Member Since: 8/12/2012
Posts: 13,665
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Lol, Chicago Tribune
Iggy
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5:10 p.m.: How many brain cells died during Iggy Azalea's performance? The Australian borrows from hip-hop and EDM, and boils it down to lowest common denominator cheerleading for her own bad self. Working out synchronized aerobic-class moves with her dancers over programmed beats and the vocal hype of her DJ, Azalea reduces her singles to chants: "This is my world"; "I'ma change your life"; "Drop that (expletive)." A huge crowd waits until her final track, the hit "Fancy," In a 45-minute set saturated with non-stop spunk -- "Can I see some middle fingers?" -- the sass meter is now officially broken. Azalea's celebration of self is in keeping with hip-hop tradition, even if her skils as an MC don't justify it. Her fans couldn't care less about skills. They dance up a storm
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And then
Lorde
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7:12 p.m.: Lorde is in shadow-bozing mode. When those clipped hip-hop beats and noise bursts bubble up, she gets fiesty. Even as a teen, she already looks and sounds like a seasoned performer. On a stark stage with a black-and-white motif, she tosses mounds of hair and flings fists like she still has something to prove, even though she already has a handful of Grammys and a multimillion-selling 2013 debut album. She has "Royals" too, and she doesn't even have to save the hit for last. The crowd -- roughly the size of her native New Zealand, a vast sea that fills Butler Field -- treats her like a headliner, and it's unlikely that any performer this weekend will surpass her combo of audience adulation and ability to deliver on a big stage. The songs off her debut pack minimalist punch, and her voice carries melodies that invite participation from her vocal followers. This should have been expected after a theater tour earlier this year brought her to the sold-out Aragon, but it's still impressive to see her poise and command. "I'm at a loss for words," she says. But she isn't at a loss for much else.
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This is kind of catastrophic. The decline is real, her comedy sketch shtick is wearing totally thin.
