Shaya says she can blow your mind in just two hours on her new song “Universe.” She lied. Her debut EP of the same name actually blows minds in a fraction of that time, thank you very much — and that’s just the tip of her sonic solar system.
After two years of rapid musical growth, the Boston singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist dropped Universe today (January 21), allowing listeners to glimpse at her glittery R&B glow-up.
Just two years ago, Shaya’s “universe” felt both endless and cramped. Her education in production was largely limited to a tiny Boston bedroom, where she taught herself by toying with beats in GarageBand. Networking as a new artist during the pandemic meant perusing Instagram for hours instead of shaking hands at shows. She felt the rush of inspiration, but she bore the crushing weight of creative isolation, too.
“The beginning of my artist journey felt like I was taking shots in the dark,” Shaya tells Vanyaland. “I had no idea what I was doing, how it would land, and had no guidance. There was no live music scene due to the pandemic and for a while, I felt completely lost.”
Yet once the Boston music community started to reconvene in person pre-Omicron, Shaya’s one-woman show started reaching out in real life. She naturally gravitated towards kindred spirits who eventually helped her polish her sparkling Universe — namely, MyCompiledThoughts and Porkidd, who assisted with production and engineering.
And there’s no shame in her collaborative game. While Shaya once billed herself as a 100 percent independent artist, she says her Universe shines brighter when she has experienced artists in her orbit. Besides, who wouldn’t an album that’s star-studded?
“I relied on myself for everything and with such little experience in the industry, it was hard to navigate certain situations alone,” Shaya says, looking back her creative process at 2020. “I have accepted that doing everything on my own is no longer feasible nor healthy, and it’s been a huge relief working with some of the engineers, producers, and artists I collaborated with this year because it’s taken off a lot of the pressure I used to put on myself.”
“Ever since I started surrounding myself with the right energy, things just started to click and work out,” she concludes. “It’s all about who you surround yourself with.”
Rocket through Shaya’s Universe below.