red lights


concert reviews	basement tapes	cd reviews	interviews	features

A burst of holiday fireworks from Katy Perry,
plus Camila, Marshmello, Normani and more

B96 Pepsi Jingle Bash
Allstate Arena
Rosemont, IL
December 8, 2019

Camila Cabello

Katy Perry

Story by Kathryn Randall
Photos by Andy Argyrakis

Every seasonal celebration for Chicago's leading radio station is stacked with pop stars of every stripe, but the B96 Pepsi Jingle Bash typically is when the true A-listers come out to play. In the past few years alone, they've been topped by Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande and Backstreet Boys, while 2019 was centered around Katy Perry and her "Cozy Little Christmas."

Whether the headliner was introducing that seasonal selection in holiday-themed attire or the other current cut "Never Really Over," the superstar burst out the fireworks from start to finish. Along the way, Perry, her toy soldier-clad band and gift-wrapped dancers dug back to the anthems "Teenage Dream," "I Kissed A Girl," "Dark Horse" and "Roar," which were responsible for a sizeable chunk of her more than 100 million single sales and a staggering 30 billion streams!

Event regular Camila Cabello was hot on her heels, debuting tunes from the freshly released "Romance" and several smashes that finally propelled her to solo arena status in 2020. Fellow Fifth Harmony member Normani made a dancey splash with her own "Motivation," alongside pre-taped features from Khalid ("Love Lies") and Sam Smith ("Dancing With A Stranger").

No stranger to collaborations, Marshmello lit up the DJ booth with his Bastille tag team "Happier" and the Kane Brown pairing "One Right Thing," plus a mega EDM mash-up enhanced by lasers and smoke stack explosions. Other fellas included rapper Lil Tecca and Illinois' own soulful AJ Mitchell.

Both were placed around the tightly choreographed boy bands Monsta X and NCT 127, two K-pop crossovers making a significant impression in America. It all made for a thorough summary of the year's chart action, plus a perfect primer for the B96 Pepsi Summer Bash, which winds its way back to Allstate Arena on June 20, 2020 with specifics coming to the air and B96.com.