Tei Shi touches on freedom, standing your floor, and making house on your personal model of creativity on her newest launch ‘BAD PREMONITION.’

Stream: ‘BAD PREMONITION’ – Tei Shi

Any artist will inform you that typically, you need to combat tooth and nail to launch what you need to put out on this planet.

No person feels that greater than Valerie Teicher, higher identified by her moniker Tei Shi. After two less-than-ideal label offers, she’s lastly free to do what she pleases as an impartial artist. The Colombian/Canadian singer/songwriter and producer began making music 10 years in the past, however her love for music, efficiency, and all issues creative started approach earlier than that. From a child who merely cherished artwork to being a full-fledged creative powerhouse, she’s stayed true to herself each step of the way in which. Tei Shi’s bilingual, multicultural id has lengthy been an anchoring level in her strategy to music and writing. Her most up-to-date launch BAD PREMONITION is not any exception, that includes hard-hitting Spanglish observe “QUIÉN TE MANDA?” and shifting between varied genres and tempos throughout the EP with startling fluidity.

Quién te manda
Te pasaste y ahora tienes q tragar tus palabras
Ni te digo lo bien que me siento desde que te vas
Y lo fresca que estoy, pero no se te ocurra pasar
A ver, a ver

Hey, good day who’s there?
Que vaina con usted
De parte d quién?
I’m working once more
When everybody’s sleeping

– “¿QUIÉN TE MANDA?,” Tei Shi

The undertaking is a robust show of reclamation and launch after her struggles with label partnerships that hindered her capability to personal her work, nevertheless it’s additionally a celebration. Now greater than ever, Tei Shi is taking her energy again and taking a stand, letting her full self shine by way of her music and a lot extra.

If I didn’t say it
You may assume I’m the silent kind
Though forgiveness is in my nature
You’ve been crossing the road
You’ve been taking what’s mine
Properly, we had it then, however now it’s over
Have a look round
Don’t let me catch you coming over for a second likelihood

You assume you already know however you don’t, however you don’t
Look you bought your grip round me and also you’re not letting go
Suppose you bought me within the palm of your hand
What don’t you perceive, I want that cash

– “GRIP,” Tei Shi

Tei Shi’s punchy but poignant manufacturing and completely emotive supply make BAD PREMONITION probably the most expressive EPs launched this yr, and it appears it’s just the start of what we are able to anticipate from her.

Atwood Journal spoke to Tei Shi as she dove deep into being a bilingual artist, getting her begin within the weblog scene of the 2010s, and getting into the world of vogue.

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A CONVERSATION WITH TEI SHI

Atwood Journal: So how’s all the things going after wrapping up the Dangerous Premonition tour in San Francisco?

Tei Shi: It was a extremely good present in San Francisco and yeah, I’m good. I’m simply type of wrapping my head round not being on the highway anymore. Earlier than my headline tour, I used to be opening for Kimbra for 2 months, so 2023 has been totally on the highway. Now I’m simply attempting to transition into regular life once more and I’m actually completely happy to be again house.

Was there any particular date that actually stood out on tour?

Tei Shi: To be sincere, it was such a candy tour as a result of because it was solely 10 days, each present actually stood out and had its personal character. However, I feel the Chicago present goes to stay in my thoughts for a very long time as a result of it was a kind of days that’s only a tour nightmare. We have been flying from Toronto to Chicago the morning of the present and ended up lacking our flight, so we needed to run to a different airport to catch one other flight. Baggage have been misplaced and we received to Chicago tremendous late, possibly proper earlier than doorways opened, and did the quickest soundcheck ever. It was simply a kind of days on tour, however when you may have these shitshow days, it makes the present rely a lot extra and it offers you a lot to only unleash throughout the present. It was actually a kind of, and it was packed, it was actually enjoyable. It felt like a kind of actually fulfilling reveals.

So how did you first get into music and what was your upbringing like?

Tei Shi: I’ve at all times cherished music and had a extremely sturdy connection to music. Once I was about two years outdated I began ballet and I did that till I used to be 15. I feel way back to six or seven years outdated, I used to be writing little songs in my diary, writing lyrics and poems. However that was at all times a brilliant non-public, private endeavor that I by no means shared with anybody. As I grew up, I didn’t actually see a strategy to truly make a profession out of that, as a result of I didn’t have the reference factors. I used to be going to highschool for psychology, and determining what I wished to do. Then I had a reasonably serendipitous expertise the place I ended up doing this audition and I used to be given a scholarship to go to music college in Boston. It actually put me in that atmosphere of assembly different musicians, being round different artists, and studying in regards to the basis of music. That was the place I began studying to report myself on my laptop. I used to be writing increasingly stuff by myself and type of studying to supply slightly bit, and that was the place I made my first EP that I launched as Tei Shi.

