Seraphina Lotkhamnga on June 4th, 2012

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Although the venue is technically a theater, the El Rey rarely feels like one when rock shows dominate its calendar. But when U.K.’s Emeli Sandé came back into town for a headlining show on Friday night, the El Rey was transformed into a sit-down room, and beneath its elegant chandeliers the setting was perfect for an intimate night with the Scottish soul singer.

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

Making a stylish entrance, Sandé sang the first few notes of a stripped down “Daddy,” even before the audience could see her perfectly coiffed blonde hair. But as those vocals grew stronger, the singer gracefully appeared on stage to roaring applause.

Before going into her second song, “Tiger,” Sandé immediately made sure to connect with her attentive audience with some of her storytelling chops, and most importantly, thank the room in advance for such a warm reception: “Thank you for taking a chance on new music from a new artist.”

With her album “Our Version of Events” released in the U.S. this week, every single song in her set was offered with some personal anecdote. In fact, it made it hard to believe Sandé was in medical school just four years ago. But as she belted out the the heartrending notes in “My Kind of Love,” a song inspired by the patients she met and “the kind of love you could only see in a crisis,” it was obvious Sandé is far from a cookie-cutter pop star.

Sentimental stories warmed hearts throughout the night as Sandé continued to present uplifting messages in stripped-down versions of songs like “Clown,” “Heaven,” and “Wonder” (a song written only two months ago and only available on the U.S. release). People even began to react to her inspiration with palms in the air and eyes closed almost as if the show were a religious experience, and many had already begun to rise out of their chairs to prepare for a standing ovation as she sang her final pop gem, “Next to Me.”

Soul singers are expected to have depth to their music and R&B singers are expected to have a swagger, and Sandé displayed a formidable amount of both, delivered with raw honesty and conviction.

Reggae-soul singer Selah Sue opened the show.