The present wave of male-led R&B is bursting with talent, and it's being led by the likes of Majid Jordan, Leo Kalyan, Abhi//Dijon, and, of course, Shy Girls. The lastly mentioned, Portland-based artist has had a straight shot to stardom after being included on Cyril Hahn's smash hit, "Perfect Form", and since, he's followed up with his stellar Timeshare EP and a certain few tracks we've published very recently. Now, however, Shy Girls is unveiling his highly anticipated debut mixtape, 4WZ, and it's a body of work undoubtedly one of the best in R&B this year. If you take to a smooth, sensual, euphoric style of R&B, then we immediately direct you to "Arrest Me", which features one of our favorite up-and-coming female vocalists, Tei Shi. The two collaborate beautifully over a cloud of weightless soundscapes, silky synths, and fresh-sounding percussion. The track's phenomenal, certainly, but in the event that some of you are looking for a bit of a harder-hitting style along the lines The Weeknd's work, too, have no worries, because you can find a shining example of that sound on "Clean Cut", an effort packed with pitch-shifted vocals, intense synths, and heavy bass hits. Of course, the entirety of the project is narrated by Shy Girls' intimate croon, but he really puts his vocals in the spotlight on one of the most distinctive efforts we've heard from him ever on "Synthesize Me". A vocalist often shines the most alongside a lone piano, but rather than sticking to this stripped-down tactic, Shy G also presents his talents atop emotive, eruptive electronic he includes on the track. In case it's not already clear, if you're an R&B fan, you cannot let Shy Girls fly past your radar. His 4WZ mixtape has firmly established him as one of the current best artists in the R&B genre, and although it certainly is of album quality, the whole project is (amazingly) being offered for free over at Shy Girls' website, so be sure to take advantage of that opportunity as early as you possibly can.
Shy Girls