Nymph (album)

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, through Because Music. The album was announced alongside the release of its lead single "Firefly" on 10 May 2022. The second single "Come for Me" was released on 7 June 2022. The album was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize.

Background
On 20 November 2020, Shygirl would release her second extended play, Alias, via the Because Music label. Featuring additional production by Kai Whiston, Sophie, and Sega Bodega, Alias would be critically praised by outlets such as Pitchfork and NME and received a column in Vogue. After pursuing other projects such as a performance film titled "Blu", 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, Nymph would have its writing process commence in late September 2021 and end in December of the same year.

Composition
Nymph is primarily a pop album, through critics have noted that the album resists strict genre classification. "Firefly", "Heaven", and "Coochie (A Bedtime Story)" are all hyperpop songs with the latter incorporating trap beats. UK garage and 2-step are present on both "Firefly" and "Wildfire", while "Nike" and "Missing U" incorporate rap music. "Poison" is a Europop-inspired blog house track "with a raucous accordion hook and club-ready bass squelches". "Honey" merges jungle breakbeats and liquid drum 'n' bass into a "sultry" R&B ballad. 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."

Critical reception
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. 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."

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", whereas Dhruva Balram of NME found that the album generated "a gleaming collage of club sounds, with each element wholly unique in its execution." Writing for The Skinny, Abbie Aitken found that Nymph "slithers through a jungle of sound" and essentially "created an entire genre".

Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's official liner notes.

Notes


 * $undefined$signifies an additional producer
 * "Shlut" features additional vocals by Cosha and Sega Bodega.
 * "Firefly" features additional vocals by Cecile Believe.

Sample credits
 * "Woe" contains a sample of "Bunny is a Rider", performed by Caroline Polachek, written by Polachek and Daniel Harle.
 * "Firefly" contains samples of "Ready to Make Luv", performed by Trey Songz, written by Tremaine Aldon Neverson & Troy Taylor.
 * "Shlut (live edit)" contains an interpolation of "Don't Tell Me", written by Madonna, Joe Henry, and Mirwais Ahmadzaï, and performed by Madonna.

Nymph_o
A deluxe edition/remix album, titled Nymph_o, was announced on 28 February 2023, and released on 14 April 2023. 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)", and a remix of "Heaven", featuring American singer Tinashe. Björk's remix of "Woe" was released as a single on 21 March, followed by "Playboy/Positions" on 4 April.

Additionally, "Unconditional" was originally released in June 2020 exclusively on Bandcamp to raise funds for Black Lives Matter during the George Floyd protests.

Notes


 * $undefined$signifies an additional producer.
 * "Playboy/Positions" features additional vocals by Obongjayar.