With her spellbinding hybrid of electro-rap, the London native explores her multiple personalities on her latest EP, 'ALIAS.' 

Make no mistake, there&#39;s nothing shy about British rapper and DJ&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/51076/1/shygirl-interview-autumnwinter-2020-issue-alias">Shygirl</a>. You only need to watch one of her music videos to be convinced &mdash;&nbsp;the nocturnal &quot;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwMlN9cYSiY">BB</a>,&quot; the sharp &quot;Uckers,&quot; or the intense &quot;Slime,&quot; among others. Extroverted, determined, daring, sexy and in full possesion of herself, the Londoner is completely fearless. &ldquo;I have never felt the slightest shyness,&quot; she tells L&#39;OFFICIEL over the phone from her London apartment. &quot;It happens, of course, to have moments of nervousness or apprehension, but it passes very quickly.&nbsp;I force myself to overcome them to move forward. Pretending to have self-confidence ends up giving you real confidence. When I started looking for a stage name, the word &#39;shy&#39; attracted me because the&nbsp;concept is totally foreign to me. It&#39;s the exact opposite of my personality!&rdquo;

Her out-there temperament is not incompatible with a taste for <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/exclusive-michael-b-jordan-coach-it-forward-spring-campaign">introspection</a>; in fact,&nbsp;quite&nbsp;the contrary. On her EP, ALIAS, which was&nbsp;released at the end of November,&nbsp;Shygirl reviews&nbsp;the different&nbsp;facets of herself. We&#39;re inroduced to her&nbsp;four alter egos &mdash; Baddie, Bonk, Bovine and Bae &mdash;&nbsp;who appear in her music videos&nbsp;as digital avatars. &ldquo;I&#39;ve always wanted to explore these variations on my own because they reflect my music,&rdquo; she says. &quot;I almost extracted the character traits that I express&nbsp;most often.&rdquo;

This roster of characters would not be complete without one more name beginning with&nbsp;&ldquo;B&rdquo; &mdash;&nbsp;the one written on Shygirl&#39;s passport: Blane, a complex young woman from south London. Before launching her <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/fendi-juilliard-jazz-anima-mundi-music">musical career</a>, Shygirl&nbsp;worked first at&nbsp;a design agency and then as a booker at&nbsp;a modeling agency. At the time, she wrote down her song ideas or lyrics while on public transport, just for herself, without plans to share them. Since then, several lines have been added to her CV: DJ, co-founder of Nuxxe&nbsp;(the record label of <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/zmj5d9/coucou-chloe-interview-the-post-truth-truth-issue">Coucou Chlo&eacute;</a>, Oklou, and Sega Bodega), director of her own videos, and a collaborator for avant-garde electronic acts such as the producer <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/evj9k4/arca-is-the-artist-of-the-decade">Arca</a> and hyperpop powerhouse&nbsp;SOPHIE.

Shy_01_final.jpg

Shy_02_final.jpg

Shy_03_final.jpg

Shy_04_final.jpg

Shy_05_final.jpg

Her&nbsp;kaleidoscopic <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/zmj5d9/coucou-chloe-interview-the-post-truth-truth-issue">vision of music</a> is not new. When asked about her&nbsp;first sonic fascinations, two major works come to mind: the soundtrack for Disney&#39;s&nbsp;The Jungle Book and the song &quot;Firestarter,&quot; a thundering single from &#39;90s EDM pioneers The Prodigy. &ldquo;Two contrasting atmospheres,&rdquo; she admits, bursting into laughter. &quot;Strangely, it always calmed me down when I was in a rowdy mood at home.&rdquo;

Shygirl was convinced to work on music by&nbsp;musician and producer <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sega-bodega-salvador/">Sega Bodega</a>, who was drawn to&nbsp;her sugary&nbsp;voice and submachine gun delivery. In 2016, the duo created the experimental single&nbsp;&quot;Want More,&quot; and the rest is history. &ldquo;Surprisingly, everything went very naturally from the start,&rdquo; says Shygirl. &quot;I didn&#39;t have to compromise or change who I am. I tried&nbsp;things out, I liked the&nbsp;process, and by happy coincidence there are other people who also appreciate what I create. I post my new songs as they come, as soon as they&#39;re ready. The public sees me evolve in real time, at the same time as I reveal myself to myself.&rdquo;

Shygirl&#39;s&nbsp;latest self-discoveries light up the seven tracks on&nbsp;ALIAS. Her&nbsp;detached yet punchy flow mingles with&nbsp;a clever mix of all her&nbsp;obsessions, from grime to R&amp;B, rap to acid house, drum and bass to club pop. The singer feeds off teamwork and surrounds herself with guests such as Sega Bodega and <a href="https://www.papermag.com/sophie-pride-2579165152.html?rebelltitem=43#rebelltitem43">SOPHIE</a>, her longtime collaborators, but also Karma Kid, <a href="https://www.thefader.com/2019/07/09/oscar-scheller-lily-allen-1-per-cent-premiere">Oscar Scheller</a> and Happa. &ldquo;When it comes to design, I tend to want to do everything,&rdquo; says Shygirl. &quot;Collaborations force me to come out of my shell and provoke a spontaneity that is difficult to achieve for a perfectionist alone in the driver&#39;s seat. The unexpected can work wonderfully. It&#39;s also interesting to see new ways of working. I want to discover all the possible parameters for my music. My first EP was darker and anguished;&nbsp;it&nbsp;felt like stepping into a room for the first time, seeing if I belonged. With this new EP, I feel more confident and walk around every corner, speaking to different people and making my way through musical styles.&rdquo;

This quest of self-discovery also involves the musician&#39;s wardrobe, and using fashion as a means of expression. Her music was the backdrop for the launch of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/kenzo-blue-fox-short-film">Kenzo Folio</a> in 2017, or more recently, last October&nbsp;in a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/fashion-designer-comebacks-2020-mugler-vivienne-westwood">Mugler</a> campaign. &ldquo;I have to say that my look was a disaster when I was younger,&rdquo; she laughs. &quot;Later, I worked as an assistant to stylist Mischa Notcutt, who is now my creative director, and I learned a lot from her. When I feel bad, I make an effort to dress well, for example putting on a GmbH dress that I love&nbsp;and that helps me feel&nbsp;better. Clothes have that power. Fashion is very important for this very reason, not so much for the trends it dictates, but to help us better understand who we are and what we want to feel.&rdquo;

Casting: Jennifer Eym&egrave;re 
Stylist: Lee Trigg 
Stylist assistants: Joy Appiah &amp; Sabira Haque 
Photography by: Samuel Ibram 
Alterations: Helen Studios 
Makeup: Luz Giraldo for Mac Cosmetics &amp; Roman Sam for Fudge

Allow British Rapper-DJ Shygirl to Introduce Herself

Tags

Recommended posts for you

Pop culture

F1's Hottest Drivers, On and Off The Track

Fashion

New NYC Store Openings in 2024

Film & TV

Everything to Know About the New 'Dune' TV Series, a Must-Watch

Travel & Living

The Most Chic Places to Have Thanksgiving Dinner in NYC

Fashion

Carolina Herrera's Resort 2025 Collection Captures the 'Intensity' of Mexico City

Fashion

Inside Louis Vuitton's NYC Store Opening Party and Best Dressed Celebrities

Fashion

Mikey Madison Redefines Dog-Walking Fashion in Mugler and Stilettos

Beauty

Rhode's Cinnamon Roll Lip Tint Is Finally Here