With heart balloons in the air and cut-out paper hearts on the floor, Zoe Ko entered the Heaven Can Wait stage on Oct. 16 with edgy vocals and upbeat energy. Starting the performance with her first single, “Line,” Zoe jumped around and sang her heart out, capturing the audience’s attention. The New York-based artist is just getting started, and her streaming numbers are going up with three released songs and an EP on the way. 

Growing up in NYC, Zoe Ko attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and wanted to pursue a career in music from there. While getting into the studio to record and collaborate with songwriters, she started making music that she really loved and wanted to release. 

Ko began the concert by singing unreleased songs, including titles “Bored” and “Rock Bottom.” She shared personal details with the crowd, expressing her journey with her sexuality. After telling the audience about how she recently discovered she is bisexual, Ko sang “Why Didn’t I Kiss You,” a song about the first girl she ever went on a date with and her regrets about not ending the night with a kiss. 

Her songs are a mix of upbeat pop-rock and sweetly sad melodies. Despite the unreleased songs not being on any streaming services yet, the crowd was still full of heartwarming energy. The room listened attentively, wanting to grasp onto every last word and beat. Ko then switched from playing guitar while singing to dancing around and belting into the microphone. 

After a few original songs, her band broke out into a crisp ’90s sound while covering “Just A Girl” by No Doubt. With a few dance moves and stellar vocals, Ko belted out the fun lyrics. 

“I love Gwen Stefani,” she said about the lead singer of the retired band, No Doubt. 

After introducing the next song, “Til U,” many audience members whispered, “This is my favorite song.” The energy was the highest for that song, with the entire room singing and dancing — it is her second-most streamed song on Spotify. Ko joked around during her set, showing how personable she is. 

Before the closing song, she handed out paper hearts with song lyrics to a few lucky audience members. After teasing the song on TikTok for a few weeks, Ko released her newest single, “Lovesick In Public,” on all streaming platforms. Nowadays, TikTok is crucial to many music artists’ growth. With nearly 300,000 likes on TikTok, Ko is expanding her following. 

She performed eight songs with messages of heartbreak, romantic longing and loneliness, but the engaged audience kept the room full of positivity. Although this was Ko’s first headlining show, there was no question that she was born to be a performer. Her sound is clear and confident, and by adding her kindness into the mix, she surely is an artist to watch out for.

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KELLY SCHWINT