AUSTIN, Texas — Concertgoers at the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) this year missed out on Kali Uchis after she pulled out of the lineup just two days before she was set to perform. But the festival was not without her presence this weekend, propelled by Amaarae song “Sad Girls Luv Money” and its remix featuring the singer.
As the set kicked off at the festival’s IHG stage at Zilker Park on Saturday afternoon, Amaarae’s backing band hyped the crowd with a rock intro before the singer came out and launched into “Angels in Tibet,” with a slight Autotune over the vocals.
The Ghanian American singer has been steadily rising since her first project in 2017, “Passionfruit Summers,” and has found viral success across TikTok with the “Sad Girls Luv Money” remix.
And while much of the festival crowd was clearly waiting for that song, Amaarae delivered a full and varied set as she circled between Afropop, R&B, soca, pop and hip-hop. She sang about money, relationships and partying and showed love for Austin and Texas.
PHOTOS: ACL 2023 - Weekend 1
Amaarae followed “Angels in Tibet” with “Co-Star,” a song that had her running through the astrological signs and her dating life, backed by contemporary Afrobeats that got the crowd moving.
From there, it was into “Fancy,” a bass-heavy track with trap beats from her debut album, “The Angel You Don’t Know.”
The set then leaned into Amaarae’s heartbreak songs, with the singer showcasing her vocal talents on “Disguise” before singing over a stripped-back arrangement of R&B guitar.
“It’s my first time in Texas,” she told the audience at Zilker Park to big cheers. “The food is fire.”
Her band featured a drummer, guitarist and DJ, and Amaarae said they had wanted to feature a full DJ set but had to cut it short for the festival. Still, her DJ was able to deliver with a mix of Houston and Texas hip-hop that then flowed into a Clipse’s “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” – the opening sample of her song, “Counterfeit.”
As Amaarae closed out the set with “Sad Girls Luv Money,” the crowd joined in singing, “Just me and my maker/I’m gonna make the paper,” and she left with everybody feeling anything but “sad.”