[RECAP] AleXa Completes Her ‘1st Meet & Live Tour in U.S.’ in Los Angeles

Cr. Yuna J.

On Sunday, October 30, soloist AleXa finished out her 1st Meet & Live Tour in U.S. at the AVALON Hollywood & Bardot in Los Angeles. AleXa, best known for participation in various reality competition shows like Mnet’s “Produce 48,” returned to the U.S. after representing her home state Oklahoma and K-Pop in NBC’s American Song Contest” earlier this year. She brought awareness to K-Pop as a music genre and won the public vote by a landslide.

[INTERVIEW] AleXa on “American Song Contest,” Asian Representation, and The Future of K-Pop

The concert took place over the Halloween weekend and invited fans to dress up and participate in a costume contest where winners will be chosen by AleXa at the end of the night. Fashionable K-Pop fans in their AleXa-inspired outfits stood side-by-side with fairies and bunnies.

An opening VCR highlighted moments from previous tour stops and music videos until AleXa strutted on stage sporting long blonde hair in a shiny blue and black outfit. Joined by her male and female backup dancers, AleXa kicked off the night with “A.I. Trooper.” The opening number set the tone for the night, highlighting AleXa and her charismatic, powerful performance skills while also serving as an open invitation to join her growing fandom of dedicated A.I. Troopers. Successfully hyping up the crowd, AleXa went into her debut song “Bomb,” concluding with a solo dance break and to the sounds of A.I. Troopers barking in excitement for more.

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Catching her breath, AleXa ecstatically greeted the crowd and waved one-by-one to fans as she took sips of water, even pointing out that she recognizes some familiar faces. AleXa poked fun at herself by remarking that this is the highest stage she’s been on, making her feel tall. 

After completing her first three singles also known as the “Trilogy” of her “AleXa Universe,” she went on to perform “Do or Die and “Revolution.” The complicated choreography showcased the amazing chemistry AleXa has with her dancers, especially when being carried by the male dancers. Her seamless transitions between singing and rapping, all while doing hard-hitting choreography left the audience amazed.

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Fans were then treated to teasers for her comeback album Girls in Vogue, with the next few stages being unreleased tracks and collaborations from her newest release. The first new song was the bubbly, energetic “Endorphins,” demonstrating her versatility of being able to pull off girly and sweet concepts as well as the usual girl crush, charismatic concepts as seen in her title tracks. Next was the all-English, playful collaboration with TheFatRat, “Rule the World,” clearly a crowd favorite as many fans were loudly singing along.

Returning with a handheld microphone, AleXa segued into the next collaboration song, “Is It On” ft. Bader Al-Shaeebi, a Saudi singer and actor. AleXa hilariously explained that because Bader was not present to perform, the plan was to “vibe” until the song got to her parts. Because of how comfortable she is with her fans, AleXa turned what normally would be an awkward moment of waiting into a fun stage where she just “vibed” as if she was dancing with friends.

Shifting the mood, AleXa slowed things down with “Please Try Again,” an all-English track that she personally wrote for her new album. In her stripped-down performance, AleXa felt like the main character of a dramatic love story as she crooned emotional lyrics such as “going in circles / can’t go nowhere / fighting my tears.”

Due to the concert taking place only a day after the Itaewon Halloween tragedy that claimed the lives of over 150 people, AleXa requested a minute of silence to honor and respect the victims who lost their lives in the crowd surge. Visibly shaken, AleXa thanked the crowd for their kindness and concern and exited the stage to prepare for the next half of the concert.

A VCR spotlighted moments of AleXa on her U.S. tour, including clips of her dancing with A.I. Troopers and returning to her hometown of Oklahoma. Refreshed and after changing into shiny pink pants, AleXa returned for the energetic “Kitty Run with the signature kitty paw dance move followed by the sexy, confident “Villain.”

With the audience “barking” for more, AleXa busted out the mic stand for “Burn Out to thoroughly display her vocal range and high notes, all while headbanging with the audience. 

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Introducing her next song “Obsession,” AleXa gave a shout-out to her song co-writer, Vanessa Jefferson (sister of American singer Lizzo), who was in the audience that night. AleXa adorably kept pointing at her throughout the song while Vanessa sang and danced along.

Jokingly saying “Whether you’ve been with me since debut or not you should know this song…cause it’s not mine,” AleXa drove fans wild with her cover of Doja Cat’s Woman with her body rolls and flawless execution of the rap verses (including the explicit lyrics).

After also pointing out the songwriters of “Villain in the audience, AleXa confessed that she was really sad because she debuted right before the COVID-19 pandemic and is glad to finally be performing in front of people again. Energized by the crowd, AleXa then taught the audience the point choreography for “Tattoo in preparation for her final stages. 

But first, AleXa wanted to slow things down with the emotional ballad “Never Let You Go.” Complementing her sweet and gentle vocals, A.I. Troopers turned on their cell phone lights to further enhance the ethereal stage while AleXa glowed under the dreamy, golden lights and galactic background.

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For the nostalgic, early 2000s pop single “Tattoo,” AleXa looked expectantly at the audience to do the finger-drawing choreography she taught the crowd earlier with her and A.I. Troopers delivered on the choreography. Requesting for people to sing along if they know the lyrics, AleXa followed with the quirky, fun “Xtra” where the audience indeed belted along to the hilarious lyrics of “on my burger and fries, always extra cheese.”

[INTERVIEW] Catching Up with AleXa and A.I Troopers in Los Angeles

Since the concert doubled as a Halloween celebration, AleXa made space to announce the winners she selected for the Halloween contest. Two couples who dressed as characters from Howl’s Moving Castle and Squid Game were the lucky winners and got to go on stage and take a picture with AleXa. 

Her last song was the official fan song “Moon and Back.” A.I. Troopers used this song to show their love for AleXa through a fan event, with blue banners expressing how they’ll always be together with her.

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Satisfying her fans’ request for an encore, AleXa came back on stage for “Wonderland with the trademark red ropes that everyone immediately recognized from her winning stage on NBC’s “America Song Contest.” Throughout the entire night, AleXa showed exactly why she was voted “Best Original Song” and that she is a natural-born performer and triple threat in singing, dancing, and rapping. AleXa has already broken into the mainstream U.S. music scene and will only continue to gain momentum. A.I. Troopers will be along her side every step of the way.

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