FEATURE:
Spotlight
Shaé Universe
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WHETHER you class her music…
as R&B or R&Drill, there is no denying Shaé Universe is an artist who will be very busy through this year. An immense talent who put out the Unorthodox E.P. in April, I am fascinated and hooked already. I think Shaé Universe will have a very long future in the music industry. She is someone who has already established and cemented her sound, and she has a legion of fans behind her. Before I get to some interviews from last year, The Blues Project provided some background and biography in 2021. It gives you a bit of detail as to where the Nigerian-born artist started out and how she has evolved:
“Singer and songwriter Shaé Universe welcomes listeners into her own make-shift universe. A world equipped with lyrical dexterity and sonic riffs, the fuel of one’s flames being a love for authentic R&B. Having grown up in the church, Shaé, who is of Nigerian heritage, but grew up just outside of London, contextualises this into her sound. The result being her own neo-R&B sound; of which she holds the torch in the UK R&B sector. Having caught the eye of US rapper Boogie, Shaé’s feature on the rapper’s album ignited the sonic movements towards her tracks You Lose, No Stallin and 111. It also led to her opening on tour for Eminem!
Shaé has already caught the eye of the global music stage, and is a definite must watch in the coming years. After returning to London from Grammy week (late Jan 2020), British R&B upriser Shaé Universe said she felt that LA had left her with a new sense of “motivation, versatility, and drive”. She immediately got working on the music video masterpiece presented as ‘No Stallin’. Shaé’s single ‘No stallin’ was originally released in 2018, where its bouncy yet silky-smooth sound spread very quickly amongst the UK music scene, accumulating over 1.5 million streams independently, featuring in several verified playlists and gaining major radio coverage on global stations such as BBC 1Xtra, Capital Xtra, Beats1 and more.
Since then, she’s evolved her sonic palette even more. Revealing a blend of R&B and Drill in single You Lose, collaborating with Kojey Radical on Royalty, a track that’s simply laced in luxuriousness. As Shaé gears up for the release of her debut EP, fans are eagerly anticipating the release from an artist that has established herself as one of UK R&B’s most consistent emerging acts”.
I want to bring in a few interviews. There was a lot of excitement and curiosity around the Unorthodox E.P. Lots of people wanted to know more about the wonderful Shaé Universe. I discovered her music fairly recently, but I listened back to her releases from 2020 and 2021. What you notice that, through time, her confidence has grown and the music has got stronger. She was always exceptional, but Shaé Universe released her finest work with Unorthodox. Wonderland. featured Shaé Universe in April. I was interested learning how she finds inspiration and motivation when struggling:
“And what advice would you give to someone who might be like struggling to find that creativity and that inspiration in their life right now?
The advice that I would give to somebody who’s trying to you find reativity within themselves is to unplug and actually take a step back from social media and all these fast-paced influences. That can actually do a lot and can help you to hear your own internal voice a bit louder. I would advise unplugging, taking a step back from socials and just living in the real world. You know, go for a walk, look around, see what you have around in your area, things like that.
So many people seek out inspiration, so I think it’s great that you step back instead. So when you yourself are struggling, do you go to a particular place or person when you need that inspiration and motivation?
Again, I’m quite a spiritual person. So if I’m really down bad, I will go to God first and foremost, and just spend some time with God meditating. And I usually feel significantly better after that. But I’m generally outside of like prayer and stuff. I think when I’m looking for inspiration, I also do tend to unplug, it’s usually one or the other. It’s either like I don’t talk and will just completely disconnect myself or I do a deep dive into some of my oldest albums that I used to love but haven’t listened to in a long time. Sometimes going back to things that inspired you originally can help you to respond to something, for sure.
And despite your wanting to relax, your energy still comes across, it’s undeniable. Would you say there is pressure there to play up to that facade all the time?
That is such a good question. You know what, I would say I don’t feel pressure to live up to an image, but what I will say is all of my supporters or people that listen to my music is to just know who I am as an artist and what I represent. They all see me as somebody that represents light and positivity and always at the good things. I think sometimes having people look at me or look up to me in that way definitely makes it a bit more difficult for me to share my down days or days when I don’t necessarily feel so great because I feel like people expect that of me. So I don’t know if that’s necessarily playing up to an image but I definitely feel like when I am going through or having worst days I tend to withdraw as opposed to sharing that also with them. So that’s something I’m working on”.
A staggering artist who is among the finest U.K. R&B artists of the past decade, Shaé Universe is on her way to conquering the world. GRM Daily published a particularly deep and compelling interview in September. Shaé Universe discussed Unorthodox, R&Drill, and how she has got to where she is. A fiercely independent artist who commands so much respect from her peers, it has been a determined and hard-working career where this passion has remained strong and true. It is an inspiration to other artists, and a testament to believing in your talent and purpose:
“So talk to us about your musical beginnings. We know that you studied theatre and come from a performance background. When did you realise music specifically was your calling?
“I started singing when I was really young in the church because my mum was actually a gospel singer, the leader of the choir. From as young as I can remember in our home church, we don’t go there anymore, but for a very long time, we did. That’s where I started singing. I was just singing in the choir helping to support my mum and stuff. I was probably 11 or 12 when I started to actually branch out and listen to other music and discover artists for myself. Pop was big then as well as, I don’t want to say generic but all the pop stars that were reigning at the time, Britney, Beyonce, Rihanna etc all the mainstream people.
“Then I started to branch out and listen to artists that were more in line with my personal tastes, people like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. I listened to Brandy a lot as well. That helped me form my own sound. But weirdly enough I actually started out in poetry. I was really into poetry, I have always loved words, English, learning new words and the meaning of words that also fed my love for songwriting, singing just grew organically from that.”