I do know that you simply had some dangerous experiences with labels. How did that occur and the way has your scenario modified now that you simply’re impartial?

Tei Shi: I began placing music out and being an artist publicly at a time when it was nonetheless “the weblog world,” you already know? There wasn’t actually streaming but. There weren’t the constructions in place that we now have now. It was enjoyable, and it was free, and I began with that freedom. Tei Shi was born out of the spirit of being an impartial artist in that scene. I feel once you signal to a label, particularly early on, you’re not likely conscious of the truth that you’re relinquishing quite a lot of management over your livelihood to an organization. I used to be attempting to maneuver ahead with my profession and maintain releasing music and I ended up simply not having the ability to try this. Then I attempted my hand at a distinct kind of label partnership the place I principally wasn’t allowed to launch music and never being dropped after I was begging to be dropped. I’d launch an album, after which there can be two years of completely nothing. I needed to combat in opposition to some very narrow-minded views of how a feminine artist ought to be marketed, how a multicultural bilingual artist ought to be marketed, and how much music I ought to be making. All these choices which on the finish of the day, are choices that an artist ought to be making in the event you’re an artist who has that imaginative and prescient. It was actually crushing truly, after I skilled that for a second time. However having that freedom and being again within the driver’s seat is admittedly wonderful. I feel it’s the start of a extremely thrilling new section for me.

Did you do quite a lot of writing throughout the pandemic?

Tei Shi: At first, I simply type of centered on ending that EP that I launched in the summertime of 2020. I used to be positively making music and dealing at house, nevertheless it was extra about ending issues. Then I made a decision to start out writing for the following album. I used to be in search of assist [from the label] to have the ability to make music within the circumstances of the pandemic and I simply wasn’t getting that. As a substitute, I used to be getting actually intense stress to carry out in sure ways in which have been unattainable given the pandemic. So, I had a extremely loopy artistic block for a number of months as a result of I used to be getting quite a lot of poisonous rhetoric and it simply actually received in my head. I feel the primary track I wrote that type of reignited all the things was the title observe “BAD PREMONITION”. Step by step, the songs began popping out as I began addressing among the issues that weren’t working for me and getting myself out of that scenario. That’s type of when all of the songs that ended up on the EP actually got here to me and got here collectively.

I seen some themes round breaking out of that darker place on the EP, and the themes of liberation on there, that are actually well timed and relatable, I feel.

Tei Shi: Yeah, positively quite a lot of that and quite a lot of acknowledging the repetition of sure patterns, conditions, and cycles. I feel that’s most likely one thing that lots of people needed to do throughout the pandemic, that self-work or self-observation of actually acknowledging your life and your inside panorama. That was all stuff that I used to be working by way of whereas I wrote the EP. So yeah, the liberation theme, that type of solely got here later, however I like that that’s type of the tone that the EP has in its remaining kind.

How would you say this EP differs from Die 4 Ur Love, for instance?

Tei Shi: I didn’t essentially have the artistic management that I wished after I made that EP. It was a irritating course of for me, to be sincere. I really like the songs, however there have been issues that I wished to do with a few of them that I simply wasn’t in a position to. I wished to only be like, “growth, right here’s one thing enjoyable,” not overthinking it. I wished it to be a step into this pop world, pushing myself as a songwriter, in order that EP was type of a results of that. However I wouldn’t say that that EP was my most genuine, artistic expression. I feel it was actually banger songs and I used to be in a position to do what I actually wished with one or two of them. With BAD PREMONITION, it’s fully the alternative. Nearly all of the songs have been from after I was attempting to persuade my label on the time to let me launch them. So I used to be attempting to show one thing, you already know? By making these songs that I felt have been actually sturdy, standalone songs, after which I received that freedom again to do no matter I wished with them. So it was this mix of desirous to show myself by way of this EP, like, right here’s what I can create by myself with the liberty to only do it the way in which I wished to and mess around and have enjoyable. So, yeah, they’re completely different. I feel they only symbolize completely different occasions, however BAD PREMONITION is certainly extra my very own, for positive.

