A few songs into the Kalin and Myles hip-hop show at Pima County Fair Sunday afternoon, Myles Parrish started acting a little too sentimental and introspective for a 23-year-old budding artist.
He started talking about last times and "Man I'm gonna miss you guys," in sobering tones.
And then he said something about Sunday afternoon on the Pima County Fairgrounds Budweiser Arena stage being the last time he would share a stage with Kalin White, his 21-year-old duo partner of five years.
A few in the female-strong crowd of about 600 sobbed; some yelled "We love you" loud enough to catch Parrish's attention: "We love you, too," he shouted back.
They all seemed to know that moment was coming. The pair announced plans to end their partnership in a March 30 posting on their website, when they told their fans — fondly referred to as KAMFAM — that they had parted ways with their record label. With no commitments, they decided that they would see what it was like to pursue projects as solo acts; April 24 in Tucson was their swan song, they said.
As far as farewell shows go, Kalin and Myles did a great job of keeping the sentimental levels in check. No gratuitous expressions of regret or long-winded emotional confessions. In fact, the show was upbeat and raucous throughout, as the pair, who met in 2011 and immediately struck up a musical partnership, performed the bulk of their catchy hip-hop catalogue: "Trampoline," "Bassline," "Shake It," "Chase Dreams," "Keep Up," "Love Robbery,"
"Dedication," "Go to Work," "More Than Friends" and "I Don't Really Care" among them.
It's unfortunate that Kalin and Myles are't giving their partnership more time to gel. In five years, they released a trio of self-produced EPs that attracted a devoted following. Republic Records, an imprint of Universal Music Group, picked them up and released their eponymous debut album, which came out last November. In all, they recorded a little more than two dozen songs, all of them leaning more pop than urban hip-hop. And judging by the incredible diversity of Sunday's crowd, they appealed to a wide cross section of teen girls who were just as likely to be in the audience of a Taylor Swift show as a Beyoncé concert.
It's easy to speculate what could be behind the split; maybe Republic Records dropped them because they didn't know how to market the pair among a stable of similar artists including Natalie La Rose, Liam Lis and Ariana Grande. Or maybe five years is a lifetime for two young guys getting their first taste of a music career and Sunday's finale in Tucson was a logical conclusion. After all, Kalin and Myles were no strangers to Tucson; they had played two other shows here — once as an opening act for sister duo Megan and Liz in 2013 and as headliners in early 2015, both at The Rock near the University of Arizona. And from the teary farewells from their fans, they picked the right venue to conclude their journey.
