R&b sensation Giveon doesn’t live up to expectations in a slightly too excited Paradiso ★★☆☆☆

His voice is one in a million: dark, voluminous and with an incomparably pure falsetto. That vocal power brought American R&B singer Givéon (27) to the charts: he played guest roles on the singles Chicago Freestyle (2020) by Drake and peaches (2021) by Justin Bieber, and then became a pop sensation himself.

You can also see how fast it can go by the long lines at Paradiso: Giveon is in the Netherlands for the first time, but easily sold out the large hall twice. So Tuesday in Paradiso glows that quintessential pop sensational tension.

Unfortunately, it slowly ebbs away at the start of the show. Though his single will be Still Your Best received with a scream, he doesn’t know how to give the slick love song – perhaps because of that screaming – no depth. The problem lasts for over an hour. Givéon sings his repertoire flawlessly and cleanly, but he never allows the audience a glimpse into his soul. Also because he doesn’t seem to have any chemistry with his band: the guitarist, bassist and drummer were already on stage fifteen minutes before the singer’s arrival, stoic and staring into nothingness. Not a good sign.

Giveon interprets the song World We Created like a standard tearjerker, while he could (and should) have dragged everything out on a stage. The singer does not seem to feel his own song pain, and that is an omission in the genre of R&B and soul.

The screaming crowd at his feet doesn’t help. It must also be impossible to put vocal rapture into a fragile R&B song, if no one seems to be listening to him. Perhaps the experience is lacking: a seasoned vocalist could have silenced a room and regained control. Givéon believes it and thinks, hopefully rightly, my time will come.