Concert Review: DYLYN Is “Heaven Bound” At Irving Plaza

Surrounded by emo-tweens with colorful hair and water-rubbed tattoos, I felt moved by how moved this Irving Plaza crowd was to see DYLYN sing about going to hell and back. Whether or not they have been through the trenches of bad-breakups and existential barriers did not matter, they felt like they did via her and THAT MATTERS! A good artist makes you feel like them, and makes their journey yours.

Have I been burned by multiple exes… nope…. but Taylor Swift makes me feel like I have. Do I have hoes jealous of me and my body-ody-ody-ody… not even close… but Megan Thee Stallion has me feeling that way. The truth is the best artists make you feel like their truth is yours to sing along with, and though I am bad at lyrics, I was charging through tracks like, “Hell Bound,” “Hurt,” and “Little Sister.” Each of her songs sang to the devastation of betrayal; believing someone will come through for you but they never do. In some ways, being a tween/teen is defined by the constant, cyclical realization that people are not who they say they are, including you.

Ugh! School halls can crush you with the amount heartbreak and epiphanies they see. Talk about if walls could talk… imagine Euphoria High! DYLYN may have sung to a younger crowd, but she did so with the grace and power of a modern rockstar. The days of “rock n’ rolling”to your self-destruction do not seem as legendary or attractive, especially in a post-pandemic music scene. Instead, people want stability; someone to make them feel anchored through a world of news-cycles that make everything feel aimless;. DYLYN has that star capacity, and she knows it, which is why she smiled, belted, and handled her presence with such certainty that I understand why the crowd admired her. They want to grow to be her.