K Wilson, also known as kwn, is a 25-year-old, queer London-based singer, songwriter, rapper and producer. Her recent sold-out show was a triumph.

She had two back-to-back sold-out shows in HERE at Outernet in Tottenham Court Road, London. I attended her show on 27 November. Despite being scheduled to be on stage at 9pm, the in-demand artist arrived on stage half an hour later. Despite this setback, her show was nothing short of spectacular. 

There is no doubt that kwn has serious fans of her music: there were people all the way at the back venue singing along. She is also aware that an audience is what actually makes a concert thrive or flop. With the help of the intimacy of the HERE at Outernet venue, she communicated with her audience throughout the performance, even mentioning that she recognised a fan from TikTok and commenting on a fan’s hat. At one point, she stopped performing to check up on the safety of a member of the audience. She also made us laugh a lot throughout her performance.

In many ways, kwn’s show blurred the lines between artist and audience, with the performance becoming a new liminal space in which artist and audience became one. At one point in the show, she called us a “serious crowd”. We were a serious crowd, and she is a serious artist. It was her mix of humour and passion for her music that made this concert a particularly memorable one for me. She knows how to interact with her audience, and she is aware of the significance of her mostly female audience in her progress as an independent artist.

Kwn’s performance started with an extension of her “bite me INTRO”, and she wove between songs from her previous EP’s, performing songs such as “eyes wide open”. There is something to be said about living in the moment, though. I admit that I recorded snippets of her concert here and there, but I have come to accept that we are in a new era of music. An era in which technology and recording performances for content is the new normal.

There is no doubt the influence TikTok and other streaming platforms have played in promoting her music. Would it be reductive to call kwn a ‘TikTok’ artist? I think not. We are entering a new wave of music, and kwn’s music is incredibly popular on the social media platform. She has not taken this for granted, and I believe that she is incredibly grateful for the number of people her music has reached. I am also certain that she has earned the respect of her listeners, which was apparent from the way I and fans around me were shouting the lyrics of her songs. 

Girl group FLO made a surprise appearance to perform “talk you through it”. Another fan favourite was “back of the club”—a song I first heard on Joe Kay’s Soulection Radio. Her interaction with her fans lasted all the way until the end of the show, when she gave us the option to hear her perform one more song.

After performing “back of the club”, the artist concluded her thrilling performance by expressing her desire to perform in stadiums in 10 years. From her passion alone, I think she will reach her goal far sooner.

Words Sanem Alti

Photography Theresa Vu-Nguyen