There’s nothing better than feeling empowered through music, and hip-hop singer .shy wants just that for her fans.

.shy, whose artist name represents her love for coding, is an LA-based musician. Like so many other creatives, .shy had a rough 2020. She released her debut EP, Echoes of Self Love, in July 2020, then took a pause on her music career. “I had all these other songs that I couldn’t release because the political climate was really crazy.” And now, after months of delay, she is ready for multiple releases in 2021.

In March 2021, .shy released “Floating,” one of the many songs she has written about empowerment. “I wanted all my songs to retain power. When writing this song, I noticed that the lyrics coming out of me were more on the melancholy side, having to do with being in a relationship that’s not good for you. I wanted to write about that unbalanced relationship of constantly giving to someone and then they’re taking but not giving you the love that you’re used to.”

Then, .shy paired these lyrics with her own rap, a first time for her, to give the song more power and to emphasize the message that even though we find ourselves in situations we can’t control, we shouldn’t lose our power.

That’s an encouragement especially apt after a disruptive year of coping with COVID-19. While we all found ourselves in situations beyond our control, some found solace in alternate universes through playing video games. Here is where .shy made another first strive into an unfamiliar territory.

NBA 2K is a popular series of basketball simulation games available on multiple video gaming platforms. When .shy found an opportunity to submit a song to a new version of the series, she took it, and to her surprise, her song “Break the News” made it into the NBA 2k21 Next-gen game.

“I lost my mind…I was really dumbfounded,” she recalls when she found out the game developers moved from considering the song to including it in the game. “I’m a smaller artist and having that happen in such a big game…I don’t even know!”

Not a gamer herself, .shy has yet to witness this milestone in action when her music is played as part of the gaming experience, but she can hardly contain her excitement when someone can finally share a screen recording with her.

Imagine that announcement when she breaks the news on “Break the News.” We can’t wait!

Interview conducted and written by Louise Lau. Connect with her on social media @offstagetunes

The interview was from episode #5 of the Offstage Tunes Live – The Brunch Series.

Visit .shy on Spotify, Instagram, and Twitter