"2022-08-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sofarsoundsblo.wpengine.com\/blog\/articles\/8-artists-perform-before-made-it-big\/"},"modified":"2022-12-01T18:19:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T18:19:36","slug":"8-artists-perform-before-made-it-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/articles\/8-artists-perform-before-made-it-big","title":{"rendered":"8 Artists We Saw Perform Before They Made it Big"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re constantly in full-on awe of the artists we get to see perform Sofar shows. You just never know who you\u2019ll see, or when you might see them again at a Sofar, or a festival, or perhaps even <em>headlining<\/em> the festival. Here are eight artists we got to see play stripped down, intimate sets before they made it, big time.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. LAUV<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Do you happen to be part of the 1.3 BILLION people who\u2019ve streamed <strong>LAUV<\/strong>\u2019s <strong>\u201cI Like Me Better\u201d<\/strong>? On Spotify? What about the handful of people who got to be in the room seeing him play this sparse, solo version on the nord?<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WIVVVlVHrAk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>2. Zak Abel<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Back in 2017, some folks were starting to know the mighty talent of <strong>Zak Abel<\/strong>, in part from his guest vocals on <strong>Gorgon City<\/strong>\u2019s single <strong>\u201cUnmissable\u201d<\/strong>. It was clear the artist was bound for big things, which made this poppy Sofar performance of \u201cUnstable\u201d all the more fun to see (and dance to).<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GujTYAgG0Tc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>3. Moses Sumney<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A few years before <em><strong>Aromanticism<\/strong> <\/em>came out and made us all swoon at its sonic beauty, we got to see <strong>Moses Sumney<\/strong> give <strong>\u201cPlastic\u201d<\/strong> a sultry spin. Also, fun fact, aside from his musical talents, he also has a creative visual eye\u2014he directed <strong>Sylvan Esso<\/strong>\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i9z15pmBtOs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u201cFrequency\u201d music video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j0itX7raD8s\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>4. Sylvan Esso<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>And speaking of <strong>Sylvan Esso<\/strong> \u2026before the Grammy nominations, or their eponymous debut album release, we got to see the duo play in London. It was their first night in the city, but they made themselves right at home with this performance of <strong>\u201cPlay It Right\u201d<\/strong>, which had everyone up off the floor, dancing in no time.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7ggNW2xDMHQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>5. Lennon Stella<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Some knew her from the <strong>television series<\/strong> <strong><em>Nashville<\/em><\/strong>, but in 2018, when we got to see her play this Sofar show, <strong>Lennon Stella<\/strong> was just getting her solo career started. This acoustic performance of <strong>\u201cLike Everybody Else\u201d <\/strong>feels well-worn and polished\u2014Lennon was clearly already a pro.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nLVDQvL5OqU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>6. Lianne La Havas<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Truth: <strong>Lianne La Havas<\/strong> was already riding a pretty strong wave of success when she played Sofar, but we\u2019re still gushing over this gorgeous performance of <strong>\u201cMidnight\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_Xw7qKZxUA8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>7. Billie Eilish<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>She may only be 20 years old, but<strong> Billie Eilish<\/strong> has been putting the work in for years to build her pop star cred. It was truly a treat to see her and her brother\/co-collaborator <strong>FINNEAS<\/strong> give this highly intimate performance of <strong>\u201cSix Feet Under\u201d,<\/strong> one of her first ever official releases.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fwC30E1IVKQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><strong>8. Bastille<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Before the song was number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, or the band was winning Brit Awards, we got to see <strong>Bastille<\/strong> perform their hit track<strong> \u201cPompeii\u201d <\/strong>in a living room and get the entire room to sing along.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JmpZdrx6kQg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><em>Photo credit: Sylvan Esso, photo by Louisa Stickelbruck<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re constantly in full-on awe of the artists we get to see perform Sofar shows. You just never know who you\u2019ll see, or when you might see them again at a Sofar, or a festival, or perhaps even headlining the festival. Here are eight artists we got to see play stripped down, intimate sets before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}