Shamir (musician)
{{Short description|American singer and songwriter (born 1994)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Shamir
| image =Shamir on the Gobi Stage at midnight.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Shamir Bailey
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1994|11|7}}
| birth_place =
| origin = Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
| genre = {{hlist|Hip house|dance-pop|indie pop|disco|electropop|indie rock|lo-fi|punk rock}}
| occupation = Singer, songwriter
| instrument = Vocals, guitar, synthesizer, drums
| years_active = 2014–present
| label = {{hlist|Little L|Godmode|XL|Father/Daughter|AntiFragile}}
| associated_acts =
| website =
}}
Shamir Bailey (born November 7, 1994) is an American singer and songwriter from Las Vegas, Nevada.{{cite news|newspaper=The New Yorker|location=New York|title=Never Settle: The shape-shifting methods of Shamir |first=Anwen|last=Crawford|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/shape-shifter-pop-music-anwen-crawford |pages=90–92 |date=May 18, 2015|access-date=June 9, 2015}} His debut extended play (EP), Northtown, was released in June 2014 to positive reviews. In October 2014, he signed to XL Recordings and released the single "On the Regular".{{cite web|title=Shamir Shares "On the Regular" Video, Signs to XL|date=28 October 2014|publisher=Pitchfork.com|access-date=April 27, 2015|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/57242-shamir-shares-on-the-regular-video-signs-to-xl/}} His debut LP Ratchet was released on May 19, 2015 in the United States. Since then he has released seven independent studio albums, Hope (2017), Revelations (2017), Resolution (2018), Be the Yee, Here Comes the Haw (2019), Cataclysm (2019), Shamir (2020), and Heterosexuality (2022).
Early life
Shamir grew up in North Las Vegas,{{cite web|first=Matt|last=Wilkinson|title=A Guide to The Las Vegas Scene That Inspired Shamir's Incredible New EP|publisher=NME|date=June 25, 2014|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/a-guide-to-the-las-vegas-scene-that-inspired-shamirs-incredible-new-ep}} an area that he has called "cookie-cutter suburban."{{cite web|title=Shamir Q&A: Meet the man behind one of 2014's most essential new EP's|publisher=NME|date=June 25, 2014|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/shamir-qa-meet-the-man-behind-one-of-2014s-most-essential-new-eps}} He was raised as a Muslim but describes himself as "more spiritual than religious, I don't believe in god per se, I kind of feel like god is the universe." Shamir is non-binary, informing an interviewer in 2015 that "I don't identify as gay because I don't identify as male or female".{{cite web |title = Hot List: Shamir|first = Jason|last = Lamphier|date = May 7, 2015|website = Out|url = http://www.out.com/hot-list/2015/5/04/hot-list-shamir}} Although he does not have a preferred pronoun, he is comfortable with male pronouns,{{cite web |title = INTERVIEW: Shamir|first = Steph|last = Kretowicz|date = May 13, 2015|website = Dummy|url = http://www.dummymag.com/features/shamir-bailey-interview}} and "never really got" singular they.{{cite web |title = Twitter|author = Shamir|date = April 4, 2015|website = Twitter|url = https://twitter.com/ShamirBailey/status/584518843596275712}}
His aunt was in the music business and lived with Shamir and his mother. Bass players and producers were guests at the family's home, helping his aunt with her songs. His parents and aunt introduced him to a wide range of music, including hip-hop, R&B, Outkast, Groove Theory, and singers like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Janis Joplin. At age nine, Shamir received an Epiphone guitar, and began writing music.{{cite news|newspaper=Timeout|location=New York|title=Five reasons to love Shamir; Get to know the ascendant pop star before they blow up.|first=Colin|last=St. John|page=18|date=May 13, 2015}}
At age 16, he formed a punk band with a friend, but the band ended quickly when his partner froze on stage at their first gig.{{cite news|title="If It Wasn't True" by Shamir Bailey Is Your New Favorite Breakup Song|first=Thomas|last=Gebremedhin|work=Vogue|date=2014|url=http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/if-it-wasnt-true-shamir-bailey-is-your-new-favorite-breakup-song/#1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809163121/http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/if-it-wasnt-true-shamir-bailey-is-your-new-favorite-breakup-song/#1|archive-date=2014-08-09}} During his high school years, he recorded tracks for his first EP. Shortly after graduating from high school, he sent a demo tape to the Godmode label in New York City. The label founder Nick Sylvester signed him to the label.
Music career
Shamir's debut EP, Northtown, was released by Godmode in June 2014 and is named for the Northtown neighborhood where he grew up.{{cite web|title=Shamir: Northtown EP|publisher=Pitchfork|first=Jamieson|last=Cox|date=June 9, 2014|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19425-shamir-northtown-ep/}} Jules Muir, writing for the music blog Pigeons & Planes noted that Shamir "continues to make a bigger name for himself with every new release and a unique new sound on each."{{cite web|title=Listen to "Northtown," Shamir's Impressive Debut EP|first=Jules|last=Muir|publisher=Pigeons & Planes|date=June 5, 2014|url=http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2014/06/listen-to-northtown-shamirs-impressive-debut-ep/}} Jamieson Cox of Pitchfork called the EP's opening track, "If It Wasn't True" "a stunning opening salvo, one that plays on the tension between Shamir's slender vocal and lyrical naiveté and grimy, threatening instrumental tones before devolving into a chaotic mess, swallowed by a haphazardly firing synth corroding in real-time." In July 2014, Flavorwire named Shamir's "If It Wasn't True" one of its "25 Best Songs of 2014 So Far".{{cite web|title=Staff Picks: Flavorwire's Favorite Cultural Things This Week|first=Moze|last=Halperin|date=July 9, 2014|url=http://flavorwire.com/466527/staff-picks-flavorwires-favorite-cultural-things-this-week-62|website=Flavorwire.com}} Radio.com also included Shamir in its "New Music To Know: Best of 2014, So Far" profile, noting that "Shamir combines the honest songwriting of Taylor Swift with the theatrics of Lana Del Rey to make something that sounds far wiser than his 19 years."{{cite web|title=New Music To Know: Best of 2014, So Far|website=Radio.com|date=July 2, 2014|url=http://radio.com/2014/07/02/new-music-to-know-best-of-2014-so-far/}}
After signing to XL Recordings, he released the single "On the Regular" in October 2014{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/57242-shamir-shares-on-the-regular-video-signs-to-xl/ |title=Shamir Shares 'On the Regular' Video, Signs to XL |last=Minsker |first=Evan |date=October 28, 2014 |publisher=Pitchfork Media |access-date=February 15, 2015}} which went on to be used in a 2015 Android Wear commercial.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybg5klCxQGA/ |title=Android: Wear what you want (party on) |date=March 9, 2015 |via=YouTube |access-date=March 9, 2015}} In March 2015, he released "Call It Off" as a single in the debut album, Ratchet, released on May 19, 2015.{{Cite web|url = https://diymag.com/2015/03/23/shamir-shares-new-single-call-it-off|title = Shamir Shares New Single, Call It Off|date = March 23, 2015|access-date = March 23, 2015|website = Diymag.com|last = Milton|first = Jamie}} The accompanied music video was made and released as part of the 2015 YouTube Music Awards.{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Kc7RK2rOs|title = Shamir - Call It Off (Official Music Video YTMAs)|date = March 23, 2015|access-date = March 23, 2015|via=YouTube}} "Darker" was the second single from Ratchet; the song was released in May 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2015/05/shamir-night-day-darker-music-video-watch/|title=Shamir Sings the Night Away in New 'Darker' Music Video|website=Spin.com|access-date=August 19, 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/59495-shamir-explores-the-desert-in-darker-video/|title=Shamir Explores the Desert in "Darker" Videot|date=5 May 2015|website=Pitchfork.com|access-date=August 19, 2023}}{{cite web | url=http://www.papermag.com/2015/05/shamir_darker_drones.php | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506211942/http://www.papermag.com/2015/05/shamir_darker_drones.php | archive-date=6 May 2015 | title=PAPERMAG: Shamir's New "Darker" Video Was Shot by High-Flying Drones }} In 2015, he toured with Years & Years, opening for their UK dates. In mid-March 2016, he served as the opening act for Troye Sivan's Blue Neighbourhood Tour. On April 17, 2017, Shamir released his second album, Hope. He revealed he was dropped from XL Recordings and self-released the album.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}
