Blane Muise, often called Shygirl, has been South London’s present to warehouse raves, couture catwalks, and sure some BDSM dungeons for the previous seven years. Final fall, she lit up Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s Sweat Tour after unleashing her modern, six-track EP Membership Shy in February. Its high-energy dance songs hit with the efficiency of a homosexual pour, and her profound, mallrat lyricism dilated pupils with unpredictable traces like, “Who needs to be actual/I simply wish to be pretend.” Like physique glitter in your mattress, her minimal phrases linger and provoke; although she often insists her method to this artificial music isn’t meant to be that deep, its silicone nonetheless will get implanted underneath the muscle.
In March 2024, she launched her DJ set recorded on the legendary cloth London, proving she’s extra than simply an beautiful performer—Shygirl is a grasp curator. Much more, she’s advanced right into a Y2K-filtered Oracle of Delphi, dropping sensual, philosophical bangers with the identical finesse as texting the group chat on a Razr. However the place final 12 months’s launch was reduce for the chaotic white-twink-wasted crowd—trotting to frenetic techno or blissing out to trance on tabletops—Membership Shy Room 2 looks like one thing else completely. It’s as if you happen to’ve been invited to sit down on the Unfriendly Black Hotties’ desk, the place shaking ass and gradual whining is reserved for many who can truly sustain.
Room 2 is an experimental Black femme imagining of what lies behind Membership Shy’s velvet VIP rope: Champagne cheersing to you and your homegirls’ collective slay as a soundsystem’s bass beads sweat down your again. A bit stylish pregame turns into a unclean martini, which turns into rapping a number of verses with the besties. And at barely quarter-hour, its unique guestlist ensures that solely the boldest make the reduce—like Toronto’s rising digital trailblazer BAMBII. “Flex” turns into a foul ting allure faculty, with BAMBII and Shygirl devouring a haunted-ass lure beat as they spit tutorials on how one can pop your shit. Its violins and organs dip into darkish academia, with a twist of early aughts hip-hop when the Timbaland-like flutes drop in. The pulsing hook, “sizzling, regular, tight,” sounds precisely like what 2000s music movies promised going out would really feel like—glamourous, magnetic, and soundtracked by euphoric, stilettos-on-the-couch music.
Shygirl’s potential to cook dinner cutesy, juvenile references into grown and attractive membership sweet shines on “Wifey Riddim.” Its classic lunchroom desk manufacturing, evoking Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss” or Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Woman,” will get a refreshing replace with the addition of hip-rocking Jersey membership breakdowns. Becoming a member of her is SadBoi, one other rising Toronto artist working its extremely experimental and distinctly Caribbean digital scene. Her command of the mic—“Give me that ring/Let the gyaldem know”—channels the spoiled princess power from her newest album, DRY CRY, a fusion of baile funk, Jamaican patois, and West Indian influences. As if that weren’t sufficient, Jorja Smith slides in along with her easy Walsall swagger, staking her declare as wifey alongside Shygirl on the refrain. “You want me the way in which I’m/Don’t want to alter a factor,” Smith sings: two single British physique queens sharing a understanding giggle. In Room 2, being wifey is a mind-set.