Representing Watford, London, powerhouse vocalist Shaé Universe, has been one of British R&B’s most promising acts for a bit now. Before even a debut EP, Shaé has collaborated with artists from Etta Bond to Kojey Radical, opened on tour for Eminem and performed at The Great Escape Festival. A rich silky voice like none other, Shaé is also able to create bangers that are simultaneously ear candy, deeply soulful and lyrically rousing.
Shaé Universe was the obvious choice for the premiere episode of UNCOVRD, our new cover mash-up live session series. Shaé has broken Twitter many times for her covers with nods from Chance the Rapper, Stormzy, Ella Mai, Tory Lanez and more. For UNCOVRD, she performed a mash-up of Floetry’s Say Yes and her original single, Meant To Be.
After blessing our ears with her ethereal vocals, we had a very interesting conversation on everything from the highlights of her relatively short music career to at times being under-appreciated by the industry. Shaé is a big personality with an even bigger heart. Some of the conversation is captured in the UNCOVRD mini-documentary on Shaé here. So without further ado, this is Shaé Universe UNCOVRD.
Shaé’s Universe
Shaé Universe’s music is a smooth R&B ride. Describing the mark that she would like to leave on music, Shaé says, ‘’I’d like to inspire people to be themselves unapologetically. I’m embracing all that I am, but I am the only me on this earth. So, hopefully through that other people can learn to love themselves.’’ Revealing more of her considerate heart, Shaé shows she is an open book and reflects this throughout her music. ‘’I feel like as my music changes, I change. You’ll find that I’m just a very transparent person. Everyone’s just watching that journey happen. And it’s going to be a fun one’’, she says smiling with an open invite.
Shaé discovered her passion for music first through singing in the choir at her church. ‘’What really gravitated me towards music is the power it has to invoke feeling and emotion. Listening to Gospel and feeling like; wow, this moves. That is what it inspired me to do music- to move other people.’’ With a light-hearted laugh, she states and poses the rhetorical question, ‘’God blessed me with the gift, so why not?’’
Growing up
Growing up, Shaé was influenced by greats like Luther Vandross, Barry White and Anita Baker. ‘’That feel good soulful sound’’. Her choice to cover Say Yes by Floetry, a song she says she could sing fresh from sleep was based on that early attachment to music. ‘’The song Say Yes is very special to me because it is one of the songs I grew up on. I heard it played very frequently throughout my household and so I guess I have a sentimental attachment to it in that way’’, she reminisces.
Taking the world stage
Further showcasing the gravity of her talent and growing fanbase, Shaé Universe opened for one of Eminem’s UK shows at Twickenham stadium in 2018. ‘’There must have been at least 80,000 people in there. That is the most people I have ever performed to and it was such an exhilarating experience’’, she explains, the excitement evident in her body language. ‘’It taught me so much about myself and how I deal with nerves’’.
When asked when she thinks she may have her pinnacle album, she replies ‘’I’d say by 30 I’ll have one big timeless piece of work that the world will know about. You heard it here first guys.’’
I wish I wrote…
Patrice Rushen’s Forget Me Not is the song Shaé wishes she wrote. ‘’She’s a classic. It doesn’t matter where you are, or who you are, when you hear that song you just start to feel good instantly. I aim to invoke feeling, so I wish I wrote that song.’’ On albums she wishes she would have written, Usher’s 8701, a true R&B classic is the one. We’re confident Shaé will make many classics in her career. We also believe she has the talent for her ultimate dream collab goal of working with Beyoncé.
1 milli
In the summer of 2019, Shaé’s single, No Stallin reached 1 million streams. ‘‘I felt blessed and grateful. It’s still quite surreal. It’s just weird to think that the world is actually being receptive to me, but that’s what I want, so we move.’’ She may just be in the makings of another milli with her latest single You Lose. You Lose is a banging elixir of R&B and Drill. A month after its release,You Lose is featured on 800 Spotify playlists, including a few official ones, supported by Notion and playing on UK radio. Guided along by Shaé Universe’s butter smooth vocals, the song is a female anthem that looks set to take Shaé’s career to even bigger heights.
Melanin
Black empowerment is a theme that runs throughout Shaé Universe’s music. With songs like Melanin and Black Panther, Shaé speaks unapologetically for blackness.
‘’I feel like it’s still important to create content that relates to people like me. Obviously, it’s good to relate to everybody, but the people that I’m speaking to are first and foremost the people who are like me because we experience similar things, we have similar struggles. Melanin and Black Panther, were birthed from me feeling like my people weren’t appreciated enough. So that was another incentive behind why I felt the need to write songs in that avenue’’.
Getting her just due
The music industry can often be complex to navigate. Sharing her experience within the industry, she says ‘’consumers wise, I’m actually pretty blessed because I have a pretty solid fanbase’’. She shares the story of a fan gifting her a Valentino perfume at her show. Talk about a ride or die.
But she got real on the business. ‘’I’ve definitely seen in this industry that people can be mediocre or have mediocre gifts but if you have some form of clout that is pulling you forward, people will actually jump on the bandwagon and will forward your stuff. But I am grateful to God, because I am still somehow able to generate some sort of platform, conversation and buzz. It’s not the same sort of clout that I am just out here doing anything for attention, but I feel like the things that I am doing are gravitating attention regardless’’. Hinting more at her considerate character, she says, ‘’I don’t really care about clout if I’m honest. My main thing is if your heart is clean. Are you genuine? Those are the things that actually matter to me.’’
In terms of working in the actual music industry, she reveals ‘’I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman, black or both, but people tend to want to take from my gift but not give the respect that’s due. I’ve had a lot of experience in the industry where I am so open to working and collaborating with people but when it comes down to giving credit, there’s issues. There is still a way to go for black women in the music industry when it comes to people really giving us our dues and not just taking from us. But I’m going to get there’’, she confidently states.
Up next for Shaé
With all Shaé Universe has achieved in her career so far, it’s almost hard to believe that she hasn’t released a body of work yet. Well, that is about to change, as she’s planning a debut EP in 2020! ‘I’m really excited for that and believe that a lot of blessings are going to come from that. I aim to tour headline shows, listening parties, and all that kind of stuff off of the back of that.’’
It’s clear that 2020 brings for Shaé Universe too. We will definitely be keeping a close eye on her music and any of her upcoming projects this year and so should you! You can follow her on Instagram @shaesuniverse
