Photo by Alison Li
Breaking into the music scene is tough at any age, but there’s an extra burden levied on young people, a pressure to be perfect and talented beyond your years while you are still forming your own sense of self-identity, both as a human and an artist. You’re busy trying to find your lane, your unique sound, while also trying to build a fanbase and platform, often all on your own.
Luckily for Shandelle Gomez – an 19 year-old R&B singer based in Somerville – she’s had a bit of a head start since about the age of four, when she first started singing. In high school, she linked up with producer and collaborator Arkh Zeus (whose Tensai IV we covered a few months back. After appearing as a featured artist on the tracks of others, Shandelle decided to set out to record and release her own songwriting efforts, a decision that has led up to introspection, her debut EP as a solo artist. Taking inspiration from fellow contemporary R&B artists like Kehlani, Kali Uchis, Snoh Aalegra, and Jhene Aiko, Shandelle has crafted for herself an exciting premiere, a bold and confident declaration of her own presence and emergence within Boston’s ever-growing R&B scene.
Cover Art by Alison Li
Shandelle says that introspection was the culmination of a number of different things. In regards to her influences, she says, “A lot of women in music, especially R&B, inspire me sonically and as people [and] remind me to unapologetically be my most authentic self.” When Arkh Zeus texted her at the beginning of 2021, pushing her to get into the studio, she began to feel “comfortable to start writing [her] own music and recording originals.” That initial push led to “vacant,” which serves as the EP’s opener. Fittingly, Shandelle kicks off the track with the line “there’s no turning back” as a dark, shuffling beat builds beneath her voice. For someone who confesses to her own self doubts regarding her ability to develop her own creative impulses, the track sure does sound self-assured, even while she sings about her own struggles to break free of toxic cycles. “I’m ready to move on/I won’t hold on to what this became,” she offers as a promise, perhaps most of all to herself.
The rest of the EP explores the themes that its title suggests; this is a young artist coming into a belief of her own abilities, her own vocal presence, her songwriting power. “don’t tempt me” works as a sort of warning to anyone who might disrespect her. On the track, her English lyrics weave in and out of Spanish; she even dabbles in some rap lyricism, declaring that she can “listen to her own intuition/I’m sorry if I ever convinced you bitches any different.”
Album art by Alison Li
The whole EP features rich melodic textures, lush instrumentation, and rhythmically compelling beat structures, due in part to Arkh Zeus’s adept production skills. Zeus also pops up as a featured artist on closing track “circles,” which continues to chip away at the theme of getting caught in our own cycles. However, it’s a song that also embraces change, freely admitting that sometimes we are too close to ourselves to truly recognize how much we have grown. It takes time and maturity to step away from yourself and realize how different you have become from your own past iterations. “My EP,” she says, “was a journey towards healing, coming to terms with what I’ve experienced in life over the past year and a half, and letting it out so I can put it to rest within my life and on my journey of personal growth.” And let’s hope Shandelle maintains that sense of growth, that embrace of change, because it’s clear from introspection that this young singer has a lot of room left to explore as a songwriter and performer.
Stream Shandelle’s introspection below via Spotify or on the streaming platform of your choice.