Ice Spice brought the Bronx to Los Angeles for her first headlining show at the Hollywood Palladium last night, running through the considerable spate of hits she’s amassed since she reached full viral throttle with her breakthrough hit “Munch (Feelin’ U)” in late 2022.

The Y2K! World Tour, which kicked off in Denmark on July 4, has slowly been making its way across the globe, with two nights already checked off at New York City’s Terminal 5 plus shows in Chicago and Philadelphia. Her night at the Palladium followed similar suit to the performance clips circulating on social media, from the graffiti-sprayed subway car set piece to the massive inflatable caricature of her on the side of the stage.

But to truly experience Ice Spice's magic is to witness it unfolding in real time. Over the past few years, Spice has faced every imaginable criticism: Songs that are too short, a monotonous flow, an overabundance of scat references. What she brought to her live show at the Palladium was a palpable, tangible star power that, while still developing, is undeniable and powerful.

Spice’s regression to the safest corners of drill music on her recently released debut album “Y2K!” felt like a defense mechanism to all the critiques. Since she started gaining traction on social media, she proved her propensity for adapting drill to shiny radio-ready singles with Taylor Swift and PinkPantheress. The promise of pop stardom hung in the balance of “Y2K!” Would she go pop, or not?

She didn't entirely abandon that approach, but it didn't matter during her Palladium set. “Rap bitch on a pop chart,” she declared on “Phat Butt” early in her performance. That was the theme for the evening, where Spice was in complete control of her craft and her audience, an aspiring pop star with the raw talent to achieve it. During the 50-minute performance, she exuded pop sensibility, from the choreography of “Barbie World” to the frenetic energy of “Deli.” The banter was almost entirely kept to a minimum — a smile appeared here and there — but the focus was on maximizing the impact of her performance with deliberate intention.

The hits were plentiful, ranging from “In Ha Mood” and “Princess Diana” to “Gimme a Light” and, of course, “Think U the Shit (Fart).” There was a definite sense of rapid-fire delivery, as most songs lasted a minute or two, but she maintained momentum, bringing out a number of guests to fill the gaps. Gunna came on stage to duet on “Bitch I’m Packin'” and gave a quick taste of his hit “Fukumean,” while Bktherula held the stage for a few solo songs. Cash Cobain, who’s opening on the tour, emerged near the end to duet on the remix to “Fisherrr,” a missed opportunity for Song of Summer.

But Spice remained in the spotlight, fulfilling the promise of those magnetic early viral moments. It's challenging for an artist to define their identity in perfect alignment with their sudden rise to fame, but Spice appears to have navigated it with an awareness, as if it's all part of a larger plan. At the Palladium, Spice was a pop star in action, able to meet the immediate demands of the performance but with a clear ambition to elevate it to an even grander scale.