17 fans
Shady Blu is a master of atmosphere. Pairing gentle yet expressive vocals with nakedly
vulnerable lyrics, the California singer/songwriter and rapper merges her pensive
ruminations with lush ambient soundscapes to create theme songs for the aspirational
and the misunderstood. Those elements swirl together on her latest release
“Jealousy.” Floating above spacy synths, Blu lets loose a barrage of suspicions as she
diagnoses the envy of jealous friends, simulating real-time urgency with a rapid- re
delivery. After rapping for fun at various points in high school, she recorded her rst
song in 2016 and started making music in earnest in 2020. Her rst o ering was
“Dream$,” a semi-free-associative bop infused with melody and ashes of big
dreams. After releasing two additional songs, she was searching for an audio engineer
when she stumbled upon the Instagram account for Derek Ali—otherwise
known as MixedByAli (known for his work with Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and
more). She sent him a DM with her music, then booked him to mix it through his
platform EngineEars; he was immediately impressed and they began a partnership.
By 2021, she’d been signed to Ali’s NoName Recordings. As she prepares her forthcoming
project titled Topic Of Discussion, it won’t be long before people across the
world hear her work, which will bring her attention she’s still not all that used to.
“When people are praising me for my music, I get a little shy,” Blu admits. “It's like
they’re applauding a piece of my heart.”
