Audience members rose from their seats and applauded as anaiis concluded the Madison stop of her first North American headlining tour for her album “Devotion & The Black Divine” at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Sept. 18.
The performance was part of the theater’s Black Box Sessions, a series designed to bring R&B and neo-soul artists to the intimate, club-like setting of the Play Circle.
During the performance, anaiis paused to read an excerpt from writer and activist bell hooks’ essay “Love as the Practice of Freedom.” The room fell quiet as a spotlight centered on anaiis, leaving her voice uninterrupted as she read.
The lowercase styling of anaiis’ stage name pays tribute to hooks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who also stylized her name in lowercase.
This particular show combined anaiis’ established work and unreleased material into a performance that she says changes according to the audience and moment.
“I often see performances as a conversation, actually,” anaiis told The Daily Cardinal. “You get to approach it from the feeling and the mood and the color that you’re in that day.”
The Madison stop departed from the tour’s usual structure, according to anaiis.
“I feel like what made tonight different from all the other shows was that we kind of felt a bit freer, and we experimented a little bit with the order of the songs,” she said. “Generally, I feel like we took more risks, which was really nice.”
Some of those changes came at the end of the night, with “Green Juice,” a mid-tempo track driven by a steady drum groove and layered vocals, closing out the main set for the first time. This was followed by a last-minute encore rendition that anaiis said was “spur of the moment.”
Audience member Elaina Durnen told the Cardinal the live performance differed from her previous experience with anaiis’ music.
“I thought she was better live than she is recorded, so that was amazing,” Durnen said. “She’s a very beautiful artist, and she really thinks through what she curates into her shows.”
Looking ahead, anaiis said she has recorded a new project that takes a more intimate approach than “Devotion & The Black Divine,” which grew into a larger production with choir and strings. She described her upcoming work as more personal and raw.
“This one feels a lot smaller, and it feels like sitting in the room together,” she said. “I’m really excited to present something different and how that, then, will react [with] the rest of my discography.”
Special guest and alternative folk/R&B artist Elliott Skinner also marked a milestone in the Play Circle, opening the show on the same day he released his debut EP, “How Far We’ve Come.”
“I’ve worked to try to be as intentional as possible,” Skinner said. “It feels right that it’s coming out today, and that I’m in this space.”
anaiis emphasized patience and persistence in developing a creative voice.
“It takes time to find your voice creatively, to become the person that you want to be in the world … perseverance and consistency and passion, and all of these things coming together allows you to create something beautiful over time,” anaiis said.
She also reflected on what it meant to be able to bring her music to Madison.
“I live in London, and it’s like, ‘Wow, there are people here who want to hear it!’” anaiis said. “That was really special for me.”
