Live Review: Biig Piig – 27th February 2025 – Roundhouse, London, UK

In a world where empowered, female solo artists like Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter are dominating the charts and stages, it’s the perfect time for newcomer Biig Piig – othwer wise known as Irish singer, Jessica Smyth – to make her move. And she has done just that with the highly anticipated debut release 11:11 and a hot ticket tour around the UK and Europe to promote the collection.

Fairly new to the scene, Biig Piig has been making considerable waves in the industry with her youthful brand of genre blending – mixing hip hop, pop and electro with indie and a splashing of rap – proving she is not one trick pony when it comes to her musical output.

As we sat from the seated circle section of the iconic Roundhouse in Camden, we watched as the floor was very quickly overtaken by hundreds of fans that had come to catch the West London musician take over the iconic venue; a string of youthful support acts hyping up the equally youthful growing crowd with slick beats and infectious DJ sets ahead of Biig Piig’s scheduled 9pm arrival.

At around 9.10pm those alt-pop soundscapes that the young singer has very quickly become famous for began to pour through the performance space and quickly propelled the rammed crowd into an energized frenzy as she ripped straight into her set, 4AM first and running through a set of ‘old and new’ as she described – though no song in the singers repertoire could exactly be considered old given her first single emerged in 2017, followed by a string of EP’s and that previously mentioned debut album having only recently seen the light of day.

Over the course of a general near-two hours, and in front of an eye-grabbing stage back drop of a towering New York style building cut out that would change colour and become a visual feast for the eyes throughout the set, the spritely singer cut a bold figure on stage, dressed in oversized attire – baggy blue pants, a green unzipped jacket and revealing undergarment  – as she dominated her Roundhouse stage, giggling between songs and feeling every ounce of love from her devoted and rapidly growing fanbase in front of her. And it was a fanbase that was eager to help the bubbly musician by singing back numbers including early earworm, This Is What They Meant, slow jam I Keep Losing Sleep, the catchy One Way Ticket and  a string of on stage collaborations including a memorable performance of Hi-Fidelity and a shared moment alongside support act Mac Wetha.

Now, it would be a big stretch to call Biig Piig a ‘singer’. A natural, confident entertainer and stage performer, yes, but her vocals during last night’s show, while flirting with the occasional melody, were more of the spoken word and unoffensive rap variety rather than anything in the realm of highly skilled vocalist. But that didn’t matter – as the old school rule book of music making and the making of an artist has long been tossed to one side in the era of social media and TikTok – the breathiness in her studio recording style translated nicely to the stage and her confidence as a performer and engagement with her crowd as she grinded to the pulsating beats of numbers like Decimal, encore notable, Kerosene and an early flirtation with her keyboardist/guitarist during Roses and Gold where the band member playfully danced with BP while playing saxophone, made for a winning Roundhouse combination for the rising artist.

Setlist:
4AM
This Is What They Meant
Don’t Turn Around
Roses and Gold ,_ dancing with guitarist on sax
Perdida
I Keep Losing Sleep – minimalist
Shh
Liahr
Picking Up
In the Dark
Oh No
One Way Ticket
Brighter Day
? (performed with Mac Wetha) was support act
Hi-Fidelity (with Lava La Rue)
? (performed with another artist)
Sunny
Favourite Girl
Decimal
Switch
Feels Right

Encore:
Kerosene

Brendon Veevers

::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.