Live Show: demxntia sweeps Tampa off its feet in his first hometown show.
- magscenee
- Oct 23
- 3 min read
In his very first hometown show, demxntia kicked off his set at New World Tampa with his most recent single, “what’s left of me.” The alt-R&B track featured a fluid instrumental backing supplemented by demxntia’s lead on the guitar. As the song ends, the producer and singer-songwriter took a moment to address the crowd and greeted his elders who came out to support him that night in Vietnamese.
Following this, demxntia played the title track of his last album, “c’est la vie,” which was released in August 2024. With every chorus, the crowd boomed. In this live rendition, his guitar guided the song’s emotional nuance and gave the ballad a grounded rock flair.
Up next was “ocean blues,” a summertime drop that the demxntia credited the inspiration to the K-Drama, “When Life Gives You Tangerines.” Written from the perspective of Park Bo-gum’s character, Yang Gwan-sik, the song had a cinematic touch to it as he played a dreamy surf rock guitar intro alongside the ocean waves in the backing track. As the drums peaked in, the song soared - everything falling into place. The crowd was swept off of their feet.
“do you feel the same?” was the next song to accompany demxntia’s setlist. Off his latest EP, “where we left off,” the song was inspired by the K-Drama, “Love Next Door,” starring Jung Hae-in. Prior to starting the song, demxntia recollected his experience seeing the actor post on Instagram using his song. That was not a one time occurrence. Jung Hae-in posted his song four times - leading demxntia to dedicate his performance to the actor.
Later in the set, demxntia brought a hip-hop finesse to his set with the song “no hard feelings” - the first track off his upcoming “grief” EP, set to release on October 31st. The crowd was hyped up, bouncing along to the beat and chanting “no hard feelings, I got no heart.”
Moving forward in the set, demxntia depicted the story behind his song, “keep smiling.” An amusing but endearing memory, demxntia recalled a moment where his partner told him that she would kill him if he died before her. The crowd giggled at the irony. demxntia went on to elaborate that she would revive him just to kill him again. As a result, he created the song from the perspective of his ghost continuing to love her and keep her safe. The venue swayed along to the saccharine rock ballad, some holding their loved ones close.
A substantial moment for myself that night was witnessing demxntia’s performance of “castle in the sky.” The song’s title is a nod to the Soundcloud collective of the same name, where he met the producer, kronicle. In 2021, he learned that kronicle had taken his own life. “castle in the sky” is an ode to kronicle and the memories demxntia shared with him in the early stages of his career. demxntia made a promise to himself to play this song at the end of every set, regardless of the pain that comes. The venue stayed by demxntia’s side the whole time. They took in the raw, bittersweet lyrics that poured out, each line creating another rip across your heart. It was a beautiful performance that I hope reached kronicle, wherever he may be.
demxntia is an impeccably hard-working artist who has barely scratched the surface in his career. From learning to sing and play the guitar, to developing a cohesive and flexible “brand” that unapologetically represents himself in all facets, demxntia is making strides to be the best version of himself possible. Taking inspiration from moments in his own life, dramas he has seen with his loved ones, and the various other forms of media he consumes, demxntia creates music that vividly represents every nuance in every emotion known to humankind. Known to fearlessly experiment, his sound is one of a kind - only growing and refining itself with each project. I truly look forward to seeing where life takes him and hope to experience more shows in the future.
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