There have been many entertaining and fun shows at the Delphi Opera House, ranging from singers and bands to plays and cultural shows. But on Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017, there was a show not quite like any other. Heather Maloney, an up-and-coming indie singer, performed at the Delphi Opera House, and her show was insanely good, filled with much laughter and applause. Heather filled the room with her voice―her music and her random stories.

To start off the night, Heather told a story of her latest tour stop in Alaska. She’d gotten locked in a bathroom stall five minutes prior to her show and could not get out no matter how hard she tried. Long story short, “I got much closer to a public bathroom floor than I wanted to.” Then, she began to sing a cover of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball.” It’s generally accepted that everything about “Wrecking Ball” is strange and slightly uncomfortable, as Cyrus was completely okay with getting close with both a wrecking ball and a hammer, but when Heather launched into the first verse, it was clear that her version was much different. The lyrics truly are heartbreaking, and Heather’s voice brings that fact to light. The acoustic version also creates a softer sound that highlights the fact that the singer is suffering.

After “Wrecking Ball,” Heather transitioned to her own songs. The first one she sang was called “Dirt and Stardust,” which kind of gave me an existential crisis. “I am made of all the same stuff that makes the seasons what they are,” she sings, and continues to talk about how nothing will last so don’t bother getting attached to material things―“so please don’t put silk flowers on my grave.”

Once again, Heather did a cover of a song titled “Woodstock,” originally sung by Joni Mitchell, which she performed very well. Then, Heather told us another story of a different tour. She was driving from Denver, CO to San Francisco, CA and had to go through the great state of Utah when all of a sudden she came upon the Great Salt Flats, which she said were “great… and salt… and flat.” She’d gotten out of her car to look at the view and explained how nothing could survive in the flats because of the salt―no plants, no bugs, no animals, nothing. So when a butterfly fluttered into sight from seemingly nowhere, Heather swore to us that she was not on hallucinogenic drugs. She said that it fluttered in front of her face for a moment before fluttering off into the salt flats, and she thought, “Holy [crap] that thing is lost.” This segued into her song, “Flutter,” which was fast-paced and fun.

Before the next song, for seemingly no reason, Heather told us about her being friends with a chipmunk from Japan on Instagram. Apparently, he lost a tooth, started looking really sickly, and Heather thought he was going to die. Somehow that tied into her song “1855” about a couple who only had one photo ever taken of them, which is meant to highlight how we’re all so connected through social media and the internet. And for those of you who want to know, the chipmunk lives.

Intermission came and went, and when the audience came back, a large projector screen was lit up with the words “PROJECTOUR” on it. Heather’s tour is focused on bringing back the nostalgic feel of getting a CD (or a radio cassette or *gasp* a vinyl!), opening the packaging, and looking at the lyrics and pictures as you listened to the song. Let me tell you, it was really cool. I, personally, like to know the lyrics as I listen to the song because it helps me understand the lyrics better. The songs she played, which will go on a new album she is making, were “Enigma” which was super catchy and super empowering (i.e. “I am not a lady you can tame/I am not a girl that you can shame/I am not a woman you can name.” If you can’t tell, this was a personal favorite).

Other songs included “Oklahoma Lullaby,” “Bullseye,” “Gave You a Light,” “When I Can’t See You,” and “Don’t be a Pansy.” However, what I have to say was my favorite song of the night was “100 Pennies.” Heather talked about how she and her mom lived in a small apartment in New Jersey when she was young, and how her mom had to count out one hundred pennies per ziplock bag for a total of five days so that Heather could buy her lunch at school. Heather’s story really struck a chord with me, especially when she said that she had to eat lunch with the school counselor because the school had taken notice of her “situation.”

“One hundred pennies in a ziplock bag,” she sang. “One hundred pennies and I won’t feel bad. Take this change, it’s the same, I’m not strange.”

I feel like Heather Maloney is on her way to becoming a star. Her music is incredible, her voice is phenomenal, her lyrics are meaningful, and her songs reach out and grab you and don’t let go. That’s the kind of music that we need on our radios. Be on the lookout for the insanely quirky, insanely talented Heather Maloney.