1. SHYGIRL, “FREAK”
The tempo of
Shygirl’s transcendent “FREAK” fits the rhythm of afters in east London perfectly. A squalid, woozy start feels like the slurring of time that comes with late nights and intoxicants, with a drop snapping you back into the room, guaranteed to send 2021’s dancefloors absolutely feral. The London rapper’s EP
ALIAS introduced us to her four alter-egos, porny Bratz-type characters she calles the ‘bbz’. It’s no surprise that the avatar for “FREAK” is ‘Baddie’, oozing sex with no particular concern as to who it’s with. The song feels like a strut through a poorly lit warehouse rave, Baddie directing targets to a backroom as she intones, first blearily then with increasing urgency, “
I’m a freak, yeah, I know / I know you like to hear me say it.” Do me right here on the floor, she begs, dissolving into a slow, sludgy tangle of sound. With Sega Bodega’s dank production pumping behind her, “Freak” revels in the mess and stench of random sexual encounters, a horny anthem for a year of forced abstinence.
(Kate Solomon)