Few outside his teen fanbase have heard of 24-year-old Ari “Lauv” Leff, but you probably won’t lose money by betting on the Los Angeles-based singer ending 2019 a much bigger name than he is today. His three biggest songs have collectively racked up a billion streams and he has been playing stadiums supporting Ed Sheeran. As a jobbing songwriter, he has worked for Charli XCX and Celine Dion. Just before tonight’s show, he takes delivery backstage of a gold disc for his song I Like Me Better (720m streams), and when he lopes on stage – a young Eminem lookalike encased in XXXL sportswear – it is to a wail of joy that rattles the balconies.
The intensity of his relationship with his fans could perhaps end up militating against household-name stardom. As someone who frequently writes about living with depression, this performer seems best suited to close-quarters bonding. Witness the merch counter where, alongside T-shirts proclaiming this single London date a “UK tour”, there is a box that Lauv explains is for those who want to write a note about “whatever’s weighing on your mind – people have been writing about eating disorders, being in love with their best friend …” The song that follows this entreaty, Superhero, is an anthemic bonding moment between the crowd and a singer who personifies youthful unease more vividly than most, through the simple device of unusually candid tunes.
Tonight’s opener, Drugs & the Internet, is a jaunty bop about the difference medication can make. On Paranoid, he breaks out a crushing falsetto to agonise: “What do I feel? Who do I trust?” Love isn’t much cop for him, either. A highlight tonight is the achingly fed-up I’m So Tired, a recent duet with Troye Sivan.
Nevertheless, roaming the stage with the ambling gait of a rapper – “Welcome to a night of really awkward dancing!” – and at one point popping up to sing in the balcony, Lauv is in a sweet spot. This smallish venue is a good place for an overthinking romantic to commune with a likeminded public, savouring the intimacy while he still can.
