Well, this is a bit of a surprise…
Erykah Badu debuted her three-day one woman show, Live Nudity, at Dallas’ Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Badu described the show as a “kind of stream-of-consciousness”.
The show ran for an hour and 45 minutes and was completely improvised. The thirteen different scenes within the show consisted of three songs, some performance art and comedy sketches.
Unfortunately, unlike her music – including her wonderful recent cover of Hotline Bling – the critics didn’t seem too impressed by her performance.
Dallas Observer wrote:
“Yes, Badu dons sock puppets and, using a Rosie Perez accent, has her cotton-clad fists get into a domestic squabble that devolves into repetitions of “fuckin’ shit” until you wish one of the puppets would actually sock the other sock and knock it out. Another bit that goes stale puts Badu center stage slowly eating a bag of potato chips. That’s it. Crunch, crunch, crunch into the mic.”
Some of the show, however was received far better. They remarked that she displayed “some comic potential playing an unctuous New Age motivational speaker explaining chakras and forcing audience participation before comically dubbing patrons ‘pedophiles’ and ‘thieves’.”
In addition to that, at the end of the show, “she turned personal and serious, going into an almost trancelike state as she delivered an emotional speech about racism. “I’m trying to figure out if there is a place on the planet where it’s OK to be black,” she mused.”
Badu described herself as “a pretty spontaneous artist,” she added. This show seemed to demonstrate that.
Badu is slated to release a brand new mixtape this week too – we can only assume the reviews will be better!
Listen to her mix of Drake’s Hotline Bling and BUT U CAINT USE MY PHONE below: