 Media Credit: Jenny George Vivian Green rocked for the five or ten minutes she played for.
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Oh brother. Another Philly neo-soul songstress. Have we not beaten the dead horse of Philly neo-soul enough yet? It's like the city cannot stop churning out these bastions of critical acclaim. Personally, I have always had the sneaking suspicion that, behind it all, these Philly neo-soul careers have been pushed by a giant marketing behemoth following a guide to propelling artists to stardom that looks something like this:
1) In album bio, namedrop other Philly scenesters (one or more of Musiq, Jill Scott, Bilal, Jaguar Wright, Jazzy Jeff, any member of The Roots, especially ?uestlove or Blackthought).
2) Mix many genres together to annoy critics.
3) Tour with Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Maxwell or anyone from the Okayplayer family.
4) Sing songs about relationships, but make no mention of bills, scrubs, or the like (which is sooooo 1999 anyway).
5) In slick music video, surround yourself with a lot of hipster female friends wearing latest trendy feminine, but tomboy-ish clothes.
So now we have Vivian Green, the newest face to emerge from the Philly neo-soul scene with her album,
A Love Story. Let's run through the checklist above. 1) She namedrops Jill Scott and Boyz II Men, for whom she sang backup vocals several years ago. 2) She mixes soul, jazz, and R&B on her album. 3) She opened for Maxwell this summer. 4) The album is all about "the emotional ups and downs" she's been through, but no evidence of excessive "pay my bills" diva-esque attitude. 5) In the video for her debut single, "Emotional Roller-Coaster", hipster female friends at club are in full force. Check, check, check, check and check.
I arrived at the Cabaret with high standards for Green. However, because of the lack of promotion of the show in Montreal, the Cabaret was filled with more tables than people, and a mandatory coat check was imposed. The small audience was mostly the après-work crowd, guys trying to impress their dates with the whole Musiq "I'm a sensitive guy who doesn't drink and just wants to be your friend, no pressure" schtick.
There was no opener. There was also no encore. This show was about as no frills as you could get. Green stepped on stage wearing a fashionable tube dress made from handkerchiefs, dangly pony bead earrings, jeans and pointy beige shoes. Very sharp. She had an elaborate six-piece band with two backup singers, a bassist, keyboardist, drummer and guitarist. She began with "Fanatic", and breezed through an absurdly short 40-minute, seven-song set that included "Wishful Thinking", "What is Love?", "Music", and finally ended with an extended version of "Emotional Roller-Coaster". Although confident on stage, she seemed to want to get out of the place as soon as possible.
