When Regina Spektor walks onto the Majestic Theatre stage Wednesday, it will mark the end of a lengthy drought.
Her appearance in downtown Dallas will mark her first performance in North Texas in 16 years, a span of time which has seen her release three albums, and burnish her reputation as a peerless singer-songwriter. Spektor is touring behind her eighth and most recent studio effort, 2022’s Home, Before and After.
We’ve pulled together a playlist below to either familiarize you with her off-kilter brilliance, or stoke your anticipation for showtime.
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“Love Affair”
Few caught Spektor right out of the gate, but for those who haven’t spent time with her debut album, 11:11, there is much to enjoy. This track sounds someone trying to fit herself into the Tori Amos or Fiona Apple mold, even as she strains to break free from those restraints.
“Us”
Much of the world was introduced to Spektor’s infectious art via this arpeggiated gem, the breakout track from her 2003 major label debut, Soviet Kitsch. Everything which marks Spektor as a force of nature is here: Gymnastic vocals, irresistible melodies and a propulsive, fanciful atmosphere which immediately grabs hold.
“Samson”
The lead-off track from her sophomore album, 2002’s Songs, and reworked for her fourth album, 2006’s Begin to Hope, this achingly beautiful love song (legend holds Spektor wrote the song about a former love who died from cancer) underlines Spektor’s ability to find the universal in the specific: “Samson went back to bed/Not much hair left on his head/He ate a slice of Wonder bread/And went right back to bed.”
“Human of the Year”
Too few pop acts take the big, weird, bold swing — something of which Spektor would never be accused. From 2009’s Far, and conjuring a bizarre awards ceremony honoring Karl Projektorinski, Spektor (who, in a 2009 interview, likened the song to a Twilight Zone episode) stitches together novelistic detail, near-religious ecstasy and showcases her multi-octave voice to create an utterly bewitching, odd and unshakable sonic experience.
“How”
Taken from her 2012 LP What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, “How” is an exquisite tearjerker of a tune, and one which blends Spektor’s penchant for tricky time signatures and multiple genre flavors mashed up into a single song — swinging from pop to classical to jazz and back again.
Regina Spektor at Majestic Theatre, Dallas. 8 p.m. Aug. 6. Tickets are $58-$408.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social). Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
Source: https://kxt.org/2025/08/listen-up-to-regina-spektor-ahead-of-her-first-north-texas-show-in-16-years/