By Emma Rickett, Contributor
[Because Music; 2022]
Rating: 8/10

Key tracks: “Heaven”, “Poison”, “Honey”

In Greek mythology, nymphs were attractive young women who had a deep connection to nature and fertile, growing things. In Shygirl’s debut album, Nymph, we hear precisely why she used the name. Shygirl, the stage name for English rapper, singer, and DJ Blane Muise, layers unique pop beats with bright vocalizations and sexual lyrics.

Read more: Album Review: The Vacant Lots – Closure

In her previous works, Muise has never shied away from the idea of sex and female sexuality, singing club anthems like “FREAK” and “SIREN”. She shows true artistry, however, in her debut she steers away from the heavy sounds of her EPs and enters an electro-pop, dream-like realm. Each song sounds completely different from the previous, but there’s a bouncy, hypersexual theme linked through the underbelly of each track. 

This album feels as if I looked up “Y2K fairycore” on TikTok and scrolled through 32 minutes of hazy-filtered OOTDs of girls in mini skirts with bleached eyebrows (in the best way, of course). As homogenous and saturated as the Y2K resurgence has been on social media, Shygirl finds a way to channel that 2000s “it-girl music” that’s fun (“Coochie (a bedtime story)”), flirty (“Honey”), and sexy (“Little Bit”). 

Nymph is able to perfectly encapsulate the figure it’s named after while also being a stellar debut record, showing off how versatile Shygirl is. In my opinion, many artists lack the thing that your brain can pick up on and know “this is their track.” Shygirl has that factor, making a debut that could only be her, with a healthy dose of that multifaceted charisma you look for in an artist.

Listen here: