Live Review: Scene Queen, In Her Own Words and Delilah Bon | O2 Islington Academy, London | 09/10/2023
Scene Queen's ascent to her throne might look fast to some, but it's the result of years of hard work finally paying off for Hannah Collins, who adopted the moniker in 2020. Self-styling her music as "bimbocore", she's blended metalcore with stereotypically feminine, or girly, aesthetics. It's pissed off all the right people (the misogynists some songs are aimed at), while striking a chord with plenty others, particularly young people, women and the LGBTQ+ community, much of whom her music is made for.
Delilah Bon
Opening the evening is Yorkshire’s Delilah Bon, her self-dubbed “brat punk” melding hip hop with snarling punk, nu metal and rage at sexism and misogyny. The room is barely half full to start, but it swells gradually as more come in to hear her message. The people at the front go hard, bouncing and cheering to her righteous anthems. ‘Brat’ is immediately followed by the seething ‘Chop Dicks’, while she dedicates ‘War On Women’ to the trans community, the back of her bassist’s four stringer emblazoned with “we will not be silenced” and a “trans rights are human rights” flag held by her dancer and backup vocalist. It’s a powerful statement, one that couldn’t come at a more important time. Her voice moves between soulful croons, visceral shrieks and savage flows, showcasing an artist not only with a message but the anthems and belief to back it up.
Photo Credit: Kate Gavaletz-Smith
Score: 8/10
In Her Own Words
In Her Own Words have an unenviable slot, sandwiched between two bands whose message is front and centre and the Venn diagram of whose fans is practically a circle. There’s an irony of calling your band In Her Own Words when all four members are male, and that they play pop punk then makes it even less surprising.
While they’re stylistically an odd one out, there’s no denying the conviction they play with or the effusive welcome they get as they stride onstage. They admit it’s been a good while since they last made it to the UK, and these are their biggest shows here to date, but frontman Joey Fleming uses every inch of the stage he can. Ultimately it’s inoffensive pop punk that’s performed well, but does steal some of the night’s momentum.
Photo Credit: Kate Gavaletz-Smith
Score: 7/10
Scene Queen
The room is heaving and there’s an excitable buzz in the air well before Scene Queen takes to the stage; the last time she was here, she played the far smaller, 250-capacity Boston Music Room so for many, it’ll be their first chance to see her. A bright flash of pink light and a dance remix of Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ heralds her arrival, and suddenly every phone is in the air filming. The trio rip through ‘Pink Whitney’ to open, Collins frequently drowned out by eight hundred throats screaming her words back. “This is what we call musical edging,” she grins, teasing the crunching riff ‘Pink Paper’ before it fully sets the crowd off into pits and crowd surfers. The backdrop is a huge, pink banner with Scene Queen plastered across it in death metal font and a huge pink Roman-esque facade adorns the stage. It’s very in keeping with the Bimbo Beta Pi she launched as a fan club to bring her rapidly growing fanbase together, a place she makes clear is for everyone at her shows to feel welcome and know they have friends at.
The overall effect is simple; this is Scene Queen‘s world and as far as she’s concerned, we just live in it. She raps and sings through earlier hits like ‘Pink Bubblegum’ and newer cuts like the raucous ‘Barbie & Ken’ alike (that sees Joey Fleming of IHOW play the part of Ken), all of which go down with the dedicated throng like the best song they’ve ever heard. One of her biggest viral hits gets an early outing; ’18+’ sends the already enthusiastic crowd feral as she “talks shit on the entire scene”, calling out grooming and abuse in the alternative scene. Again, every word is screamed back, with the vitriolic “if a bitch wants to be famous, tell them write a better hook, pussy” getting one of the biggest sing backs of the night. She follows it with the equally incendiary ‘Pink Push-Up Bra’ that takes aim at the entrenched misogyny and sexual harassment in alternative music with pits swirling to its revenge fantasy. As she closes the night with the huge ‘Pink Panther’, it’s abundantly clear Scene Queen has created a movement sorely needed in the scene, where people can feel safe and understood – as well as indulge in some brilliantly fun, irreverent metalcore.
Photo Credit: Kate Gavaletz-Smith
Score: 9/10