SHAEFRI - GIRL EP
Rosie shares her thoughts on the second Shaefri EP, Girl, and lets you know whether she thinks you should listen or not.
Brimming with a variety of cultural diversity, Shaefri puts together influences from her half Egyptian and half Irish heritage at the heart of every song. Combined with Arabic beats, beautiful harmonious vocals and powerful, political lyrics, Shaefri has struck a chord in young women everywhere. Raised in London, surrounded by busy city life and presented with various unpleasant situations, she finds a way to turn them into a life lesson for others and from her identity.
The first track, ‘Girl’ introduces us to mellow, subtle rhythms with hardly any instrumentation. The lyrics couldn’t be any more different, bringing the track to life is that it is almost like a letter to her younger self and to all girls everywhere, “I’ll be honest little girl I’m not sure it will change but I know we’ll keep fighting”. ‘Girl’ is in response to the #metoo movement. “ I don’t know one woman my age who hasn’t been harassed at work… just the scale of the problem is too much to take in.” As much as the movement has spiked in having more and more voices heard, there is unfortunately still a long way to go to combat systemic sexism and harassment.
Both ‘Say You’ll Be There’ and ‘23’ discuss the various transitions of emotions throughout adulthood such as experiencing loss, money problems, drink and drug issues and sustaining a home. Vocals are reminiscent of the likes of Halsey and Lorde further adding to the huge hybrid of modern western and older middle eastern influences. Shaefri owes it to support networks for combatting her own mental health issues. “I’m cautious of bringing up mental health because it has become such a clickbait topic… this song is about communication, both sides reaching out.”
The entirety of the EP is very lyric heavy, the music is minimal to allow for more emphasis on the words and the content. Touching on themes of domestic abuse, loss, sexism, and more, Shaefri finds a way to reach through to express these emotions straight up as they are without fear of judgement, which is where we all need to be. A really thought-provoking EP that says “enough is enough” let’s change the way we talk about mental health, let’s change how we view and treat women for good. Maybe one day we’ll get there.
Rosie Chalk
★★★★☆