Shygirl â the south London artist changing the face of pop with her warped, playful, often deliciously filthy take on club culture, one left-field collaboration at a time â is in a celebratory mood this morning when we speak.
“Someone just came and delivered me a cake!” she says gleefully. Admittedly, a packed year of critical acclaim – featuring a standout slot at Glastonbury 2023 and a Mercury nomination for her debut album Nymph – may also be contributing to the mood.
The singer and producer, who previously won the UK Independent Breakthrough gong at last year’s AIM Independent Music Awards is also up for her first ever MOBO Award tomorrow (February 7). She takes a break from frantically packing her bags for the Sheffield ceremony for our chat.
Crucially, Shygirl – whose real name is Blane Muise – is nominated in the Best Dance/Electronic Act category. Though dance was a fixture in the early days of the awards, which focus on celebrating music of black origin, the categories dedicated to the craft of DJing, for example, or various club sub-genres such as jungle and UK Garage, were quietly retired in the early Noughties.
But following a tireless campaign by the Black Electronic Music Association, in collaboration with MOBO, dance culture is now back in the fold. FKA twigs and Sherelle were among those nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Act when it debuted for the first time at last year’s ceremony, and the return of a space for all things club music feels like a positive development.
Shy admits that previously, “I never really thought I would be nominated for a MOBO. I grew up knowing that dance and electronic music has its roots in black culture, and it seemed weird for it not to be represented. It’s really encouraging to see the category coming back."
Being nominated has felt particularly personal, she says, "because coming from a mixed-race background, I've always been back and forth with how I see myself represented in black culture, you know? For this to be for something that I'm really passionate about feels incredibly validating.”
This is the second major music awards ceremony of the week. Muise did catch up with the Grammys on Sunday, but wasn’t especially enthused by what she saw. “I'm always more interested in what people are wearing,” she says. “I was not surprised by any of the wins, and I don’t know if that’s…because the work was due the win, or because of how the industry moves.
"It’s hard for independent artists to break through at those kinds of awards; most of [the nominees] are major [label signings] and they have huge campaigns.” For the same reason, she’s more encouraged by Raye’s record-breaking sweep of seven nominations in one year at the upcoming Brits.
“I feel like people are leaning towards artists having that ownership and independence, and it also being fruitful for everyone involved. Raye is a testament to that. She’s been saying these things for ages, and finally she’s able to really be the artist that she wants to be. It's incredibly inspiring.”
Back at the MOBO Awards meanwhile, Shygirl is in exciting company that reflects the very best of contemporary music; Raye is leading noms alongside Little Simz and Stormzy, while Muise’s fellow nominees in a female-dominated category include TSHA, PinkPantheress and Nia Archives.
Shygirl is good mates with many of her ‘rivals’ â she and PinkPatheress recently went on a day out to Alton Towers together, while she respects Aluna for “championing the inclusion of electronic music for ages, and being loud about it.”
Her enthusiasm for theme parks aside, Shygirl has a habit of ending up in these kinds of surreal situations: she and Björk once ended up eating their dinner surrounded by a host of circus performers in one particularly outlandish turn of events.
The pair are friends, and have remixed each other's music, but Muise was still nervous about booking a restaurant fit for the Icelandic music icon when they got together in London – the slight sense of panic that set in led her to the world of immersive dining. “We went to Park Chinois in uptown, on the same strip as Sexy Fish,” she laughs. “They do entertainment, and I was like, this will pep up the evening. I thought there would just be some music, a few DJs. But there ended up being a sword swallower!”
She was similarly, and understandably, intimidated ahead of first meeting Madonna; the pair are yet to collaborate, but the Queen of Pop happily gave Muise the green light to interpolate her country-pop hit Don’t Tell Me into the song Shlut during her recent tour, and is a Shygirl fan.
“I'm obviously nervous, and trying not to make stupid impression,” she says, of coming face to face with her heroes. “I'm quite awkward, to be honest”. But now, the pop legend is a valuable source of support. “I often speak with her. It feels really affirming to have these people reach out, and to be able to connect with them through your craft.”
Though Muise is reluctant to jinx future projects by naming names, she is happy to drop some big hints all the same. “I literally got a message last night from somebody who I grew up listening to,” she teases. “There are a few unexpected link-ups [coming].”
Ahead of that, though, there’s a brand new EP on the way. Out on February 9, Club Shy is inspired by the parties she’s been busy hosting over the past couple of years, drawing on eurodance, house and hyperpop. Much like the distinctly disorganised USB stick Muise DJs with, it’s an eclectic blend of ramped up, clubby Nymph-era leftovers, with Cosha, Sega Bodega, SG Lewis and Empress Of among the collaborators.
Muise is “tinkering with some new music”, while also still putting the finishing touches to Club Shy. She compares the whole creative process to cooking; this metaphor may have something to do with the fact she’s been watching a lot of Masterchef Professionals recently.
“I definitely don't follow the rules when it comes to cooking. I like experimenting a lot. I think I'm maybe a little bit more indulgent with cooking because it's more of an instant gratification, whereas with music I have to hold things back a bit. Even my [next] EP that I'm working on, a lot of the tracks on there… some of them I made two years ago, four years ago. One was last year. It's interesting, I’m almost letting it marinate.”
“I do both for the same reason: because I love praise,” she laughs. There is kind of like this praise kink that ends up developing,” she laughs. “It's just so nice seeing other people happy.”
And with that, the doorbell rings again: this time it’s her MOBO Award invite. “Hopefully, it’ll be fun,” she laughs. “I wonder if there's gonna be any drama? I'm always here for a little bit of drama!”
