070 Shake is in her natural habitat

070 Shake appears on the cover of the Winter 2023 Issue — head to the AP Shop to grab a copy.

070 Shake is destined to guide the world around her while also letting the world be her guide. Whether it’s falling in and out of love, familial hardships, or a fleeting experience, inspiration is never too far away for the eclectic musician. And with her third studio album on the horizon, Shake is moving with intention now more than ever. Outspoken and blunt, the project sees a new stage of growth and vulnerability for the artist — and with it, Shake continues to shift the paradigm for musicians who exist far outside of any one genre.

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“I would say [the record is] a level up for me as far as maturity and lyrics,” Shake says from Los Angeles, one of many homes for the nomadic musician. “I’m still in the process of working on it and building it as we speak. I’m really finding what this sound is, [and] I don’t feel like I really get to see what it is until it’s finished. Then I can look at it. I don’t go in with a premeditated idea because I don’t want to put myself in a box.”

While Shake finds it difficult to articulate the avenues she takes to create emotive music, her signature look and arcane demeanor help explain who she is without verbalizing it. She’s an enigma, producing profound lyrics that don’t always match her stoic exterior. She masks her face with her curly hair, shows off her tattoos, and dons an austere uniform of sorts: all-black leather clothing and chunky Rick Owens boots. And when she’s onstage, she performs with ferocity. Her eyes are usually closed, and she is completely present, head down, a glass of wine or a rose in her hand, and is hitting every note with precision.

When it comes to songwriting, she rarely goes into it with a premeditated idea like many artists. Shake taps into something much deeper — vibrations and frequencies. They aren’t true electricity; the vibrations and frequencies are feelings that electrify her and trigger any type of emotion, positive or negative. “You can only pull from experience from things that exist,” she says. “Everything that’s happening in the world is a part of my life, you know? So it’s not really making stuff up, but understanding that everything that ever existed in the world is part of me because I’m part of the world.”

In creating the album, Shake realized her process is a cathartic one. Like day and night, she breaks up a project into two phases. After making a few songs, Shake pauses and comes back with renewed creativity to finish it off. She created the first half in Arizona, went on a short hiatus to recuperate, and wrote the other half in Los Angeles.

“It always comes in bursts of inspiration,” the experimental musician says. “The first phase of this was definitely a burst of inspiration from falling in love and being in a relationship. I always feel inspired. Since my work is really reflective of the time, it naturally becomes cohesive. If I’m recording something in a room for a month, it’s going to sound similar because I’m in this place and maybe mentally in the same place or my environment is in a certain place. It naturally reflects my personal life and experience.”

Intention is her biggest priority. Shake doesn’t need to bind herself to one concept to produce a cohesive album and get her point across. Each song has a melancholic feel. Her dexterous sound is calming — regardless if she’s screaming or soft-spoken behind layered instruments. Shake hypnotizes listeners to not only look through her unique lens but also look inward at their own experiences and relationships. Throughout the record, Shake’s genre-bending never fails to keep listeners wanting more. The effect is evidenced at her concerts, where the crowd often feels the music as much as she is; eyes closed, bodies swaying, and tears falling while Shake leads breathing techniques, jumps into the crowd, and lets couples propose onstage. 

“I’m a Gemini,” Shake says. “One day, I might feel something about something, and the next day, I feel completely different. There are days when I don’t give a fuck about what anybody thinks, and I’m going to just do whatever. Then there are days when I get a little bit insecure because I don’t know if people are going to fuck with this or just question myself as a lot of artists do.”

It’s rare for the multifarious artist to experience impostor syndrome, but when she does, it passes quickly. Shake has mastered the art of vocalizing her thoughts without saying much at all — melodic hymns, body language, or sometimes remaining quiet.

“Saying less has the same effect as saying something profound,” she says. “It’s the same feeling, but just learning how to communicate that feeling because that’s really just what music is. You’re trying to translate this feeling that doesn’t have words. It’s learning the language better.”

Understanding that language means sometimes tuning out the outside world at times. With Shake’s frequent traveling, whether on tour or to create an album, seclusion is crucial for her visions. She prefers to avoid technology, people, and overstimulation, even deleting the Instagram app from her phone.

“I want to home in on my experience that I’m going through in the world that I love and want to see,” Shake says. “If you’re paying too much attention to the social media shit, you allow the world to tell you what you want — whereas now I can just really think my own thoughts. Not that I didn’t before, but it gets easy to not think your own thoughts when you’re seeing everybody else’s.”

Before music came into the picture, Shake spent much of her time writing poetry in school and playing on the basketball team. She often felt obscured and misunderstood by those around her, regardless of the hobby. However, she has always been inspired by countless art forms like film, paintings, and music. Before she knew music was her passion, Kanye West, Radiohead, Björk, Frank Ocean, Pink Floyd, and Kid Cudi always moved her in ways she couldn’t describe. Today, she flaunts her love and knowledge of French art and cinema in her music videos. Throughout the visuals like “Skin and Bones” and “Lose My Cool” with NLE Choppa, famous paintings and artwork populate the scenes.

Shake also reps her North Bergen, New Jersey roots proudly. Together, she and her friends, a group of like-minded artists, created the 070 collective, named after the state’s zip code. Producers, musicians, and visual artists, like Shake, Phi, Hack, Ralphy River, Treee Safari, Bheeshma, BeHeard, and Malick, came together on beats, songs, shows, and videos. In 2016, the 070 crew released a collaborative album titled The 070 Project: Chapter 1. By 2018, 070 became a sought-after and exclusive art collective. They accumulated up to 11 members, with many artists in New York and New Jersey looking to make their way in. At one point, much of 070 lived together and constantly created under the same roof. To this day, the collective continues to work as one whenever possible, going on tour with Shake to film, photograph, and support one another. 

Outside of the collective, Shake made her solo debut with singles “Proud” and “Swervin” around the same time as The 070 Project: Chapter 1, and it didn’t take long before her music blew up. “Trust Nobody,” a single composed of Shake’s raspy voice behind a trap-inspired beat, went viral on SoundCloud in 2016, and she hasn’t looked back since. Her first EP, Glitter, garnered a growing fanbase, eager for more after the six-song project explored Shake’s identity through drugs, relationships, and self-esteem. While those were her darker days lyrically, it has led her to a much brighter place.

That same year, she became Kanye West’s protégé, a true pinch-me moment for the young artist who was soon signed to the former GOOD Music record label. Her acclaim grew, and she became the “it girl” to collaborate with — hopping on features with West, Madonna, Pusha T, DJ Khaled, and most recently Christine And The Queens.

Modus Vivendi, her first studio album, helped shape Shake’s place in the world. She emerged from the darker perspective of Glitter and entered a more reassuring era that confronts her identity and inclinations. Rekindling why she recently deleted Instagram (again), Shake’s 2022 album, You Can’t Kill Me, paid homage to her digital footprint — or lack thereof — and her reinvention. At the album debut event in Manhattan, she doused herself with blood, a message to attendees that she actually doesn’t exist. 

“We’re the only ones who could’ve created this,” she says. “Whether it’s good or bad, you have the option to make sense of this feeling. It exists for people that need it or want it. It’s something new.”

Entering the new year, the release sees Shake speak more to the idea of love and relationships than ever, honestly reflecting on perception, her partners, and her desire to cut the world out of her love life. The highly anticipated LP is set to release in early 2024. She teased the project at Coachella 2023 with the single “Black Dress” and the unreleased song “Elephant.” The crowd went wild, murmuring in disbelief knowing that there was a new album blooming in the ether.

The record is poignant. Throughout the project, Shake’s mystery becomes a bit less shrouded, and she casts some light on a side of herself and her life we’ve yet to see. The voices of her loved ones pepper the album, with intimate monologues spoken by Shake, her family, and partner Lily-Rose Depp. Track by track, her voice reflects that of a hymnal, supported by strong, harmonious instrumentals that seem to embody a newfound spirituality to the artist. Bolstered by a whimsical sound that is fuller than the Shake we may have known before, she delivers drum, piano, and guitar on the luscious “Sin City,” “Into Your Garden,” and “Neptune Water.” 

While holding onto the unexpected, unknown qualities we’ve loved about her, Shake gets closer than ever to us this time. She isn’t preaching to a choir; she’s preaching to you — a listener experiencing life’s ups and downs, and constantly on the search to “find” themselves. In delicate contrast, the album takes unexpected turns, feeling out an ’80s pop sound with “Speed of Light,” which is fully liberated by the hard-hitting synths on “Natural Habitat,” a bubbling track that features rapper Ken Carson. 

“I’m most excited about making the music and finishing it,” she says. “It excites me to be able to put music out and have these vibrations. There’s a sense of pride that me and my team created this vibration. We’re the only ones who could’ve created this. The thought of music and these frequencies going out into the world and being new is really cool to me.”

Styling by Juliann McCandless

Hair and makeup by Homa Safar