Syd of The Internet oozes cool at Varsity Theater
by Jeffrey Bissoy-Mattis and Darin Kamnetz
June 10, 2022
On Thursday evening, Syd, lead singer of the ill R&B group The Internet, performed at Varsity Theater as part of her Broken Hearts Club tour. It was my first time at Varsity (don’t judge me), and the fans lined up to see Syd perform hits from her latest album, as well as older bops from The Internet.
Roughly two hours after doors opened, Syd arrived on stage with a giant smile on her face and yelled, “MINNESOTA!!” As she stepped towards the front of the stage she was accompanied by red lights that swiftly turned yellow as she began to sing.
Syd donned a beige graphic tee with baggy white cargo pants, black kicks, glistening necklace, with a black cap on top of her growing afro. The confidence that she oozed whilst barely moving was noticeable, and the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
As the crowd showered her with love, two bottle women walked across the stage with solo cups and bottles of alcohol, pouring a glass for Syd and her bass and keyboard player.
“Minneapolis, let’s go!!! I want to thank y’all for being here tonight,” she said. “I’ve started this tradition for a while, where I like to start every show with a toast. Toast to you, Minneapolis, it’s good to be back. Happy to see all your faces. I don’t know about you all, I want to have a good time tonight. It’s been a minute, but we made it though. We back outside. This is special affair.”
She took a sip of the drink in her Solo cup and her bassist started plucking some strings and instantly the crowd lost control as “Special Affair/Curse” by The Internet was about to play. Syd barely had to sing into her microphone as the crowd was already singing to the song, all while gyrating and recording the performance on their phones.
When she finished, Syd shared with us that The Heartbreak Club album was inspired by her actual heartbreak. “It’s based on a true story,” she said. “We can laugh and scream about it now…it was a real relationship that ended in a lot of pain. That’s life, I learned a lot.”
As she said this, someone from the crowd screams out, “F**k them!” To which Syd replied with a smile and a comforting gaze, “It’s okay….I used to feel that way, but I’m a Taurus.” The crowd lost it, and as they do, Syd continued the dialogue with them about horoscopes and heartbreak.
“Make some noise if you’re a Taurus…I don’t know how many of you have had your heart broken before, but like shattered? Oh you’re a Cancer? Well sh*t, you understand. I’m a simp too. But no, the relationship started off great — imma start at the good part.”
As soon as she finished her the sentence, the upbeat tempo of “Tie the Knot” off the new project played and Syd started singing, “I’ve been on the west side, chillin though a menace while the rent's high…”
Syd combed through other singles off the album, such as “Out Loud,” “Cybah” along with fan favorites from her discography, including arguably her and Kaytranada’s biggest hit, “You’re the One,” which has over 115 million streams on Spotify.
Through it all, we learned that Syd truly is a “simp,” or rather, a hopeless romantic that enjoys falling in love, while enjoying the occasional steamy flings, like the one she describes in “Fast Car,” which she also sang.
“I wrote this song thinking about the scenario. I usually start blabbing, but in this case I was listening to an instrumental. I was seeing myself in my hometown, sunny day. It was me and some fine ass sum, and we were in a very fast car,” Syd said.
“We were driving really slow. I’m not a speed racer for real, but we decided to cruise down the coast in this really fast car. It’s probably a Ferrari F40, it’s what I’m going for. I collect trucks, but if we talking fast cars it’s that F40. It was stopping at a red light and we are making out and the light turns green and we don’t see. Next thing we know is people are honking at this Ferrari F40, with these gay b*****s making out.”
Before she played the song, she asked the crowd to put themselves in that scenario and see if the image she drew up matched the audio. I couldn’t quite see it — it might've been too late for me — but I loved that Syd talked about her writing process while making songs.
All in all, my biggest impression from last night is that Syd is a masterful storyteller that is at her best stringing together oldies with newbies, while sharing stories, bonding with the crowd and allowing them to talk back to her. All while, dancing and smiling the night away.
Syd simply oozes cool — always in rhythm, never off-key, always in control of the moment. Like a 5.0 uber driver, as a passenger (audience member), you never feel a ding, tight curve, the switching of gears, when she’s in control. You’re always at ease and right where you need to be.
“In all seriousness, I’m grateful for you all,” Syd said. “It’s been a weird few years. Not all of us artists were able to just pick up and go outside like this. I’m grateful for you guys to allow me to tour and to do this… I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep doing this, but not being able to do this, made me want to do it. I need this. I need you. Thank you, guys.”
This was her cue into “Smile More” off her 2017 album, Fin. As her soft voice rang through Varsity Theater, it was at this moment that I noticed the crowd truly becoming prisoners of the moment — curious where Syd would go next with her story and performance.
Beyond being one of the best vocalists in the game — trust me, live she’s even better — Syd is simply a smoother operator and a mac. For almost two hours, she serenaded us with slow jams, ballads and took requests from the crowd. We even had some bangers sprinkled throughout.
And just like her entrance, Syd sent us home with one final song, one The Internet’s classic, “Girl.” She put her all into that song, like a last embrace and once the beat died down, she magically vanished off stage — real R&B hours at Varsity Theater.
A quick sidebar: earlier in the evening we had an opening act from Destin Conrad, a young artist from Tampa Bay, Florida. He was so good. If you haven’t heard of him yet, check out the song “Bill$” and his recent EP, Colorwave.
