Doechii kicked off the star-studded iHeartRadio Z100 Jingle Ball presented by Capital One on Friday night (December 8). The Florida-born artist fired up the crowd with her high-energy, electrifying set on the Madison Square Garden stage to get the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball party started.

Doechii, 25, launched the show with 2020’s “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake,” and continued with “Persuasive” — released earlier this year with SZA — and other songs, before capping off her set with her smash-hit single, “What It Is,” which she previously described as “a fusion of nostalgia and pop vibes. ...I feel like I’m showing off a side of my vocal range with this one that my fans haven’t really seen yet,” she said in a statement earlier this year, when she was deemed iHeartRadio’s On The Verge Artist. “I love using the old samples of [TLC’s] ‘No Scrubs’ and [Trillville’s] ‘Some Cut’ to mix in some playful energy as well.”

“To be honest, I just feel like, ever since I really got into the industry and I stepped into my power, a lot of people have tried to make me feel like I was a b***h,” Doechii previously told iHeartRadio. “Like I'm not meant to be here like I'm not qualified because of where I'm from and nobody knows where I'm from and s**t like that. I just wanted to make an EP that felt powerful for Black women, that's really it.”

The highly-anticipated annual iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, following unforgettable shows in Tampa, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Detroit, Michigan. The New York lineup also included Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, OneRepublic, Sabrina Carpenter, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Pentatonix, David Kushner, Melanie Martinez, and a special performance from Cher.

If you missed any of the holiday fun, fans across the country will be able to watch an exclusive television broadcast on ABC on Thursday, December 21st 8pm ET/PT. The special will also be available on demand and on Hulu the following day.

Kevin Campbell