The Ethereal Experience of the Cleo Sol Hollywood Bowl One Night Only Show
Cleo Sol's one-night-only Hollywood Bowl performance offered what felt like a hug filled with healing energy and warmth, a feeling that only an artist like London-based Cleo Sol can provide.
“'Cause God will never fail you/God will never fail you
God sees your heart/I know you're in the dark, but
It's a part of life, mm/Things will get better,”
Things Will Get Better, Cleo Sol
The words “know that you are loved…” echoed throughout the Hollywood Bowl’s majestic open air chamber, as the arena drew into a stunning silence, so quiet that a pin could drop, and one could hear it.
Walking into Cleo Sol’s One-Night-Only concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, provided a refuge-like feeling of healing and safety, as you looked around and took in the dreamy, effervescent energy emitted from the soul music that details topics such as human existence, emotion, and connection. The one night only performance offered what felt like an aura of healing energy and warmth, but like a good hug during trying times. These feelings that were emitted can only be attributed to an artist like London-based Cleo Sol.
Cleo Sol is known for her manifestation-oriented songs that almost sound like they are willing her to believe in herself, as much as they are willing us to believe in ourselves. Although songs like “Rose In The Dark” and “We Need You” inherently display a correlation with mental health, many don't realize that her album “Mother” is a tell-all recollection of her experience with postpartum depression.
“Ask any fan what makes Cleo Sol's music stand out and the answer will undoubtedly include the word "healing." Her lyrics, even when simple, hold a medicinal, somatic quality. Her arrangements mash up jazz, soul, reggae and funk as if all four genres were thrown into a pestle at perfect ratio, producing the most potent dosage. Her most popular tracks, whether bouncy or somber, maintain a bpm around or under 100, a range close to the resting human heart rate. Her music allows you to stop and catch your breath, to exist in the emotion of the moment,” wrote Sidney Madden of NPR.
The many different sides of a talent as versatile as Cleo Sol are inextricably admirable. Although her songs all touch on different topics, the through line of the energy she emits musically could not be more clear, and all of her songs inextricably link back to healing, self-growth, and self-reflection.
“'Cause God will never fail you…”
It is difficult to find and identify an artist as self-reflective as Sol, and her passion is as clear as her inviting warm aura. Her music spans decades, and flows through crowds so earnestly, it could only be considered timeless.
Attending this show felt like an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness greatness firsthand. It will be difficult for any other show to come close to capturing the same amount of earnest, authenticity, and emotion that fluttered through the crowds of the Hollywood Bowl on the evening of Friday, April 4th.