Nymph

Shygirl toyed with simply self-titling her debut album, but Nymph felt far more evocative—and fitting. “A nymph is an alluring character but also an ambiguous one,” the artist and DJ, whose real name is Blane Muise, tells Apple Music. “You don’t quite know what they’re about, so you can project onto them a little bit of what you want.” Co-written with collaborators including Mura Masa, BloodPop® and long-time producer Sega Bodega, it’s an album that defies categorisation, its stunning, shape-shifting tracks blending everything from rap and UK garage to folktronica and Eurodance. Along the way, it reveals fascinating new layers to the South London singer, rapper, and songwriter. While Nymph contains moments that match the “bravado” (her word) of earlier EPs Cruel Practice and ALIAS, Shygirl says this album is “ultimately the story of my relationship with vulnerability”. As ever, sensuality is central, but she resists the “sex-positive” label. “With a track like ‘Shlut’, I’m not saying my desire is good or bad,” she says. “I’m just saying it’s authentically who I am.” Read on as Shygirl guides us through her beguiling debut album, one song at a time. “Woe” “This song is me acclimatising to the audience’s presence and how vocal they are. Sometimes it’s annoying to have all these other voices [around you] when you’re trying to figure out your own. But then, on the flip of that, isn’t it nice that people actually want something from you? I often do that: give myself space to express some frustration or an emotion, then look at it in different ways. Sometimes I do that with sensitivity, and sometimes I’m just taking the piss out of myself. Like, ‘OK now, just get over it.’” “Come For Me” “For me, this song is a conversation between myself and [producer] Arca because we hadn’t met in person when we made it. She would send me little sketches of beats, then I would respond with vocal melodies. Working on this track was one of the first times I was experimenting with voc