Who are your musical influences?
“I would say, I have a lot of influences. But at the root Brandy is up there, Lauryn Hill is up there, Erykah Badu. Also say Alex Isley is up there too. I love the way that she arranges her harmonies. I haven’t necessarily sat and studied any artists, they’ve just seeped into me naturally. You know, when you listen to a person enough you can kind of hear where the different influences come from. For the most part, I’ve just been vibing when it comes to the music. Oh, and Jasmine Sullivan I can’t forget her.”
Now, you’ve been an independent artist and throughout your journey, we’ve seen various levels of growth from you. You can really see your creativity and business mind in your various projects. How has this path shaped who you are as an artist?
“Wow, that’s a loaded question. First of all, it definitely made me a lot more thorough with myself, anything I do and anything I involve myself in. I wouldn’t necessarily advise anyone to manage themselves for as long as I have because it definitely gets very stressful. I’m at a stage now where I’m ready for help. But one thing it has done is it’s made me very thorough with myself. I definitely have a high standard for anything that has my name attached to it because I’ve had to learn everything in depth.
“There are a lot of things that my musical colleagues don’t know about because they have managers that have been doing it for them. They’ve never really had to learn about them. Things like registering your music on PRS, things as small as that. So it’s definitely made me very thorough. I think also now I’m starting to experience the respect that comes from that too. When you’re first doing it, it’s like anything; you have to do it first for a lot of people to really be like ah, she actually did this and she did it independently and she stuck to her morals and principles and all that kind of stuff.
“So I think now that people are seeing that my strategies or my methods have worked for me they’re giving kudos. So there’s that too. It takes a little while. And obviously, you will go through stages where you kind of doubt am I ever going to get the respect that I deserve because people are kind of side-eyeing the way that I’m doing things when it’s not being done in the traditional way, but it pays off.”
And now that we are hearing a little bit more of that sound coming from other places, do you see that and feel like you’re pioneering something right now?
“Yo, honestly, again, it took me a while to really realise what we have created here. Because I’m humble by nature, you know, but also God has given me a gift that allows me to be that way. I don’t need to shout in your face because when I stand on the stage and I open my mouth, it does everything that it needs to do. I’ve always been accustomed to just being myself. I walk into a room I don’t have to say much. With that in mind, I have seen other people doing things and it’s just like, wow, I didn’t really realise until the R&D playlist came out on Spotify and it became a whole genre.
“The first time it’s coming out, I’m the face of it and pretty much my whole R’n’D catalogue is in there. That’s when I realised it’s real, okay, people are really actually paying attention. And this is actually starting something. Now for me personally, that is huge. Because, man, as a black woman in this UK scene, a dark-skinned black woman, for me to just kind of start something in a playful way, then I become the person that’s been spearheading something. I’ve created something from nothing, people are now paying attention to and following suit…That’s a huge deal. That’s a huge deal for me in an industry that is hard to even breakthrough as an R&B singer to start with. It’s a big deal and I’m grateful. You know, when I see other people doing their R’n’Drill stuff, I’ll be real with you, I haven’t seen anyone doing it like me, but I’m grateful. I’m appreciative”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Karis Beaumont
I will finish off by, in a way, going back to the start. RAYDAR featured R&B royalty Shaé Universe in August. With a brilliant E.P. under her belt and a new phase of her career underway, many were curious about her musical beginnings and what her start was like. Before rounding things off, I would urge everyone to go and follow Shaé Universe and listen to her music. An artist who is among the most promising this year, she is someone I particularly admire. No wonder the U.K.-raised artist is courting a lot of interest from the U.S. It seems like her music easily translates around the world and has touched so many people. This year is one where she will build on her current army of fans and recruit a whole lot more:
“Were your parent rather supportive of your decision to pursue music over a traditional career?
I’m Nigerian and I came to the UK when I was four. Usually, in traditional African households, they don’t really deem creative subjects as a worthy path to go down. I understand it because with music careers, the music doesn’t coming flying in. You have to work your way up, build your following, and when that song blows, the money comes. It’s a process that takes a lot of patience, however, my parents have been very very supportive from the jump. One, because they saw its something I had a general love for. Two, because they saw hat I was actually good at it.
This past year, so many Black women in the UK have taken over R&B and Hip-Hop—how does it feel to be at the forefront of it?
I’m humbled because though I do work very hard, it started as a dream in my heard. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming because its like wow, this is my life. It feels good, I’m not halfway where I tend to go with my music. However, being a Black women in the music industry comes with its challenges. It comes with a lot of people trying to exploit you with your gift, but not give you what you’re worth. I’ve been through a whole bat of shit, but because of my character, I’m still humble.
Where do you see yourself in the next five or ten years?
In ten years, I’m definitely going to be a legend. One thousand percent. In five years, I would love to be a globally respected music artist. I want to be remembered for creating timeless music and empowering, inspiring visuals. I want to be remembered for being myself unapologetically and also being a multifaceted woman accepted for being that way. Obviously, one thing we hear about often is women talking about how women feel like they’re boxed in the music industry. People tend to have an idea of what a Black female artist is supposed to be, however, I’m a diverse Black woman and I just want to make it to a point where it’s acceptable to be that way”.
I will round up here. It has been a pleasure getting to know Shaé Universe better. I am not sure what her next step is, but I suspect there will be an E.P. or album at some point this year. Such an original artist who you can already tell is going to be in music for so many years to come, you need to follow her closely. Last year was a successful and busy one, and I feel like this year will be even more so. When it comes to this R&B/R&Drill queen, there is absolutely…
NO stopping her!
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