On her latest album, Big (out now via BMG), Betty Who (née Jessica Anne Newham) leans hard in to ’80s music influences, which is surprising considering that she didn’t arrive on this planet until 1991. “When I listened to music from the ’80s that’s like a little bit coked out, really high energy, stadium music…that’s the music that I feel like is in my soul,” Who tells City Paper. The Australian pop singer-songwriter will bring her ’80s dance party to the Anthem when she headlines the venue on March 10. Talking from her Los Angeles home, which she shares with her husband, and on a break from intensive dance rehearsal for the tour (“I have been aching from head to toe for about six days now”), Who gushes about one of her major musical influences: Kenny Loggins. “The cinematic soundtrack to the 1980s, I would say, Kenny Loggins is that man, and so that was sort of the palette that I wanted to paint with,” she says. Who has seen Loggins perform live but has yet to meet the singer-songwriter. “I would really like to write a song with Kenny Loggins,” she says. Who already has a plan of action for their inevitable meeting. “I think the first time I meet him I have to come in cool, respectful, and like hats tipping, but not a crazed superfan,” says Who. “Be like, ‘My entire record is really based off of your music, and you are such a huge inspiration for me…it would mean the world to me to spend a day writing songs with you.’ I feel like he would say ‘yes.’” Betty Who plays at 8 p.m. on March 10 at the Anthem. theanthemdc.com. $40–$215.
Betty Who, March 10
