When Shygirl appears on my laptop screen, her face is framed by bright ginger hair and an even brighter smile as she greets me from her home in London. She seems immediately at ease, curious and quietly excited about what comes next.<\/p>\n
It suits the place from which her new album seems to have emerged. Since her 2022 debut Nymph<\/em>, Shygirl has moved between the full-throttle club energy of Club Shy, international stages and a return to ALIAS<\/em> for its fifth anniversary. Now, her second studio album opens another chapter. She began working on it at the end of 2023, after turning 30 and falling in love, taking her time to explore a sound that draws as naturally from strings and classic instrumentation as it does from the electronic experimentation that has shaped her music from the beginning. With a new live chapter ahead, we spoke to Shygirl about making music without knowing the rules, finding space beyond the club and why, this time around, everything seems to lead back to love.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":132606,"id":132606,"title":"LEAD Shygirl Lucky (C. Jessica Madavo)","filename":"LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","filesize":341884,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/lead-shygirl-lucky-c-jessica-madavo-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Photography by Jessica Madavo","name":"lead-shygirl-lucky-c-jessica-madavo-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2026-09-10 19:48:10","modified":"2026-09-10 20:50:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1264,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":84,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1264,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1264,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-1536x1011.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1011,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1264,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-18x12.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEAD-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1264}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" LUCIE RITTAU<\/strong> Where did this album begin for you?<\/p>\n SHYGIRL<\/strong> The starting point was wanting to articulate how happy I was, or am. I had recently fallen in love and turned 30, and I guess I\u2019d taken a little bit of a break after my last album. I started working on the music at the end of 2023. A lot of it was congratulating myself on the decisions I\u2019d made before and how I got here. It\u2019s nice to have that perspective when you\u2019re in a really good place. You can congratulate yourself for all the ways it took you to get there and not be regretful of anything.<\/p>\n LR<\/strong> So was the album more about putting emotions that were already there into music, or did you understand them differently while making it?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> I think they were already there. The way I approach making music is always like having a conversation with myself and being accountable. I can live with the versions of myself that exist but also know that I\u2019m changing all the time. I never feel too tied to one version of myself. LR<\/strong> You worked on it for more than two years. What did not rushing give you?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> It almost felt like having a secret. I could have fun with Club Shy because I knew I had this other thing I was working on. Instead of it feeling overwhelming, it gave me space to relax in a weird way because I didn\u2019t have to prove anything. Club Shy wasn\u2019t an artistic opus for me. It was a space to really have fun and get to know this new environment I\u2019d found myself in, on the same level as my audience a bit more. With this record, I wanted to make a statement on my artistic endeavours. LR<\/strong> And where did that take you sonically?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> Having Club Shy as a space so dedicated to club music meant I could pick up things I\u2019d perhaps left behind on Nymph<\/em>. I wanted to explore natural and classic instrumentation more. I love strings so much. I always go back to them because they\u2019re such an emotional instrument. LR<\/strong> Is there one song on the album that feels most like you?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> I really do feel like these are all pieces of me. I\u2019ve played it to family and friends, and they always say they can really hear the person they know, and have known since before the music, in this album. I haven\u2019t redacted my words here. I think I often did that in club songs because you naturally do it to make the hook. Here, I\u2019ve been more explicit in the way I speak. In any conversation with me, people get to know how I talk, and I think on this album I\u2019m speaking in the same way.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":132609,"id":132609,"title":"Shygirl (3) by C. Jessica Madavo","filename":"Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","filesize":358913,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/shygirl-3-by-c-jessica-madavo-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Photography by Jessica Madavo.","name":"shygirl-3-by-c-jessica-madavo-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2026-09-10 19:48:15","modified":"2026-09-10 20:51:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1264,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":84,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1264,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1264,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-1536x1011.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1011,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1264,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-18x12.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl-3-by-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1264}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" LR<\/strong> When you spoke to us in 2020, you told us that making music felt spontaneous and child-like, while you were more of a perfectionist with the visuals. With the music video for Alyse<\/em>, you deliberately put yourself in the background. Why?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> My experience of making any art has generally been more in the background because I\u2019m creative directing or directing, or I\u2019m in the studio. That feels more intuitive to me and actually more satisfying half the time. I step into the foreground because I have to. LR<\/strong> Do you already see that world when you\u2019re making the music?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> Oh yeah. The concept, the visual and everything is there before the music, to be honest. The atmosphere and intention are how the music comes. I want to feel like this, I want to set this scene, and then the music comes and fills that space. LR<\/strong> Love keeps coming up when you talk about this record. When did it become something bigger than your own relationship?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> It started off as an explosion of emotion for me. Falling in love justified the fact that I\u2019ve been pursuing desire at the forefront at all times. But it also felt like something I could be an activist about. The idea of upholding love and appreciating feeling above all things feels like a worthy cause for me. In fact, I had struggled with what activism is for me. I feel like my existence is activism. My conversations, my art are activism, and it\u2019s an activism that I\u2019m comfortable with. LR<\/strong> Six years ago, you told us you felt society was moving past genres. How do you feel about this now?