Leap Day happens only once every four years, so being able to see an act like Julia Nunes at TT the Bears in Cambridge on a night like that is rather special.
If you haven’t heard of Julia Nunes, then you obviously haven’t explored the depths of YouTube well enough. She created her channel (youtube.com/jaaaaaaa) in 2006, and has gained over 207,000 subscribers over that time due to her hilarious personality and her seriously beautiful original and cover songs. She started filming herself playing songs in her college dorm room, and since then, she has toured with Ben Kweller, Ben Folds, played at Bonnaroo, as well as the Sundance Film Festival.
Julia just came out with a new album, Settle Down, which is her best work yet. Half of the album contains well-crafted new songs, while the rest are re-mastered and re-imagined songs from her previous EPs. Being fresh out of college, Julia had little money to make an album, so she signed up for Kickstarter, a website that helps creative people accomplish their projects. Her fans were able to donate money to her in return for prizes like an advanced copy of the album or a hand-knitted hat, and she managed to raise over $70,000—way more than she asked for in the beginning. But with all that extra money, her album turned out incredible and now she’s able to tour the country meeting her fans that made this happen.
The show last night was better than I expected. I’ve only seen her perform songs via her videos on YouTube. Once she was up on stage, her energy carried her to amazing heights. Her monologues between songs were funny and scatter-brained, and got the audience really into the performance. It was the most energetic set I’ve seen from an acoustic show.
She started off her set with an old favorite, “The Debt,” featuring some sick beat boxing along with her ukulele melodies. And although her album came out the day before her show in Cambridge, the crowd was singing along to her new single “Stay Awake” because she recently performed it on The Conan O’Brien Show.
She charms her audience and has everyone singing along by the end of her set, especially when she concludes with “Build Me Up, Buttercup.” The crowd actually took this one away and Julia ended up singing the background vocals.
Julia is only 23 years old, but she’s headed for great things, with an already impressive resume of performances and accomplishments, and she couldn’t be more excited about everything.
Julia Nunes’ website is julianunes.com and her music is also available on iTunes.
By Deanna Archetto
