Tulisa reaches new heights at the BT Tower

In front of a handful of lucky competition winners, Tulisa performs a short and intimate gig at the top of the BT Tower. The concert is part of the BT Infinity Presents… series that are being streamed live on the Infinity Presents YouTube channel. Tulisa follows Conor Maynard to become the second act to perform as part of the Live from the 34^th Floor project.

The X-Factor judge is more quiet and timid on stage than her loud and out-spoken persona on the show leads one to believe. She was sitting in the centre of the small stage and performed each one of the five songs in her set with a short awkward rapport with the audience in between them. At 34 floors up, it shows how far she has come from her former N-Dubz days.

First song is an acoustic version of second single from her new album The Female Boss, titled Live it Up. A quieter affair than her dance-floor original, it shows Tulisa trying to cross over into a different kind of sound, which she does successfully. With such a small crowd Tulisa is able to make contact with each one, looking into the various cameras being thrust in the air and just performing for them.

It turns out the whole gig is going to be acoustic which is a good move as in such a small venue her usual loud dance beats would have overwhelmed the audience. Her acoustic version of Sight of You shows off her ability to hit those high notes. Only once does she revert to her normal dance and electronic sound, on track Visa which normally would feature Wiley. She decides to include a shorter version in her set which is the low-point of the gig, the track feeling too loud and fast-paced for such a small and secluded venue, and the lyrics themselves coming across quite unintelligent. The opening lyrics are just the repetition of “check my visa, check, check, check my visa”.

The highlight of the show is her cover of Cyndi Laupner’s Time After Time. As the event was recorded and broadcast on YouTube live viewers at home could vote for Tulisa to sing either Time After Time, The Script’s The Man Who Couldn’t Be Moved and David Guetta’s Titanium. Although Titanium was the majority, Tulisa ignored the numbers and sang Time After Time claiming it was her favourite song. The cover itself was spot on and would make Cyndi Laupner proud; it really showed Tulisa’s talent as a singer instead of just a performer.

Overall, Tulisa has exceeded herself here, she has proven that she can deliver quality content as she sings and performs, something that the X-Factor struggles to portray her as to viewers. Hopefully this intimate gig is the first of many and will morph Tulisa into the next Lucy Rose or Laura Marling and prove her to be a singer of denser shades.

James Alder
Photo: Rory

For further information and future events visit Tulisa’s Twitter page here.

Watch the video for Live it Up here: