From door to stage, the mood is set as soon as you take your first steps in to the venue. The House of KOKO delivers cinematic luxury that feels almost surreal to the average Joe like me. Even the air has a curated aroma that signals you’ve left the chaos of London behind. And what a perfect venue to return with for CHARLS!
CHARLS, a London based pop artist held a beautifully curated intimate show exclusively accessible for her mailing list members. With unreleased music, stories and healing emotional connection, we got a small look in to what to expect from CHARLS as she starts her journey as an independent artist.
We were taken on a journey of broken hearts, with the first song in the set being Heads Up. Released in 2025, it’s a song about red flags. A brave choice to play as the first song in a set but with its up beat nature it worked perfectly. It was followed with more heartbreak songs which will be perfect for a rainy day playlist when we see them released, and luckily CHARLS balanced the emotions of the room by lifting the mood with incredible audience participation, honestly the engagement was much better than some larger performances I have been to.
One of the songs freshly released is ‘Trust My Gut’, a song about not letting life go by whilst knowing that something is not right. I don’t know if this is universal but I tend to give people chances and live life hopeful that something will change even when I know that it is not right for me. I guess its because the simplicity of a comfort zone beats having to put in the effort to make things better, but as this song points out, feeling low is not a sustainable forever. We need to be brave, and trust that our heart, mind and body are guiding us in a direction that’s better for us. For CHARLS this meant quitting her label, becoming a PT and re-designing who she was as an artist.
It’s always the case that when you become too immersed with your surroundings time flies by, and well that’s exactly what happened here. We got to the last song of the night a little too quickly, ‘Begging On My Birthday’ which was also just released so go have a listen. Its about stopping yourself from giving excuses to people who keep dismissing you whilst you give them your all. The song was written about a man that did not put in any effort whilst she gave him her all, but more importantly! Its about all the wonderful women that helped CHARLS overcome the end of her relationship, styed by her whilst she rebuilt herself, and proved that you don’t need to beg for attention from those that are supposed to love you!
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