Matilda Mann and Meet Cutes in Paris.

Matilda Mann, a British indie folk musician, announced her first headline tour in April 2025. After having released four EPs and gaining some recognition, she began opening for other notable musicians such as Beabadoobee and Arlo Parks. In October of 2024, she provided the opening act for Wallows, which is where I first discovered her music, and immediately fell in love with her soft vocals and beautiful lyricism as well as melodies. UK Music Reviews quotes that “Matilda Mann has captured the hearts of listeners with her glistening, delicate and dream-like storytelling”, and deservedly so.

Matilda’s sound is an angelic fusion of Billie Marten and Clairo. She embellishes our realities with poetic lyricism, speaking authentically from the heart about the heart’s affairs. On 28th February, she released her much anticipated debut album, Roxwell, where she perfectly demonstrates her artistry, alongside lyrical and melodic craftsmanship. Matilda tells us of her excitement to release her album: “This is my debut album. Every song feels like a part of me, and I’m so, so excited that it’s finally coming out.”

Roxwell is indeed a very heartfelt scrapbook of coming-of-age pains, heartbreak and first loves.

My personal favourites have to be Just Because and Tell Me I’m Wrong – two songs that exist in a parallel, playing a call and response with each other. When one sings out to its soulmate, the other calls the first naive. When one professes uncompromised love, the other does not hesitate to say goodbye.

On Friday, 2nd May, I had the opportunity to see Matilda Mann live in Paris at the Les Etoiles music hall. The opening act performed by Jo Hill, a British singer and songwriter from Cheddar was a perfect warm-up for the audience. Jo and Kinga’s vocals harmonise beautifully, their country sound using acoustic guitars, the banjo, a tambourine and warm but lively songs got the crowd dancing and singing within the first couple of minutes. Their stage presence and vocals called for everyone’s attention, and it was hard to take your eyes off once they had it.

Matilda Mann herself gave a phenomenal show. The crowd energy was exceptional, and it was the loudest I had ever heard a crowd sing. Her vocals are equally as soft and alluring live as they are on record. Matilda has an incredible way of interacting with her audience, gladly accepting gifts, flowers, signs and posters. She didn’t even hesitate to draw a cherry when an audience member asked for one to get it tattooed (although she did hilariously recommend not to put that on their body).

Her setlist was amazing back to front, including her most poignant lyrics and her liveliest tunes to balance out the energy throughout the evening – she had the crowd rocking, dancing, jumping and swaying all evening long.

The most outstanding part of her show has to be her Meet Cute. As Matilda explained before ending her show, instead of doing an “adult peek-a-boo”, she came up with an idea to play Cupid on stage. Inspired by the movie 500 Days of Summer, where the two main characters enjoy a meet cute in an elevator, Matilda wrote the song then came up with her own act and it goes like this: at the merch stand, one can find a box and next to the box, a pile of sheets that ask for a name, gender, preferred romantic gender and a fun fact about yourself! When the time to perform Meet Cute comes, Matilda dashes off stage, puts on a pair of angel wings and chooses two people from the box and matches them up in a couple! Both people then also win a ‘Meet Cute’ hat from her merch, and can choose to go for a drink together “for the plot” or enjoy a date.

It is possibly one of the most creative ways to incorporate your concepts from your album into a live act, and probably much more fun than scrolling on dating apps. Imagine telling this as a story of how you met your partner.

All in all, Matilda is an amazing singer, performer and songwriter. She has great stage presence, she’s an absolute sweetheart and her music very much reflects her tender heart.

Roxwell is an album I would urge anyone to listen to, whether a fan of indie folk/pop or not! Exploring new music is never a bad idea and if you have the chance to catch tickets for a Matilda Mann show either now or in the future, seize that opportunity, because it will be most worth it.