It feels surreal. After waiting for a couple of years now to see Jasmine Jethwa perform, the time has finally come. As the last stop on her most recent tour, Jethwa is set to perform at London’s 21 Soho and its downstairs tucked-away space, The Green Room. Not much bigger than an average living room, eager fans gather around, locking eyes with the small, slightly elevated sage.
Disregarding the miserable wet conditions, the Green Room fills up to the brim. The South London songstress, alongside her accompanying guitarist Chloe Foy, opens her London set with “Turn On The TV,” a folk-laced ballad with Jethwa’s velvet vocals hypnotisng the crowd. At first, Jethwa appears quite reserved, but quickly warms up to the admiring audience, with my personal favorite, “Money To Burn” and “Blue Stripes,” from her second EP, Some Streets But I Don’t See You Around, which depicts a transitional period in her life, as she shares with the room.
In such an intimate setting, Jasmine Jethwa manages to take on a commanding presence, radiating an enchanting aura and charismatic femininity. Wearing a green chequered long-sleeve button-up dress, Jethwa lets her hauntingly evocative lyrics shape our own mental daydreams, as her silky voice holds our hand in this daze.
Up next, hearing her 2020 debut single “Running Circles” live makes for an exquisite experience, as her first release was an instant signal of her songwriting talents. Teasing an unreleased track, “Girl Who Cried Wolf,” Jethwa asks us to imagine a dark field with a glaring full moon as a backdrop for a tarot card reading, with a lit candle and a pint of Guinness, to experience the three-dimensional ambiance.
Performing her latest single, “Ladybird,” Jethwa describes it as an external cry about whether someone or something is right. Approaching the last part of the set, she grabs a tambourine and performs her favorite song, a cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” and hints at a new release coming out in January, as she talks about an old house in Yorkshire, where she usually likes to go for a writing trip.
“Have I Ever Been” is a highlight, erupting into the softest, angelic singalong as everyone looks around and follows Jethwa’s lead. Finishing the set, she sings, “Dream Of Running,” a lead track from her 2024 EP, Love Worth Believing, where the audience joins in, knowing well enough it is their last chance to savour the moment.
One to watch, Jasmine Jethwa serves poetic magnetism as her voice levitates frequencies, light as a feather. Leaving the Green Room, everyone departs with a whole heart pieced together by her songwriting,
patiently waiting for the rest of the world to catch up to the excellence that is Jasmine Jethwa.
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Words: Karolina Kramplova
Photographer: Raminta Ceponyte