Emei: The Rabbithole Tour

EMEI: THE RABBITHOLE TOUR

20.02.2025 @ Gorilla, Manchester (550 Capacity)

Written Mar 2025

The rising star, Chinese-American pop singer Emei, embarked on her international tour 5 weeks ago. This is her second headline tour spanning  across UK, Europe & America, following the ‘Cynical’ tour (22 dates) earlier this year where the only UK show was London (naturally). This time around, she played 37 dates including Manchester’s GORILLA as the first stop on the UK leg.

Supported by her best friend (and ‘one-man boy band’), Haiden Henderson and Santclair, the 550 capacity venue was brought to life for a night of three amazing styles of pop music. With multiple Radio 1 plays from Jack Saunders, Maia Beth & Millie King across the past year,  it's no surprise that the New Jersey-born popstar's first ever Manchester show was a sold out one.

Emei produces a unique type of electro-pop music you can vibe and cry to, and her ‘Rabbithole’ EP released in November, is a true showcase of that. With songs such as the title track centering around the idea of spiraling in a downwards cycle, but also ‘9 LIVES’ which focuses on self-worth and second chances. This EP took a step back from the full-scale hyperpop of scatterbrain, showing a much more vulnerable side to her artistry. The Yale graduate is no stranger to genre shifts, her 2022 EP ‘End of an Era’ delivers a more pop-rock feel and centers around growing up realising everyone around you is succeeding in one way or another. It’s a project I definitely relate to and had it on loop when I discovered Emei in Year 12 at college - ‘Late to the Party’ and ‘Ferris Bueller’ are my personal favourites.

Placing 3rd on Chinese Idol at the age of 15, it’s only natural that Emei’s concert was a truly incredible night. Her infectious energy and lively stage presence is something that can’t be missed, jumping and dancing with her band at almost every song and influencing the crowd to do the same. At one point she climbed into the crowd and sat with her audience to perform ‘ginger tea’, a song dedicated to her grandma who recently passed. The combination of a live vocal loop and chinese lyrics clearly meant so much to her, so much so that the crowd remained silent throughout this moment for Emei. It’s times like this that really show how life-saving and vital fans can be. Being a self-proclaimed petty bitch, which definitely shines through in her songs (‘Human Being’, ‘You Are Bad’, ‘Better People To Leave On Read’), as well as her performance, Emei is constantly making it clear that girls of any background can succeed in any genre.

As always, I made sure to say thanks to as many crew members on my way out because crew really are the backbone of the music industry. This was my first time attending an event at GORILLA, and apart from the terrible signal, it’s a cool venue. Nestled under the railway arches of Oxford Road station, the tall yet intimate venue is ideal for smaller artists or those on their first tours who really want to gain a sense of Manchester’s live music scene.