Siobhan McClean is a Dublin-born Paris-based singer-songwriter and producer who makes music as Shiv who has featured here with two solo tracks and a collaboration with Nealo too, and with those releases has established a smart melodic hooky R&B style.
Shiv’s newest song ‘You & I’ from the artist’s debut six-track EP coming in December, dropped last week and the video getting a first look here today, notably was shot in sunnier climes at a time when most of us can’t get away, it takes on a heightened connotation – bringing summer to autumn and capturing the yearning present in the song itself. The video for the song was shot in Frigiliana in Spain by Marcelo Llaryora.
When I wrote this, it felt like it was a love song about one person giving more than they’re getting in a relationship. In the context of the EP, however, this to me is about the strange intimidation that I manifested towards my creativity. Being creative goes hand in hand with being your most vulnerable, if you want to express yourself authentically. This song talks about the fear that comes up, the fact that you can’t push your creativity – you need to allow it to come to you- and the fulfilling and addictive nature of creative expression.
Shiv
Shiv on the me 2 me EP
I spent the majority of this year living in my own self imposed purgatory, desperately wanting to create but being so afraid of what that meant. Afraid of what people would think of what was inside of me, afraid of being open enough to bear my thoughts and feelings to be judged, afraid of not being proud of what I created.. All of this fear crippled my abilities to express myself and I found myself trapped in a loop of anxiety that I didn’t understand.
Paired alongside all of the other, mundane “life” things that were happening and the worries they brought, all of this confused emotion ended with me being focused on the external causes of anxiety – relationships, work, where I’m at in my life, rather than the internal feelings of inadequacy and insecurity that tainted every thought I owned.
This six track EP is an exploration of my inner world. It was only when I listened to these songs in a particular order that I felt I was truly immersed in the story I had been trying so hard to tell, and some of the songs took on a different meaning. Listened to in isolation, some tracks sound like love songs, and in a sense they are, as this EP is essentially a look into my relationship with myself and my creative process.
Shiv on Socials
INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SOUNDCLOUD