After Hope was released, Shamir broke with his management team and again considered quitting his music career. After a psychotic episode, he spent time in a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He returned to Las Vegas, where he wrote and recorded most of his third album, Revelations, in two weeks. Noting that the style of the album differed significantly from his previous work, he told a journalist: "A lot of people think I'm crazy. I guess I kind of am. But I also know what's best for me, and that's more important than fame and money".{{cite news |title=Shamir Steps Away From the Spotlight, and His Signature Sound |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 8, 2017 |author=Coscarelli, Joe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/arts/music/shamir-revelations-interview.html |access-date=October 14, 2017 }}
Shamir was featured on Wussy Magazine{{'}}s "Sex Issue" in 2018.{{Cite web|author=|title=Queer Non-Binary Artist Graces Cover of WUSSY's 'The Sex Issue'|url=https://pridesource.com/article/queer-non-binary-artist-graces-cover-of-wussys-the-sex-issue/|access-date=2020-09-26|website=Pride Source|date=7 February 2018|language=en-US}} On March 9, 2018, Shamir released his fourth album, Resolution without any prior announcement. Resolution marks a continuation of Shamir's indie rock style, similar to Hope and Revelations.{{cite news |title=Resolution |website=Shamir.bandcamp.com |date=March 9, 2018 |author=Bailey, Shamir |url=https://shamir.bandcamp.com/album/resolution |access-date=March 17, 2018 }}
In 2020, Shamir released the self-titled full length album, Shamir. It was co-produced by Kyle Pulley, and many of the songs, including the single "On My Own" were recorded at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia. The album was met with critical acclaim and made year end lists for Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and NPR Music.{{Cite web|date=2020-12-04|title=Rolling Stone: Best Albums of 2020|url=https://www.yearendlists.com/2020/12/rolling-stone-best-albums-of-2020|access-date=2021-02-15|website=Yearendlists.com}}{{Cite web|last=Pitchfork|title=The 100 Best Songs of 2020|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2020/|access-date=2021-02-15|website=Pitchfork|date=7 December 2020|language=en-us}}{{Cite web|title=Bob Boilen's 40 Favorite Songs Of 2020|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2020/12/09/944273761/bob-boilens-40-favorite-songs-of-2020|access-date=2021-02-15|website=NPR.org|date=9 December 2020 |language=en|last1=Boilen |first1=Bob }}
Shamir published his first book, But I'm a Painter, with Bottlecap Press in 2021, a collection of essays about paintings he created over the previous six years.{{Cite web|date=2021-08-02|title=Shamir announces his first book, 'But I'm a Painter'|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/shamir-announces-his-first-book-but-im-a-painter-3009120|access-date=2021-08-03|website=NME|language=en-GB}}
Musical style
Shamir is known for having an androgynous countertenor voice. Radio.com wrote that Shamir's singing voice, "like Joplin's, stops you in your tracks." He does not mind having his voice described as androgynous, but notes that "countertenor" is the correct term: "It's not feminine, it's not masculine. It's a happy medium ... I feel like if the world was more like that, our problems would be gone."
Critic Jamieson Cox, writing for Pitchfork Media, wrote:
With a piercing countertenor somewhere between Prince masquerading as Camille and the cracking adolescent soul of the teenage Michael Jackson, the 19-year-old North Las Vegas native dismantles the expectations maintained for vocalists based on their gender, demanding instead that the focus be placed on their agile, fluttering performance.
