“You got me feeling like a movie star…”
There are several perfectly good reasons for Shygirl to feel like a movie star at the moment.
After dropping her Blu performance film this summer (which is a great introductory medley if you’re unfamiliar with her music), as well as big dick-beckoning bop “BDE” with slowthai, the Rihanna runway-approved 28-year-old English rapper-singer-DJ darling just made an appearance on the remix of “Sour Candy” for Dawn of Chromatica, Lady Gaga‘s chaotic cool kid collective of a remix album squeezed out between doing jazz duty and accent work on House of Gucci.
As of Tuesday (October 26), Shygirl’s got a new offering, which appears to be the first release off of her upcoming debut album, and it’s called “Cleo.”
As opposed to some of the more hectic, sweat-drenched, in-your-face beats on her ALIAS EP, “Cleo” is a bit dreamier and dramatic comparatively, taking its time to feel its own fantasy while still rooted in clubland.
Following a minute-long Chromatica interlude-like string introduction (fitting), the song’s beat drops, co-produced by Shygirl, Jakwob and Sega Bodega, recalling Maya Jane Coles‘ “What They Say,” the backbone of several pop hits in recent years, including Nicki Minaj‘s “Truffle Butter,” Tinie Tempah and Zara Larsson‘s “Girls Like” – and Gaga’s “Sour Candy.” (Again, fitting.)
Shygirl cooly delivers confident declaration after declaration – “I’m the ruler of the world / Bеtter catch it all on camera” – commanding the dance floor across the four-to-the-floor beat. The third verse throws in a fun horn element – a touch of “Mr. Saxobeat” energy, almost – before those elegant strings reappear in the song’s tranced-out final moments, not entirely unlike the Queen of Pop‘s Confessions on a Dance Floor.
After years of critically acclaimed releases and co-signs by the best under-the-radar tastemakers and mainstream superstars alike, Shygirl certainly seems poised to have her biggest moment yet. All eyes on me, indeed.
