NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
“I came from New York and, even though I now live in LA, this will forever be very special to me and Baby’s All Right is the very first venue I ever played,” said Ella Jane at her one-off appearance in her old stomping grounds of Brooklyn. This intimate setting was a change of pace for Ella Jane, as she had sold out the far larger venue Bowery Ballroom back in 2022 shortly after her viral breakthrough, but her coming back to Baby’s All Right was a realization of the local indie roots that she came from. She was born and raised in Westchester, New York, just north of the city. This amazing talent has been playing music since she was 4 years old, which makes sense as she was named after Ella Fitzgerald. She got her big break back in 2020 when a TikTok video of her performing her song “Nothing Else I Could Do” went viral, resulting in her fame suddenly exploding. Her first album released the following year was called This is Not What it Looks Like! was definitely indie pop and folk inspired. In 2022, she moved from Brooklyn to LA and released a very pop-heavy follow-up called Marginalia. Now, a couple years later, she is preparing to be reborn once again and it is very exciting to see what kind of phoenix she may arise as this time.
Opening the show was local indie singer-songwriter named Laura Elliott, also came from north of the City, but who also found a home in Brooklyn. Some of her collaborations include being featured on Lizzy McAlpine’s Give Me A Minute album, as well as jumping in with talented artists like Cisco Swank and Scary Pockets. Her debut album People Pleaser was released in 2022, but I found the Car Sick EP she released last year to be a more expansive artistic move for her. I also thought her cover of The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside” was super fun, and it definitely got a big singalong to erupt, but it was her original stuff with a deeply personal flair that I really enjoy the most.
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Ella Jane talked up the crowd a lot during her set, helping to form that deep connection with her audience, as she gabbed about everything from her decision to leave Brooklyn to her breast reduction surgery, showing nothing was too personal to share with her good friends. She has released a number of singles this year so she definitely had new songs to play, starting her set off with her newest track, “10-Blade,” followed by another recent release called “Seattle”. In addition to a bright and jangly cover of The La’s “There She Goes”, she also played a couple of songs I didn’t know, such as “When I Was Beautiful”, With all these new songs, I can imagine she may very well be crafting a new full length album and the band of young talented musicians she played with did a great job of giving the songs a proper amount of kick. A pair of guest vocalists, Allison Ponthier and Kevin Atwater, came up to the stage to sing along to “Seattle,” and it’s interesting that they both also had big TikTok viral moments recently. They both also appeared on Kevin’s Downers Grove EP released last year and their harmonies sounded very supernatural and ethereal and I really hope they form a supergroup soon. Ella Jane also played gems like “Time On” where she talks about moving to Brooklyn and she slayed the seductive “I Wanna”, both songs having major Taylor Swift vibes all around. She closed the show with the big viral hit that launched her crazy rise called “Nothing Else I Could Do”, getting the place hopping around like crazy. Ella had a great connection with the audience throughout the show, and it is clear she hasn’t lost her talent for emotionally linking with her fans. I look forward to seeing where she goes next and I anticipate it is going to be huge.
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Loved the show so much!
Such a fan of Ella Jane! This was a very special night in NYC