The London rapper and DJ doesn’t miss a beat in her first album ALIAS.
Words: Bella Richards
Over a staccato, bouncing, electronic beat that carries the hallmark of her now-classic sound, Shygirl croons lazily into the microphone: “I guess, I mean, I know / It's kinda bad / Naughty, for you / Waiting, watching, fantasizing / So you like what you see?”
Her voice is high-pitched and breathy, bringing a layer of innocence to a track that then delves deep into a languid beat and beckoning lyrics.
And so begins ‘Twelve’, the first track in an album that has been crafted to seduce, to deceive and to shock. As with her earlier EPs, Shygirl is unapologetic in her sexuality. She brings it to the forefront of her lyrics, but not so much to brag about her prowess (although that’s also prominent), but to explore other aspects of sex: emotion, sensation, perception. She wants to watch you watching her, talking to an anonymous listener who constantly craves more. And she does this all while switching personalities – so much so that the album is named (and conceptualised in her videos, with the creation of ‘Shy bbz’) after the idea of split egos.
This interplay of personality is evident in ‘Slime’, the second track and newest single from ALIAS, and a produced collaboration between Sega Bodega, Sophie, and Kai Whiston. The beat’s acidic, heavy twang conjures an image of a 2000s club, green lasers and smoke filling the room. Shygirl plays Jekyll and Hyde in her lyrics, settling into smooth lyrics (“Back of the club with the Hennessy / Two shots and I'm running lean / Come pour me up”) until a dark, sharp, pulsing chorus: “She’s for the streets, bitch”. Switching between narratives of the voyeur and voy-ee, Shygirl takes these conceptions and twists them until they’re unrecognisable before revealing that they are one and the same. The track lives up to its name: it oozes with cool audacity.
The next track in line plays along a similar vein but turns up the heat to another level. ‘Freak’ is fiery, bold, and unforgiving. The behemoth of a track pulsates with headiness, creeping heavier and faster and stretching beats like they're plasticine. Sega Bodega outdoes himself with his production, drawing in a gritty texture and gliding pulsations.
Shy’s voice is an instrument of its own: much like her track ‘CC’ (in which she uses her own coughing as percussion), she plays her moans and builds them alongside her vocals with a thumping speed.
It’s almost reminiscent of her own building fame over the last few years. Since her first single ‘Want More’ and the later EP Cruel Practice, in which she began working with Sega in a collaborative partnership, her music has become a staple of the London industrial club scene.
She’s collaborated with heavy-hitters like Zebra Katz, Lyzza, SOPHIE (who also helped produce ‘Slime’), Arca, and of course, her label-mates in NUXXE: Coucou Chloe and Sega Bodega. It’s collabs like these – along with her own diverse influences such as grime, UK drill, MySpace-era R&B, and Björk – that drive the multidimensionality of ALIAS. ‘Tasty’ is a flashback to 2000s and early 2010s club pop, produced by Sega and Oscar Scheller, with high-pitched vocals and a peppier disposition than her previous tracks.
‘Leng’ – produced by Happa – begins with an alien-esque melody, cyborg droplets transporting you to outer space. But Shy soon launches into a tribute to London slang, spitting on every abrupt beat (even while she, at the beginning of the track, claims she’s “not really following the beat too much / I’m just doing it, just tempo”) with a hardcore relish of UK hip-hop mixed with deconstructed club music. ‘Bawdy’ (Karma Kid’s creation) then harks back to the horror-infused feel of ‘Freak’, a minor-key anthem that draws you into dark, smoke-filled basements.
All of the songs on the album are fairly short – consistently hovering at the 2:30 mark – until the last, ‘Siren’ (Happa and Sega Bodega). While the others leave you craving more, Siren closes it all up with a Europop-infused hit which simultaneously feels upbeat and sinister. While it does feel like the right track to end on, I’m also sad to feel a little underwhelmed: each track on its own is great, but the last half of the album seems to blur into itself. However, this could just be a sign of the undeniable ferocity of the first three tracks, especially having heard ‘Slime’ and ‘Freak’ repeatedly as singles over the last month.
While some artists have used the era of coronavirus to move away from club music, Shygirl is hammering down on it, carving out her own space. Her growth in the last few years has been incredible to see – a few days after ‘Freak’ was released, I was enthused to hear it became a staple on Mary Anne Hobbs’ cult Radio 6 show – and it shows no sign of slowing down. It seems undeniable at this point that ALIAS is simply going to propel her even further into fame, all the while proving that even though they might just be playing on bedroom speakers, industrial tunes like these are not going away anytime soon.
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