Los Angeles, CA- If half the battle of becoming a popular recording artist is having the right songs, Bonnie McKee has that covered in spades. Having written or co-written MASSIVE pop hits with recording artists Katy Perry (co-wrote 9 songs, five of which went number 1), Britney Spears (co-wrote five songs on “Femme Fatale”) and Taio Cruz (wrote “Dynamite” which because the second best-selling song by a British artist in the digital era), odds are she probably has a trove of unrecorded compositions that are waiting to be put on wax.
In an interview with Billboard Magazine back in August, Bonnie statied that she was “currently writing more for [herself], rehearsing to play some shows, and making music videos[.]” On October 23rd, I was able to catch one of the shows she was rehearsing for at School Night.
Knowing how crowded the venue can get, I arrived a bit early to ensure I was able to find a good spot to take photos from. As the early bands performed, I was able to move easily throughout room to situate myself in a decent location. As time went by, I noticed that my decision to arrive early, on a school night no less, was a good call as the room was literally shoulder to shoulder immediately prior to when Bonnie was scheduled to take the stage. Clearly, there would be no room for me to move about with my gear.
As soon as Bonnie and her band took the stage, the intimate venue erupted with cheers. With shouts from the crowd of, “Bonnie, I love you,” ringing in my ear, it was clear that her fans came out en masse to support her. She would not disappoint.
Her set was a mix of her popular songs and songs that she had recently written. Her fans emphatically sang along with her hits “Wasted Youth”, “American Girl” and “Bombastic” and attentively listened to her new creations “Dirty Laundry” and the recently released “Thorns”.
But what I took away most from the performance was how polished and confident Bonnie’s presence was in front of an audience. She exudes a kind of sensuality while performing that’s hard to take your eye off of, and when she wasn’t belting out her infectious pop melodies, she would take advantage of the intimate setting and make small talk with the audience, delving into the origins of certain songs (i.e. ex-boyfriends and the process of struggling with love).
She also let her songwriting take center stage when she performed a cover of the Galantis song she co-wrote, “Hey Alligator”. Where Galantis’ recording of the composition is a whirlwind of an EDM track, Bonnie performed the composition the way she wanted to, stripping it of its electronic beat and slowing it down to a passionate mid-tempo ballad. I’ve always had the opinion that the best songs are the ones that can be sung in any genre, and clearly Bonnie knows what she’s doing.
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LIVE CLIPS
Bonnie Mckee at The Peppermint Club 10/23/17. Stay tuned for photos coming to @BlurredCulture. pic.twitter.com/khEJWJ18Gb
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) November 9, 2017
Bonnie Mckee at The Peppermint Club 10/23/17. Stay tuned for photos coming to @BlurredCulture. pic.twitter.com/ukUz0nDIh0
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) November 9, 2017
