In the golden lull between a dramatic afternoon downpour, a stunning set from the enigmatic Olivia Dean and Sabrina Carpenter’s headline pop spectacle, Clairo turned London’s Great Oak Stage into a sanctuary of softness and reflection. Her early evening performance at BST Hyde Park on Sunday 6th July offered a tender contrast to the festival’s typically high-energy crescendo, inviting the crowd into a quieter, more introspective space.
Clairo @ BST Hyde Park 2025
The torrential rain that cut short Amber Mark’s earlier set had finally passed, leaving behind a cooled park and a reinvigorated audience ready for the evening’s next act. Enter Claire Cottrill, known globally by her moniker Clairo—a modern icon of emotionally raw, lo-fi songwriting turned full-bodied indie-pop auteur. Taking the stage with quiet confidence, she opened with Second Nature, the gauzy opener from her 2024 album Charm, setting the tone for a set that leaned into warmth, melancholy, and understated beauty.
At just 26, Clairo’s journey from teenage YouTube sensation to critically acclaimed artist is well-established, but never less than remarkable. She first broke through with the viral 2017 single Pretty Girl, its webcam-shot DIY video helping usher in the bedroom pop wave alongside contemporaries like Cuco, girl in red, and Rex Orange County. But where many artists plateaued in that lo-fi niche, Clairo evolved. Her 2019 debut album Immunity, produced with Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), blended fuzzy guitars with delicate ballads, earning widespread acclaim for its honest depictions of queer longing and social anxiety. 2021’s Sling, produced with Jack Antonoff, marked a more radical departure: a lush, vintage-inspired collection steeped in 1970s soft rock, recorded in upstate New York. Its themes of domesticity, burnout, and the longing for stillness signalled Clairo’s artistic maturity.
Fast forward to Charm in 2024, and she’s added glimmers of soul, jazz, and psych-pop into the mix—further distancing herself from her bedroom-pop roots and leaning confidently into a sound all her own. Her Hyde Park set distilled that evolution perfectly. The 12-song set spanned Clairo’s three albums and collaborative side-projects, gently guiding the audience through different moods and stages of her journey. Thank You and Add Up My Love, both from Charm, shimmered with muted funk and Motown echoes, showcasing her growing interest in groove and analog textures.
Clairo @ BST Hyde Park 2025
Nostalgia played a welcome role too: early favourites Flaming Hot Cheetos and the gorgeous Bags were met with soft singalongs and misty-eyed enthusiasm, while Amoeba—from Sling—brought a subtle but powerful sense of catharsis. Clairo has always excelled at writing about the blurred edges of desire and emotional disconnection, and nowhere was this clearer than on Sexy To Someone, her quietly devastating exploration of self-image. An unexpected delight came with Steeeam, a woozy, playful cut from her collaborative band Shelly (with Claud, Noa Frances Getzug, and her frequent collaborator Jake Passmore). Its inclusion nodded to Clairo’s ever-curious spirit and her roots in community-driven music-making.
Her stage presence remains as unflashy as her music—gentle, poised, and emotionally attuned. Dressed in low-cut black dress and sporting over-the-ears headphones as vocal monitors, she let the music speak louder than any theatrics—aside from a pre-set ‘wine circle’ held with her band at the side of the stage. When she spoke between songs, it was with quiet gratitude. “It’s really beautiful here,” she offered, gesturing to the soft evening light filtering through the trees and the thousands gathered calmly before her. “Thanks for sticking around.”
Closing with the fan favourite Sofia, a queer anthem that has only grown in cultural weight since its release, Clairo transformed the moment into a celebration of connection and identity. It was the night’s first real moment of exuberance, but still carried in her characteristically understated way—joyful, but never overplayed.
While Sabrina Carpenter would dazzle with a high-octane headline set later that evening, Clairo’s performance felt like a sacred interlude—spiritually closer to a sunset-lit living room than a sprawling central London stage. Amid a festival known for maximalism and mainstream punch, her presence was an elegant counterbalance: minimalist, soulful, and unshakeably sincere. As Clairo continues to evolve—from viral prodigy to a respected architect of modern indie-pop—this set stood as a reminder of why she matters. Not because she shouts the loudest, but because she listens the closest.
Live review & photography of Clairo @ BST Hyde Park 2025, London by Kalpesh Patel on 6th July 2025.
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