By Ella Mastroianni, Staff Writer
Who: Mothé, Indigo De Souza
Venue: The Royale
When: October 26, 2025
Boston’s New Favorite Bug
The stage at the Royale was dressed up on Sunday night in anticipation of Indigo De Souza’s arrival. The art from her latest album, Precipice, was displayed on a banner behind the instruments, and the room, coated in purple light, hummed with conversation, ready for the moment the room went black, and the stage was no longer unoccupied.
The cure for the quiet was MOTHÉ, an alternative pop artist who kick-started the night by delivering the crowd a jolt of pure energy. They fittingly began their set with the first track off their August-released album, Total Popstar. “Dreams (Intro)” is a track that utilizes vocal effects on the recorded version, and so the crowd met MOTHÉ in a sea of reverb and purposeful autotune. The second track she went into, Total Popstar, gave the audience more than enough reason to dance. “Partying is an act of rebellion,” MOTHÉ said, and the crowd definitely brought the party.
The room’s energy shifted with each song, but the common denominator of all of them was the energy levels, complemented by the strobing lights. Indigo even came out upstairs during one of the songs to jump around, because it was impossible not to. The most addictive of them, in my opinion, is “Obscene,” which was supported by a killer bass line (courtesy of Timothy Brown). MOTHÉ admitted that the Royale is one of their favorite venues in the country, and that night, MOTHÉ became the Royale’s favorite bug.
Crushing on Indigo De Souza
“What is the most life-altering decision you’ve ever made?” was the question posted on a message board at the top of the Royale stairs. Before even getting to the stage, the audience was greeted with sticky notes and markers to answer this question. This set the precedent for the night. From that moment forward, it would be a night that encouraged openness, reflection, and lots of color (if we can learn anything from the variety of sticky notes).
Indigo’s set had a celestial start with the airy and fleeting “Be My Love.” It was the first of 18 songs (including encore) that dipped into all four of her albums, and carried the crowd through feelings including delight, pleasure, pain, and grief, just to name a few. Indigo was accompanied by a stellar band, made up of drummer Lila Richardson, bassist Landon George, and guitarist Mike Johnson.
The energy picked up for “Wasting Your Time,” but the crowd really responded to “Crush,” bopping along with Indigo and singing hearty “oohs.” From there, it was a smooth transition into “Crying Over Nothing,” she flowed into a really beautiful performance of “Be Like the Water.” Before the song she described how recently she and the band had gone to a haunted house, and through that experience she discovered that closing her eyes reminded her that she couldn’t be touched, and that she was in control. That’s how she framed the message of “Be Like the Water.” “It’s really just about having autonomy and having control over your life and your body and standing up for yourself, saying what you need to say.”
Trick Questions and Laughs
During a break in the songs, Indigo asked the audience if they enjoyed live shows. “It wasn’t like a trick question,” she continued. “I realize it kind of sounded like a trick question.” She then confessed she doesn’t really enjoy going to live shows because of all the sensory issues that come with it. Personally, I had noise cancelling headphones in my ears, and another pair of headphones around my neck, so her admitting to it not quite being her thing resonated strongly. From there, she made the audience laugh for a few minutes, a mini standup set of sorts. Topics she covered included: a flight she was on where a movie screen caught on fire, the space induced stillness of audience members during “Pass It By,” and how she’s not the kind of artist to tell a crowd what to do. However, when she said “let me hear you say whoo,” as a joke, the crowd did. “Oh, shit!” she exclaimed. “Okay that was kind of great.” To continue the fun, those in the room who could whistle whistled in unison.
The band plunged back into the music with “Ghost.” Every voice in the venue joined in tandem with the crash of the drums for the “Ah-ha ah-ha ha” that commences the chorus.
Indigo Really Put Her Back Into It
“Heartthrob” was a Boston crowd favorite, no doubt. Indigo picked up an electric guitar for this number, and there wasn’t a lyric that she had to sing alone, especially in the chorus with the repeated “I really put my back into it.” After those few minutes of jumping and dancing, she steered into the more mellow “Dinner,” which bled seamlessly into “Darker Than Death.”
Eventually, it was time for MOTHÉ to get back onstage and join Indigo for their freshly released duet, “Serious.” The duo diffused such a fun energy, and their voices sounded just as good together live as on the recording. Bubbles spit out next to the stage, reiterating the main message of the song: “Don’t be so serious.”
“It is my spirit and soul,” Indigo said of her music. This declaration translated throughout the whole show, as Indigo’s voice and body responded to the music so wholly. During “Real Pain,” for example, she was marching, waving her arms forward, up, around, and her voice followed suit in a visceral delivery. It was such a satisfying explosion of the 2021 track, and one that should be recorded and released. It was that incredible.
“Kill Me” was the night’s closer, influenced by a fan a few days prior who encouraged Indigo to give it another chance onstage after a sizable break from the track. “Tell them that I wasn’t having much fun” became the last lyric of the concert, and though the room yelled enthusiastically along to those words, something tells me that they felt quite the opposite.