Lizzie Plaugic of CMJ called Shamir's music "amazingly unclassifiable," like a "souped-up Vegas Strip disco with a self-conscious pop bent," and wrote that his voice "limbers and stretches like a wad of pink Silly Putty dipped in glitter."{{cite web|title=Stream Shamir's Debut EP, Northtown|first=Lizzie|last=Plaugic|publisher=CMJ|date=June 6, 2014|url=http://www.cmj.com/news/stream-shamirs-debut-ep-northtown/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001050911/http://www.cmj.com/news/stream-shamirs-debut-ep-northtown/|archive-date=October 1, 2014}} In a 2020 Vulture interview, Shamir cited Taylor Swift as an inspiration and influence on his songwriting.{{Cite web|last=Curto|first=Justin|date=October 6, 2020|title=Taylor Swift, Canadian Singer-Songwriters, and More Influences on Shamir|url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/10/shamir-self-titled-album-influences.html|access-date=October 7, 2020|website=Vulture|language=en-us}}
Discography
{{Infobox artist discography
|Artist=Shamir
|Studio=8
|EP=5
|Singles=13}}
=Studio albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:17em;"| Details ! scope="col" colspan="3"| Peak chart positions |
| scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US Dance {{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/shamir/chart-history/elp/|title=Shamir Chart History|magazine=Billboard|access-date=October 9, 2020}} ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US |
|---|
| scope="row"| Ratchet
|
| 6 || 7 || 22 |
| scope="row"| Hope
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Revelations
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Resolution
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Be the Yee, Here Comes the Haw
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Cataclysm
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Shamir
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Heterosexuality
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Homo Anxietatem
|
| — || — || — |
| scope="row"| Ten
|
| — || — || — |
=Extended plays=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
! scope="col" rowspan="1" style="width:12em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="1" style="width:16em;"| Details |
| scope="row"| Bitter
|
|
|---|
| scope="row"| Northtown
|
|
| scope="row"| Shamir on Audiotree Live
|
|
| scope="row"| Room
|
|
| scope="row"| Jam in the Van - Shamir (Live Session)
|
|
=Singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Title ! scope="col" style="width:4em;"| Year ! scope="col" style="width:16em;"| Album |
| scope="row"| "On the Regular"
|rowspan="2"| 2015 |rowspan="2"|Ratchet |
|---|
| scope="row"| "Darker" |
| scope="row"| "On My Own"
|rowspan="4"|2020 |rowspan="4"|Shamir |
| scope="row"| "I Wonder" |
| scope="row"| "Running" |
| scope="row"| "Other Side" |
| scope="row"| "Ocean Eyes"{{Cite magazine |last=Martoccio |first=Angie |date=February 23, 2021 |title=Shamir Lends 'Haunted Emo Shoegaze' to Billie Eilish's "Ocean Eyes" |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/shamir-billie-eilish-ocean-eyes-cover-1131954/ |access-date=April 22, 2022}}
|rowspan="5"|2021 |{{n/a|Non-album single}} |
| scope="row"| "Punk Rock Boyfriend" {{small|(with Macy Rodman)}} |Unbelievable Animals |
| scope="row"| "Where Gravity is Dead"
|Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars) |
| scope="row"| "Gay Agenda"
|rowspan="4"|Heterosexuality |
| scope="row"| "Cisgender" |
| scope="row"| "Reproductive"
|rowspan="3"|2022 |
| scope="row"| "Caught Up" |
| scope="row"| "Breathe"
|Hope (Deluxe Reissue) |
| scope="row"| "Oversized Sweater"
|rowspan="4"|2023 |rowspan="4"|Homo Anxietatem |
| scope="row"| "Crime" |
| scope="row"| "Our Song" |
| scope="row"| "The Beginning" |
| scope="row"| "Neverwannago"
|rowspan="2"|2025 |rowspan="2"|Ten |
| scope="row"| "Recording 291" |
=Guest appearances=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| Release
! Year ! Other artist(s) ! Credits ! Album |
|---|
| "Punx with Ukeleles"
| rowspan="1" | 2019 | Fashion Brigade | Featured artist/co-writer | Fvck the Heartache |
| "Shout"
| rowspan="1" | 2018 | House of Feelings | Featured artist/co-writer | New Lows |
| "Tantrum"
| rowspan="4" | 2017 | Michete | Featured artist/co-writer | Cool Tricks 3 (EP) |
| "Tunnel Vision"
| Featured artist/co-writer | Rina (EP) |
| "Like O, Like H"
| Cover performer | Tegan and Sara present The Con X: Covers |
| "Falling"
| House of Feelings | Featured artist/co-writer | Last Chance (EP) |
=Other album appearances=
| class="wikitable" |
| Song
! Year ! Other artist(s) ! Album |
|---|
| "Burn with Me"
| 2020 | {{N/A}} | Bernie Speaks with the Community |
Filmography
- Dear White People - AJ (2017)
- Tuca & Bertie - multiple voices (2019)[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8837589/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 "Shamir Bailey"],IMDb. Retrieved on 15 May 2019.
Tours
;Opening act
- Marina and the Diamonds – Neon Nature Tour (2015)
- Troye Sivan - Blue Neighbourhood Tour (2016) (Washington D.C., Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Dallas and Houston shows)
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{official website|http://shamir326.com/index_new.html}}
{{Shamir}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:American LGBTQ singers
Category:People from North Las Vegas, Nevada
Category:People with bipolar disorder
Category:American countertenors
Category:American non-binary musicians
Category:LGBTQ people from Nevada
Category:XL Recordings artists
Category:African-American rock musicians
Category:African-American LGBTQ people
Category:Father/Daughter Records artists