Review | Clairo: Charm, The Residency

“third time’s the …”

A few months ago, this is how Claire Cottrill, better known as Clairo, announced her upcoming third studio album, “Charm.” The online indie music community cheered, as one of their most beloved songwriters was finally releasing music after her immensely acclaimed releases “Sling” and “Immunity.” Known for her intimate, hushed vocals, lush vocal stacks, and thoughtfully vulnerable lyrics, Clairo started releasing music online at age 13. Her initial rise to fame was with her song “Pretty Girl,” a DIY sounding tune with an equally DIY looking video to match. The video went viral on YouTube, with over 100 million views to date. Clairo, while not the first to do so, was an integral part of the rise of the “bedroom” sound — singer-songwriters making music that sounded like it was just messaged to you by your insanely talented friend.

As Clairo’s career has progressed, she has evolved her sound with each release. After “Pretty Girl” and its accompanying EP “diary 001,” her debut album Immunity saw her leaning into rock and electronic sounds, creating a modern yet timeless sounding work with Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij acting as producer alongside Cottrill. Sling saw Clairo working with producer Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lorde) on a stripped back, ‘70s inspired folk record. With Charm, Clairo leans into soft rock and jazz, while still maintaining the prowess of her storytelling from past records.

At the last of her five-night run of shows at The Fonda, Clairo started each show by sitting down on the dark green stage with her bandmates and poured them all glasses of wine. In front of their awaiting instruments, they laughed and talked while the audience cheered in anticipation. After a few minutes, she began the night with the opener to Charm, “Nomad,” followed by Charm tracks “Second Nature” and “Thank You.” It didn’t take long for Clairo to dip into her first record, Immunity, as she played album highlight “Softly.” Clairo then proceeded to reach even further back in her catalog, playing fan favorite “Flaming Hot Cheetos” from her first EP. It was an eclectic start to her show, showing her career spanning genre diversity in the first half hour.

The show shifted into high gear with the upbeat “Add Up My Love” when Clairo told the audience, “I wanna see you dance!” Complete with a lively wind section, it was a turning point in the night, as every audience member started to move along to the music and beam at each other, loosening up and connecting with the rest of the room. “Partridge” saw Clairo’s saxophonist shine through the rest of the players during the instrumental break, piercing the room with a beautiful motif that echoed throughout the outro. Clairo’s band did an incredible job throughout the show, playing off of each other playfully while remaining consistently tight, in synchronized dynamics with one another. They also all appeared to be thoroughly enjoying playing the tracks, looking equally if not more mesmerized by Clairo’s songs as her fans.

Clairo also performed alternate versions of crowd pleasers “Amoeba” and “4EVER!,” with the latter seeing a mature, musically complex reimagining and the former containing a revamping of instrumentals that played a lot more uncompromising and direct than in the studio recording.

She then proceeded to play a seething lineup of hits, closing with “Bags,” “Sexy To Someone,” and “Juna.” After singing “knew you’d make fun of me” during her understated yet powerful queer love song “Bags,” she motions to the crowd to sing the subsequent repetitions. During one line, she jokingly encouraged the audience with a flirty “that was pretty sexy…” I was hit with the feeling I got when I first fell in love with the song, so much that I immediately called every record store near me to see if they had the 7-inch in stock. The excitement of driving over to the store to grab the last two so that I could keep one and send one to my friend who lives out of state. Then, listening to the recording and its demo over and over on my bed, loving how the minimal instrumental layers build to a gentle, sweet and potent expression of emotion that perfectly highlight the story; “Tell you how I felt, sugar coated melting in your mouth…pardon my emotions, I should probably keep it all to myself…can you see me using everything to hold back?”

Seeing “Charm” live really drove home how intricately thoughtful and passionate her work is; her third release really was the charm. But, it’s safe to say after night five that Clairo’s charm exists at any count.

Editor’s Note: Clairo performs at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Monday, October 7. Click here for more information.