To commemorate her anxiously anticipated debut EP, How Real Was It?, Asha Banks made a serendipitous stop at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, offering New York City its first true introduction to this new chapter of her artistry. The room filled quickly, bodies pressed in close like thread being sewn together, but from the first note onward, the crowd moved as one: reverent, hushed, completely tethered to every word Banks sent floating into the room. For one weekday evening, time slowed. We were all caught in the orbit of her ethereal, soaring vocals, holding onto each lyric as if our hearts might loosen their grip if we let go for even a second.

Banks has been pouring lyrics onto paper since she was a young girl, but her rise into the public eye took shape through her work as an actress, earning a No. 1 Prime Video hit with “My Fault: London” and stepping into a starring role in Netflix’s “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.” Still, even as she moved between screens and scripts, music remained her anchor. Singles like “So Green” and “Feel The Rush” quietly racked up millions of streams, laying the foundation for her fan-favorite Untie My Tongue EP in 2025. Now signed to Island Records, Banks is leaning fully into songwriting and singing, and How Real Was It? feels less like a standalone release and more like opening pages of a longer story — one that promises to unfold throughout 2026, shaped by her instinctive gift for storytelling that pulls you in and asks you to stay awhile.

At Baby’s All Right, Banks took the stage early in the evening, unaccompanied by an opener, standing alone with the responsibility of both setting the tone and leaving a lasting mark. She accomplished both effortlessly. The crowd knit itself tightly together, yet the room never felt suffocating; instead, it breathed. That is the space her music creates. Her arrangements don’t soften pain or romanticize heartbreak; they sit with it, acknowledging the quiet ache of growing up, of shedding old versions of yourself and discovering which fragments you’re meant to carry forward. There is tenderness in that honesty, and it lingered between every song.

At just 22 years old, it made sense that much of the audience skewed young, but there was something deeper at play. The connection itself felt visceral, shared, unspoken. Parents stood beside their children. Adolescent friends clung to one another. It felt as though everyone in the room recognized pieces of their own coming-of-age reflected back at them through Bank’s voice. More than anything, people felt seen, not merely heard. Her music has a way of articulating emotions you don’t realize you were carrying until someone else names them aloud.

Phones hovered in the air, recording not just clips but entire songs, front to back, as if preserving this moment was essential. Each time one screen lowered, another song began, and the record button rose again, followed by hushed murmurs of “I love this song.” It wasn’t distraction; it was devotion, a collective instinct to hold onto something fleeting.

By the end of the night, Asha Banks had left an imprint on New York City that far outweighed the size of her current discography. Her comfort on stage, her command of the room, and her ability to reach notes that carry emotional weight far beyond their pitch all pointed to an artist meant for live performance. But at Baby’s All Right, it felt like more than a show. It felt sacred, a shared witnessing of something just beginning to unfold. Banks won’t remain in intimate rooms like this for long, and everyone present on Tuesday could feel it. We weren’t just watching a performance; we were standing at the threshold of a journey, catching a glimpse of an artist on the brink of becoming.

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