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> People have applied genres to me, but I don\u2019t sit in the studio and say, I want to be this genre. I grew up listening to mixtapes and DJ sets. When I DJ myself, for example, I\u2019ve never played strictly one genre. Because for me, music is music. It\u2019s about body and feeling and emotion.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","text":"If there was a genre for this record, I would say it was through love rather than anything else.","source":"\u2013 SHYGIRL"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" LR<\/strong> Maybe not knowing the rules helps?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> I think so, because I don\u2019t know the rules. I never have. I\u2019m not formally trained in music. I just listened. I learned through the people around me and through my curiosity. Any time I discover a rule or a way to do something, I question it. I ask, why this? And I do it the opposite way to understand why it\u2019s that way.<\/p>\n LR<\/strong> Is staying curious something you want to leave people with when listening to your music?<\/p>\n S<\/strong> That was my ultimate goal for this album. I want people to have more questions than answers. When I go to galleries or anywhere for culture, I love leaving with a question.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shygirl’s new album Swallow!<\/em> will be released on November 6, 2026.<\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\n
\nThis music is probably the most explicit and personal in terms of emotionality and vulnerability. Ultimately, I really want people to understand me and I want to understand myself. There\u2019s a lot of love in the record, but the same themes people are used to from me are still there too: desire, tempestuousness. I have a very contrary nature.<\/p>\n
\nAt the time, I was playing arenas on the SWEAT<\/em> Tour and seeing how big the spaces I could potentially fill were. I started thinking: what music should I make that could be deserving of that space? I think you can hear all those experiences feeding into the music.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":132612,"id":132612,"title":"Shygirl_SWALLOW!_Digital Album_3500x3500_5056556184614","filename":"Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","filesize":261900,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/shygirl-living-is-activism\/shygirl_swallow_digital-album_3500x3500_5056556184614-3\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Courtesy of SureShot Promotions","name":"shygirl_swallow_digital-album_3500x3500_5056556184614-3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":132604,"date":"2026-09-10 19:54:53","modified":"2026-09-10 20:50:50","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":96,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1-1536x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1-12x12.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":12,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_SWALLOW_Digital-Album_3500x3500_5056556184614-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}},{"ID":132626,"id":132626,"title":"ALT Shygirl Lucky (C. Jessica Madavo)","filename":"ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","filesize":390480,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/shygirl-living-is-activism\/alt-shygirl-lucky-c-jessica-madavo-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"alt-shygirl-lucky-c-jessica-madavo-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":132604,"date":"2026-09-10 20:45:17","modified":"2026-09-10 20:45:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1273,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":85,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1273,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1273,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1273,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-1536x1018.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1018,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1273,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1-18x12.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALT-Shygirl-Lucky-C.-Jessica-Madavo-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1273}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
\nSometimes we would start really stripped back with guitar, piano or strings before filling the spaces. I was asking myself: how do I write a song that doesn\u2019t have to be dictated by the production? No matter what instrument it\u2019s paired with, it should still have the essence of that song.<\/p>\n
\nFor me, this album is bigger than me. If it had no visuals, if it had no performances, I think this is really beautiful music that doesn\u2019t need me. It feels nice to give people space to consume the music and the world beyond their attachment to me.
\nI wrote the whole short film with my partner. We did the casting and I sat there with the actors. It\u2019s so nice to see an idea come alive from page to reality, and to be able to enjoy the visuals like the audience does. It\u2019s really hard to do that when you\u2019re in the frame.<\/p>\n
\nAlyse<\/em> was an ambitious endeavour for me visually, but sometimes restrictions can be a blessing because they make you find the heart of your idea. Artists spend a lot of time wishing for more because we have ideas and want to make things. It can be very hard to just sit with where you are and appreciate what you have.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":132610,"id":132610,"title":"Shygirl_Lucky[Hymn]_Digital Single_3500X3500_5056556185222","filename":"Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","filesize":198256,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/shygirl_luckyhymn_digital-single_3500x3500_5056556185222-3\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"shygirl_luckyhymn_digital-single_3500x3500_5056556185222-3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":0,"date":"2026-09-10 19:48:19","modified":"2026-09-10 20:52:04","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":96,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1-1536x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1-12x12.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":12,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Shygirl_LuckyHymn_Digital-Single_3500X3500_5056556185222-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":"Courtesy of SureShot Promotions."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
\nSame as this record, it\u2019s about making a decision about what you stand for, what you live for. I live for the experience. I live to love, to cry. As soon as you fall in love, you\u2019re very aware that you can be hurt. It\u2019s never too far away, that vulnerability and the idea of pain.
\nSongs like Mantra<\/em> are about saying those words to myself in times I perhaps don\u2019t feel the strength of them. Making this record is about reminding myself of that time because who knows, maybe I won\u2019t feel that way in a year or ten or whatever. But I did. And it\u2019s good to say that you did. And that you chose to feel that way.<\/p>\n