Shamir
Shamir
Release Date: Oct 2, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Self-released
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Album Review: Shamir by Shamir
Excellent, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Before he turned 25, Shamir proved he was unafraid of blowing up his career. Despite the justified praise his first full-length Ratchet earned, its neon R&B and pop didn't feel true to him, so he embarked on a path of artistic authenticity. The confessional lo-fi of albums such as Revelations couldn't have been further from Ratchet, but Shamir continued to challenge himself with 2019's Be the Yee, Here Comes the Haw and this, his self-titled seventh album.
Based on rating 4/5
In the summer of 2015, Shamir Bailey was one of music's best-kept secrets. Signed to XL, single 'On The Regular' was a sleeper club hit adjacent to Azealia Banks' '212', soundtracking slick tech ads that looked and sounded like the millennial future. The talent was obvious, but the confidence less so - even in those early stages, there were signs that Shamir was at a personal crossroads, his name never quite drawing the same recognition as his song.
Based on rating 8/10
Shamir begins with a gasp for breath. At just 25, Shamir Bailey has jumped over his fair share of hurdles. From being dropped from XL Recordings after refusing to replicate his break-out LP Ratchet, to suffering a psychotic episode—which resulted in a bi-polar disagnosis—and to just generally being a non-binary, Black, queer artist in an embrassingly homogenous pop sphere—it’s no wonder he needs some air.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Shamir's music has undergone a few striking overhauls in the past five years. The Las Vegas native abandoned the glossy dance-pop of his debut, Ratchet, after creative differences prompted a split with indie label XL, and spent six follow-up albums as an "anti-career artist." That meant forgoing the pop-star trajectory and returning to the lo-fi, bare-bones folk and country music he first loved as a youth, taking detours through grunge and indie rock along the way. His uniquely self-reliant catalog represented an effort to divorce the industry and recontextualize himself and his music, mapping out a DIY route to his self-titled seventh album.