From her vocal powers to her astounding stage presence, up-and-coming singer, Rox captured the audience like a true artiste and managed to make everyone forget the 2-hour wait at TAB Singapore on Nov 5.

The soul/pop sensation, whose real name is Roxanne Tataei, captivated fans like a pro who’s performed for decades, justifying to everyone present her nomination in the “Best UK and Ireland New Act” category of this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards.

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At 21, the half Iranian and half Jamaican singer was in town to promote her debut album, Memoirs, making this her first performance in South East Asia. Stopping by Singapore, however, had been an unexpected decision according to Rox but the crowd sure was glad she did.

Jeanie Wang, 33, who came 2 hours early, told Urbanwire: “It is great and amazing to be able to see Rox up close and personal. She is quite different from the rest of the usual stars and I am so excited to be able to be here.”

The venue, fast gaining a reputation for flying in very promising acts, was packed from the second to third floors and many left their seats to be closer to Rox, where they grooved and danced with her.

Rox started out with an upbeat rendition of “No Going Back”, followed by “Breakfast in Bed”, after which she switched to a very soulful mood of “Page Unfolds”.

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Her performance of  “Do As I Say”, earned her 2 bouquets of flowers from the audience, one of which was presented by an elderly grandfather, to whom she dedicated her next song “Sad Eyes”. It started the train of more emotional and slower versions of her songs, “Forever Always Wishing”, “Heart Ran Dry” and “Precious Moments”.

Even as a relatively young artiste, Rox commanded a powerful stage presence, and teased the audience with sexy dance moves and conversation. Everyone was soon on their feet dancing when she sang her first single “My Baby Left Me”.

Rox ended the set with her hit “I Don’t Believe” but of course, the audience cheered for an encore. Though her hour-long performance had no breaks and she was visibly tired, she came back with her latest single, “Rocksteady”.

Rox’s ‘live’ performance of her first single, “No Going Back”:

However, it wasn’t always a smooth performance. At times, her voice seemed too big for the venue and one had to stand directly in front of the stage to be able to hear her clearly.

Having heard Rox for the first time, Mae Chong, 26, commented, “Rox has the vocal ability but I felt that the venue was also not acoustically appropriate for the performance.”

While the event wasn’t perfect in terms of sound, Rox’s delivery and entertaining performance certainly made up for it and rocked the house down.

All photos and videos are brought to you by Jeremy Lo from Klix Photography.