Anyone that knows me well enough will tell you that my favourite artist is Lauryn Hill. In recent years, Lauryn has been met with a lot of controversies when it comes to her gigs – because with every ticket purchase comes a beautiful uncertainty to what time she’ll show up at! But that tardiness didn’t put me off the idea of seeing her live at all.
When I found out that she was bringing her Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary Tour to London I knew I had to be there. Everything felt right about it – she announced the tour dates on my birthday, I got amazing seats during the general sale and that album aged like fine wine.
When she began her European tour dates she was two hours late and only performed for 30 minutes. This is when I became nervous, was this how London would be too? No apparently not. After a slight delay, Lauryn got on stage at around 9:45pm. It was worth the wait because her performance lived up to every expectation.
One thing I’ll never forget is Lauryn’s stage presence, not many people can take a sold-out arena through a journey of emotions. One minute everyone was dancing and singing and then all of sudden the audience came to a standstill to reflect on the images behind Lauryn during Forgive Them Father.
Something that I love about Lauryn’s music is that it speaks to so many people from all ages, races and walks of life. Not many artists can sell out arenas all over the world 20 years later with one album to their name but Lauryn REALLY DID THAT.
The authenticity of her music comes from real life experiences – Lauryn once said that the reason the Miseducation was so great was because there were experiences behind the creation. I love the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for that reason, the stories and lessons behind the music are timeless. The album taught us about faith, love, life and success. The themes in this album transcend time and relate to the human experience and artistry like this is rare and that’s why people love Lauryn Hill.
Hannah Lovejoy 