NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
In listening and watching LA-based R&B/rap artist Audrey Nuna’s (aka Audrey Chu) music & video, it feels like she’s ready to explode all over the music industry. She somehow appeals to R&B and pop fans alike and, with an EP and two studio albums under her belt, she is still young and evolving as an artist. Growing up to Korean immigrant parents in New Jersey, going to school at NYU, then moving to Los Angeles probably provided a whirlwind of influences and inspirations on her music. Her last album Trench, released last October, is now supported by her first headlining tour across North America. By the time this review is published, her tour will have wrapped but on May 13th, she played to a packed Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. Fans had started lining up early and, based on their excitement, it was sure to be an amazing show!
Opening at this stop as well as several other was singer/rapper Abbiana (also from LA) and in a flurry of lace and ribbons, she hit the stage like a banshee! There was so much to take in that you almost missed her lovely voice. If you close your eyes, you could feel a jazzy vibe and chill. I noticed that she had also sung backup when Audrey Nuna appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk. Talent knows talent! However, she was singing to a track and that took it a notch down for me. Otherwise, a wonderful set by a big personality.
Click on photos to enlarge
Audrey Nuna took the stage with her back to the audience and a futuristic room projected on the screen. Between complete darkness and bright strobes, she rapped, moved, and danced her way around the stage to “Locket” off Trench. At the time, I thought “how cool if the whole show was just glimpses of Nuna”? As a photographer, that wouldn’t have been great but it felt like such a cool concept. But no, lighting went back to normal on the second song “IDGAF”.
As you would expect, Nuna played all of her sophomore album Trench but what wasn’t expected was that she would gift her fans with a twenty three song set!! I guess I can understand since some of the songs are quite short but that’s still a lot of songs for an artist that only has two full studio albums to her name! Also, whoever does Nuna’s production should be given some serious kudos. Everything seems simple….a backdrop, some strobes, a fan, motorcycle handles for the mic stand, and of course the outfits! Combined, these provided an incredible audio and visual experience that rival larger productions. But as you can tell by Audrey Nuna’s online persona, there’s a freaky cool about her with the really long hair and a red cap and silver cap on her teeth. This translates well to her stage personality and simple things like the strobes and a flowing pink robe adds a lot of motion to an otherwise ordinary setup.
Her setlist breaks the show into five “Worlds” and, while there were some obvious changes such as the addition of the pink robe, the motorcycle handles, a chair for a few songs, and the monster clawed gloves towards the end, it wasn’t clear to me how the worlds were really differentiated. Nuna also uses Autotune during the show (unless it was a track), making you wonder if she might be lipsynching. In my opinion, having a natural voice during a live performance always enhances the experience for the fan but current day pop/r&b often believe in using technology to make their performance “better” so who am I to say otherwise. This was still my top show of the year so far and, seeing as I’ve attended some arena shows already, this tells me that Audrey Nuna is a star in the making if she isn’t one already.
Click on photos to enlarge
Setlist: (3 pages)
