Anita Baker’s Dec. 17 Houston performance at the Toyota Center gained inimical social media attention due to her behavior with fans and staff members.
The Houston performance was the twelfth leg of her 2023 The Songstress tour that started in Hollywood, FL, at the Hard Rock on Feb. 11 and ended on Dec. 23 at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, CA. A clip from the show posted by a TikToker displayed Baker singing her 1983 hit, “Feel the Need,” from her album The Songstress. Without breaking from the song, Anita motioned for a fan to “get back” and turn off their camera and used her iconic vocals to tell the person, “Turn off the camera, baby. I don’t know who you are. Move back!”
She continued, shooing the person off, “Get on back. I don’t know who that is.”
The 65-year-old singer proceeded with her performance, scatting.
Another TikTok clip displayed Auntie Anita“cutting up” at the same show, booting concertgoers from her front row.