«I'm definitely an advocate of me first», interview with Shygirl

In 2025, music should be seen before being heard. The images, videos, content, styling, and all the characters involved in a project contribute to the performance of an album just as much as the sound. Perhaps that’s why Shygirl represents so well the new generation of musicians who are dominating the industry: with Club Shy Room 2, the British artist, born in '93, offers a listening experience that begins even before hitting play. After all, as she herself tells us, before entering the fabulous world of club music she was working in fashion, specifically as a casting assistant for a modeling agency. «I had a lot of friends in the fashion community, and one of my close friends was running club nights in East London, specifically this club night called PDA», recalls the artist. Together with Sega Bodega, Mowalola, Ib Kamara, and Maximilian Davies, she was part of a young creative circle in London that would soon start changing the rules of the fashion industry. Inside the club, she recalls, she began getting closer to the world of DJing, first by watching her friends («they all made it look so fun») and then trying to get behind the decks. «It wasn't really even about like having a perfect set. It was about channeling this energy - and I felt like I could do it because of that and because of their encouragement and abandon.»

Shygirl's club music draws inspiration from different worlds thanks to the sense of freedom and community she encountered in London. The experimentation of Arca («who makes you listen to Mariah Carey for 10 minutes without you even noticing») has grounded her in limitless, ironic, and audacious creativity. «The club that I've entered into was the most experimental, the most boundary-pushing. It's easy to be accepted in a space where there's no rules, no idea of perfect. It’s why I have tried to maintain the same style even as my music changed». She took her first steps in music thanks to producer Sega Bodega, who asked her to sing «because he liked the sound of my voice». Shygirl includes everything in her music, placing huge importance on the words she pronounces on the tracks as well as the sound of her own breath, often used as an additional musical instrument. In Club Shy Room 2, afrobeat meets reggaeton, and unconventional noises, whispered ad-libs contrast with catchy and energetic lyrics delivered by Shy alongside artists like Jorja Smith, Saweetie, and Bambii. «I need to write the words, I can't find the melody if I don't know what I'm talking about. With club music the synergy between the beat and the words has to be perfect so that you are not focusing on either one of them, you're focusing on yourself and how you feel, your energy and your body in that moment. And that's why I like it.»

With the new album, Shygirl takes up the project started with Club Shy to introduce her audience to a new room - the title itself, Room 2, refers to the secondary club sets playing more experimental music. In this chapter, the artist tells us, she wants to «re-engage with my creative practice. The thing with working in the music industry is that it becomes quite formulaic: you have something original, something creative, and then you have to push it through this machine that makes it digestible for others.» Club Shy Room 2 is for her audience, says Shygirl, «to be engaged with me and me as an artist.» The experience of listening to the album itself reflects this concept, with nights that invite the spectator to lose all inhibition and merge with the sound until they become an integral part of the project. It’s an idea that came to life with Nymph, Shygirl’s first album: as the artist recalls, during the concerts a mirror was installed on stage reflecting the audience. «It's really hard to make space for spontaneity in this industry. But I was determined to do that on this project.»

Paradoxically, Shygirl's strong connection to the fashion world is reflected in the artist’s choice not to associate with luxury brands. Instead, she tells us, «I love working with new, young designers, not just because of what they’re making but because of the kind of ambition they have. I like people who can get the best idea ever with a small budget, that’s the type of person I am and I love being surrounded by ambition and drive». It’s the same reason she doesn’t like working with big creative directors who want to impose their idea, determined to create their magnum opus at the cost of overshadowing the music. The same reason she adds, she doesn't like «referring to too many things that happen in the current culture. I try to refer to myself as much as possible». Regarding the styling of Club Shy Room 2, Shygirl says she is finally letting go a little more. As a woman artist and as a black woman, she had been painted with an image that wasn’t hers, made of latex and revealing clothes. «I don’t need these tools to feel sexy, if anything - adds the artist - but now I feel more comfortable, I’m only answering myself so I can show more skin, which I never have done that much.» Because if we must learn anything from Shygirl's universe, after exploring another room of Club Shy and letting ourselves be carried away by the experimental sound of Room 2, it’s that nothing is more important than your own voice. As the artist states, «I'm definitely an advocate of me first».

Photo Hendrik Schneider 
Special thanks to Virgin Music Ita and Because Music