CupcakKe at Electric Brixton review: outrageous lyrics delivered with camp joy
CupcakKe was supposed to be one of music’s rising stars. Well before brat summer was a slime green glint in Charli XCX’s eye, CupcakKe collaborated on their 2017 song Lipgloss, pure bubblegum pop about the stickiest sexual acts (“More flavour than Flavor Flav, my pussy is very brave”).
That summer the young rapper joined Charli XCX on stage at music festival Lollapalooza, dancing her way across the stage as she belted out her viral hit CPR about foreplay performed with life-saving zeal (”We’re about to have late fun, I’m about to make your balls stick up like space buns”).
At just 20-years-old the Chicago singer born Elizabeth Eden Harris was the darling of indie magazines, vaunted for her furiously witty and cartoonishly sexual lyrics, her commitment to body positivity, and her wholehearted embrace of her LGBTQ+ fanbase. She released a gush of albums six mixtapes and albums in three years – Cum Cake, STD, Audacious, Queen Elizabeth, Ephorize and Eden.
But six years ago, the wheels came off. In January 2019, after making concerning posts about suicidal ideation, the 21-year-old artist was hospitalised and sought treatment for depression. Harris continued posting erratically on social media, cancelling her tour and threatening to quit music altogether over her fears younger children were dancing to her explicit lyrics.
Although she never fully gave up releasing new music, it wasn’t until last summer that CupcakKe returned with a full album, Dauntless Manifesto. For the London stop on her tour she played to a rapturous audience of Gen Z fans (her music took off on TikTok remixes during her hiatus) at Electric Brixton on Friday 17 January.
Now 27, CupcakKe cut a more stately and subdued figure in an all-black ensemble, still pacing the stage and occasionally mock-fellating her mic. While she exhorted the London crowd to “suck dick tonight” she seemed almost shy, her angelic smile flashing between smashing out lyrics that makes WAP sound like a hymn.
It wasn’t the slickest of shows. Alone onstage bar a backing track, CupcakKe seemed unsure of herself, repeatedly checking in with her sound technician to confirm which song was up next.
She seemed almost taken aback by the devotion of her young fans, who knew every lyric of the 15 songs (no encore) and she invited four fans onstage who became enthusiastically twerking impromptu backing dancers.
But what it lacked in polish was made up for with fan service, with a setlist that prioritised her biggest and raunchiest hits alongside new songs from Dauntless Manifesto.
Nursery rhymes, children’s cartoon characters and snack items are all fair game to CupcakKe. Little Red Riding Good is a thumping anthem laying down a bloody gauntlet for period sex – “Who needs tampons when you got a big dick?”.
DUI is a cautionary tale about getting caught in the act at the wheel twisted into a public safety announcement. “Don't drink and drive, I look drunk because he came on my eye.”
Classic – if songs about dicks and associated orifices can be called classics – such as Squidward’s Nose (”His dick smaller than my toe, I’d rather ride Squidward nose” after the nasally endowed Spongebob antagonist) and CPR got the biggest screams.
At one point during the latter, CupcakKe was simply conducting the audience as they mewled and groaned like a choir of harmonising porn samples.
Yes, the lyrics are outrageous, but they’re delivered with the kind of camp joy that’s incredibly appealing to a British sensibility for smut enjoyment.
While she eschews a traditional manager and record label in favour of fierce independence, it would be exciting to see the orgasmic heights CupcakKe could reach with some more support.
CupcakKe might like running her mouth about big dicks, but it’s her heart and comic timing that’s her own greatest asset.
