"Coochie (A Bedtime Story)" Released: 20 July 2022
"Nike" Released: 1 September 2022
"Shlut" Released: 27 September 2022
Nymph is the debut studio album by British rapper and singer Shygirl. It was released on 30 September 2022 on vinyl, CD, cassette and digital download,[2] through Because Music.[3][4] The album was announced alongside the release of its lead single "Firefly" on 10 May 2022.[5] The second single "Come for Me" was released on 7 June 2022.[6] The album was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize.[7]
Background
On 20 November 2020, Shygirl released her second extended play, Alias, via the Because Music label. Featuring additional production by Kai Whiston, Sophie, and Sega Bodega, Alias was critically praised by outlets such as Pitchfork and NME and received a column in Vogue.[8][9][10] After pursuing other projects such as a performance film titled "Blu",[11] a remix EP, and being featured on a remix of Lady Gaga and Blackpink's "Sour Candy" on Lady Gaga's Dawn of Chromatica remix album,[12]Nymph had its writing process commence in late September 2021 and end in December of the same year.[13]
Composition
Nymph is primarily a pop album,[1] through critics have noted that the album resists strict genre classification.[14][15] "Firefly", "Heaven", and "Coochie (A Bedtime Story)" are all hyperpop songs with the latter incorporating trap beats.[15][16][17][18]UK garage and 2-step are present on both "Firefly" and "Wildfire", while "Nike" and "Missing U" incorporate rap music.[17][18] "Poison" is a Europop-inspired blog house track "with a raucous accordion hook and club-ready bass squelches".[14][18] "Honey" merges junglebreakbeats and liquid drum 'n' bass into a "sultry" R&B ballad.[16][17] The Arca-produced "Come for Me" has been described as a "mutant" reggaetón song containing "sparse, militant drum patterns sound like they’ve been swallowed by broken subwoofers."[17][18]
Nymph was met with universal acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84, based on 10 reviews.[22] Cameron Cook of Pitchfork praised the album, stating that each track unveiled "some new aspect of Shygirl’s persona, musicality, or, most often, both", and finding that her "siren song" enticed a listener "toward somewhere brighter and more introspective."[21]
The Guardian's Ammar Kalia further noted her "experimenting with its more irreverent aspects" with the record, in comparison to her earlier work having "explored the darker side of the dancefloor",[16] whereas Dhruva Balram of NME found that the album generated "a gleaming collage of club sounds, with each element wholly unique in its execution."[1] Writing for The Skinny, Abbie Aitken found that Nymph "slithers through a jungle of sound" and essentially "created an entire genre".[15]
Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's official liner notes.
"Heaven (featuring Tinashe)" Released: 28 February 2023
"Woe (I See It From Your Side) (Björk Remix)" Released: 21 March 2023
"Playboy/Positions" Released: 4 April 2023
A deluxe edition/remix album, titled Nymph_o, was announced on 28 February 2023, and released on 14 April 2023.[31] It features new songs, as well as remixes of the album's tracks.
It was preceded by the single releases of "Poison (Club Shy mix)",[32] and a remix of "Heaven", featuring American singer Tinashe.[33]Björk's remix of "Woe" was released as a single on 21 March,[34] followed by "Playboy/Positions" on 4 April.[35]