How does your Colombian heritage and bilingualism come into your work?

Tei Shi: It’s a extremely pure factor. I’ve at all times type of been writing in Spanish, largely poems. And, you already know, type of extra summary stuff, I assume. It was one thing I type of at all times did, simply as an extension of who I’m. So I’ve been releasing stuff in Spanish alongside the way in which by way of my profession, nevertheless it additionally was not straightforward for a very long time to do. It wasn’t the way in which it’s now the place individuals simply settle for and embrace that one artist might be multifaceted and straddle completely different cultures and languages. So I really feel it’s one thing I’ve at all times executed and has come naturally to me, nevertheless it’s not one thing that I’ve been in a position to pursue essentially the way in which I’ve wished to till extra just lately. Yeah, I feel on this EP and extra lately, somewhat than writing a track in English versus a track in Spanish, it’s been enjoyable not likely eager about language a lot and simply going with the track. I really like simply mixing and matching and when you’re bilingual and also you develop up in an atmosphere the place you’re throwing phrases in Spanish and English collectively, and also you’re type of speaking to your loved ones or mates that approach, it’s only a pure approach of expressing your self. And I feel individuals are actually open to that now, which is cool.

So you lately walked within the Elena Velez present for Vogue Week. How has vogue been one other artistic outlet for you?

Tei Shi: It’s truthfully been very nice and natural the way in which that’s unfolded alongside my music profession. I’ve at all times cherished vogue and I feel for me, music, efficiency, and aesthetics have at all times been issues that I’ve cherished ever since I used to be slightly child. I’d be like, placing appears to be like collectively and making little units and having my mother and father take images of me. I’ve been actually lucky to be welcomed and embraced in that house however I’m additionally actually completely happy that it’s been by way of my music, which is probably the most genuine a part of me. It seems like entry right into a world and an business that may clearly be very unique and superficial, nevertheless it will also be an area that’s far more free and experimental than music is correct now. So it’s simply actually enjoyable for me. The Elena factor got here tremendous organically, she and I have been simply followers of one another’s work and following one another on-line and you already know, related through Instagram and all that. We’ve been speaking for a short time, after which she requested me to stroll within the present. I’d by no means walked in a present earlier than and I at all times wished to type of see what the behind-the-scenes was like and it was a lot enjoyable. Actually, I really feel actually impressed by individuals in vogue, like Elena who’re doing issues that aren’t essentially the standard strategy to vogue or who’re actually type of pushing the ways in which we current magnificence and glamour. So yeah, I find it irresistible. I discover it actually inspiring, truthfully.

What do you may have developing subsequent?

Tei Shi: I positively have some thrilling issues coming! I’ve some enjoyable new merch stuff I’ve been enjoying round with, handmaking some customized issues which I examined out on the tour and it was actually cool to see that individuals cherished. So, I’m spending extra time on that, and determining methods to create issues with my arms for my followers past music. I’ve an incredible video popping out, I gained’t say what it’s for but, nevertheless it’s coming quickly. It’s type of an exploration of one thing I’ve been desirous to do for a very long time, tying my dance background into it, after which some extra Spanglish issues coming as nicely. Extra music, truthfully, I’ve much more music that I need to end over the summer season, so I plan on simply holding the music coming and hopefully do extra collaborations, and dip into areas like vogue, and artwork, and all these items that curiosity me. So, a lot of enjoyable issues to return.

Is there any recommendation that you’d give to youthful artists who’re simply beginning out?

Tei Shi: I feel in the end, keep open sufficient to listen to individuals’s ideas and opinions, however take them with a grain of salt at all times and actually anchor your self within the factor that will get you going, no matter it’s that actually excites you. For me, it’s the second that I’m sitting with a microphone in entrance of my face, and there’s some form of music, some form of inspiration, and there’s that feeling of something might occur. So, actually anchoring your self to what it’s that awakens that in you and defending that in any respect prices. When you’re gonna encompass your self with individuals, and construct a crew round you, it’s necessary to be open to their ideas and their suggestions. However, the second that it begins to fuck together with your capability to faucet into that factor that actually strikes you, you have to work out how you can defend that factor. Keep true to that, as a result of I’ve simply seen it occur a lot and it’s occurred to me, you already know? The minute that your head will get messed with and also you get separated from that artistic inspiration, you may as nicely not be doing it within the first place.

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