Review by Camden Meyers
Photo Provided by Adam Nystrom
Adam Nystrom is on his way. On this particular Wednesday he is on his way to Portland for another performance after a sold out show in Seattle at The Nectar Lounge on Tuesday night. However, in a more macro-philosophical way he is on his way into the hearts and ears, of fans all across the country. This was evidenced by the outpouring of support that the charismatic young artist drew to his concert in the heart of the Emerald City on a weekday night.
Adam and his affiliated group shot onto the stage as the beat dropped for Adam’s first song, “Rumors”. It didn’t take long for the crowd, which was packed wall-to-wall, to throw their hands in the air and sing along to the catchy pop/hip-hop track and I was no exception. Adam’s music tells the story of his life both past and present; from frozen tequila-spiked beverages and rumors among friends to love and the daily grind of working as a means to an end. He is able to relate to every corner of his demographic with his lyrics. Lyrics themselves don’t make a great song just as singing itself doesn’t make a great performance, but Adam has a powerful, attention-commanding stage presence that is matched with memorable and pleasant melodies and hooks.
This show felt a little more intimate than just another set on the road. The Sweden born performer moved to the United States at the age of six. After spending some time in Vermont, his family relocated to Seattle for work. Adams musical dreams started to come alive - “Essentially when I was young, I was six, I moved from Sweden to Vermont….I had no intent on making music during those times...and then my mom married my step-dad who was in the military at the time, after the military he started work as a nurse and worked at Swedish Hospital and we moved over here [Seattle] and I got to work”. It was clear from the connection that Adam kept with his fans that Seattle was a special place to him, but it turns out that it’s actually the whole northwest that’s significant, “What really blew my mind was the first time we went out to Portland...I realized that people know the words and that was crazy!” he said. I’m sure that his following in Portland will be even more excited to see him when he takes the stage again on his tour with Yung Pinch.
With over 16,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, Adam has cemented himself as an up-and-comer in the music industry. As with every journey, it hasn’t been easy and has taken some time to gain the level of popularity that Adam now has. He reminisced about the day he woke up to his hit single “Margaria” blowing up on Spotify, “Man so I woke up and nothing had happened for like a day and I knew it was a hit song. I had been waiting on it for awhile, I think we had the song done in January and released in the summer, and after a couple days it started getting picked up by all of these different channels. It was being used as background music on all of these different Youtube channels. After that, shit just started rapidly growing and it hit 100,000”. “Margarita” now has over 400,000 listens on Spotify and has become Adam’s anthem, for the time being at least.
Adam’s influences range from Earth, Wind and Fire, T.I., Twenty One Pilots, The 1975 and everything in between. You can hear the plethora of styles in his music, adding a depth and longevity to his tracks that allow him to venture out and grab the attention of the non-traditional hip-hop fan. This has allowed him to garner a very engaged and attentive following all over the west coast of the United States, and will continue to carry him to greater heights as a musician, performer, and entertainer. For those interested, and you should be, Adam says that the best way to keep up with the most current information on tours and projects is through social media “the best way to go in the Instagram story, snapchat definitely. The snapchat is AdamNystrom and my Instagram is RealAdamNystrom,” he said.
As Adam said goodbye to The Nectar Theater and his loyal Seattle fanbase he talked about the difference between playing at this venue years ago and today “I was like 15 and I played my first show at exactly here, there was less than 25 people….now it’s all good...there’s no better moment than seeing this venue empty before and coming out this time and seeing it all the way sold-out a week in advance is the greatest feeling in the world, I spent a lot of nights just laying in bed and thinking about this being the run”. Adam was right on all counts, the lounge was sold out a week in advance, the venue was packed and everyone knew the music! Adam still spends his nights thinking, but now it’s from the road as he travels from state to state playing his music and sharing a little hype, a little real and lot of catch with the world.
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