TOKiMONSTA Brings Party to D.C.’s U Street Music Hall

“Oh my God! Look at that line. I would never stand in such a long line to see a band.”- said the guy who has never experienced the enchantment of a TOKiMONSTA set.

On October 14, California native Jennifer Lee, known to admirers as TOKiMONSTA, performed a sold-out show at Washington D.C.’s U Street Music Hall. D.C. was one of her final North American stops for her Lune Rouge tour, yet she performed with vigor comparable to an opening night performance. Though TOKiMONSTA’s style can be described as electronica, her music has strong R&B, rap, classical and soul sounds. With such an eclectic sound, it’s no wonder the show was sold-out, with a line that wrapped around a corner and halfway down the block.

The atmosphere inside the club was perfect with the darkest dim lighting. Once the name “TOKiMONSTA” was projected on the background, the crowd brimmed with excitement. Throughout the entire night there were visuals projected behind TOKiMONSTA shown in concert with the songs she played. The songs in her set were enough to engage the audience so the visual served as a nice bonus.

When TOKiMONSTA got on stage people became more eager: one girl screamed “We love you Jenn!” while some guy said “Noona (Korean word said by a male to an older female) I love you!”

TOKiMONSTA’s unconventional style is what makes her sets amazing and why she’s shown so much love. TOKiMONSTA’s music cannot be put into a box because she mixes genres and sounds that typically would not be heard together. Apart from the music itself, the visual of TOKiMONSTA preforming and genuinely enjoying the music, passionately smiling and nodding adds to the whole experience that is a TOKiMONSTA concert. She’s able to fluidly transition between different genres and sounds. She could play a mash-up of hip-hop and EDM one minute while dancing then play a mellow soul song while slightly nodding her head. Regardless of what she played, the audience was right along with her experiencing the euphoria of up-tempo songs or the reflective ambiance brought on by slower, more soulful songs in her set.

She played an array of songs from “Realla,” “Go with It,” and “Darkest (Dim),” to her new releases off “Lune Rouge.” “Don’t Call Me,” which features Malaysian singer Yuna, and “We Love” are the hit singles off the album. Songs from “Lune Rouge” were the highlights of the night as TOKiMONSTA expressed the journey to complete the album after her recovery last year from two brain surgeries. It was touching because she cried before the audience and we could see the emotions “I Wish I Could” evoked. It wasn’t a completely sad moment because it celebrated her triumph and reinforced her passion and drive to produce music - it was inspiring.

To close off the night TOKiMONSTA played EDM-like music to get the crowd hyped and dancing. The more upbeat songs she played included samples from Missy Elliot, Kendrick Lamar, and a crowd favorite EDM remix of Waka Flocka’s “Hard in the Paint.” Even people that might have tried to be cute and not move too much during the show were jumping and dancing when “Hard in the Paint” and TOKiMONSTA’s other aggressive rap samples came on.