BELLES

Undiscovered Nashville’s ‘Pre-Famous’

Saturday July 29, 2023

@ The Clubhouse at Sonny’s in Nashville, TN

(Review By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

On what was the final night of their two-month, Saturday summer residency before sliding over to Tuesday nights starting August 1, Undiscovered Nashville lit the proverbial fuse and closed things out with quite the bang.

Turning the quaint and cozy Clubhouse at popular Germantown hotspot Sonny’s Patio Pub & Refuge into a vibey space that teetered between a true listening room aura and that of a rowdier concert atmosphere, their popular ‘Pre-Famous’ show placed six hot rising acts into half-hour featured performance positions throughout the night including Chistiana Alaire, Kaylin Kole, Matt Gorman, Alison Elena, Dave’s Highway, and Belles.

Center piecing the stacked lineup, Belles (AKA Kelli Rachel Belles) impressed during the 8 o’clock timeslot on a night that arrived only a day after dropping her most recent single “Break Up With Your Ex,” strongly showcasing her blending of pop sensibilities, modern country ideals, and a moody twist into both ends of her spectrum to impressively highlight the stunning power of her voice and crispness of the realism embedded into each lyrical turn.

Immediately captivating the crowd with the innocence of her voice, opening song “Man Outta Me” saw her soft swaying in tune with the melody as she emotionally sang through the incredibly well-written open letter to her ex, spelling out the different ways that their breakup has hardened her heart and affected her most, transforming her soft, loving character into to becoming someone who’s now more cold-hearted like him.

“This is the first love song that I’ve written,” she told with a smile as she bopped into the toe-tapping melody of recent single “Girl Crazy,” playfully driving through the flirtatious lyric as the crowd shoulder danced in timing with the addictive rhythm as many could be seen singing along with her.

“I wrote this next one about a guy who came over to my house and broke up with me….but then asked me back out,” Belles said with a shrug while an audible sigh from the female demographic in the crowd arose as she slid into “The Drive Home,” pouring her heart into a listing of how all the specific memories of her and what they had together would come flooding back to him on his way home and become the hardest part of breaking up with her; even harder than the actual breaking up with her part.

“BYOB,” a brand new song inspired by a recent house party, continued to see her walking along a tempo driven melody, building its steam with each passing lyric line so that when she punched the chorus it elevated into a pure display of her amazing vocals as she slid through her ranges, expertly dipping into the low register of her voice to then fully enhance the strike when she’d ride it up to the higher end.

“I got cheated on last year,” Belles said as a groan erupted across the crowd. “And that was lame…but the guy who did it tried to justify it by telling me that it was an accident,” she mused with a slight eye roll and a knowing slyness tilted into her voice as she hit the crowd with an intriguing traditional country inspired intro on “Accidents Happen” before slapping into her naturally modern kissed aura to drive the catchy rhythm as she bopped with unbridled sass through the getting even/revenge filled lyric.

“I was born and raised in Nebraska and there’s a lot of cowboys there,” told Belles with a slight pause. “But here in Nashville; a lot of guys walk around in hats and boots, but they ain’t cowboys,” she finished with a shake of her head as she closed her set with the ultra-catchy “All Hat No Cowboy,” a song that’s been a defining show stopper for her since it’s 2021 release, doing it again on this night as the crowd ate up each lyric she sung until the final notes were struck and they hit her with an enthusiastic ovation.

FULL SET LIST
1) Man Outta Me
2) Girl Crazy
3) The Drive Home
4) BYOB
5) Accidents Happen
6) All Hat No Cowboy

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