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FEATURES - MUSIC - GET TO KNOW

GET TO KNOW:

SHELAILAI

WEDNESDAY 4TH MARCH 2026

WORDS BY LIAM TYLER

Los Angeles doesn’t ease you in. It tests you.
It stretches you. It dares you to keep up.

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For Shelailai, the move from Vancouver to LA wasn’t just about proximity to the industry. It was a collision with adulthood in real time. New city. New rhythm. No soft landing.

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“The biggest thing was moving from Vancouver, Canada to LA. Not a huge culture shock but definitely a different environment. I had to grow up fast in a place that didn’t yet feel like home.”

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That feeling, slightly unmoored, slightly electrified, became the backbone of Little Miss Crazy B!tch. She’s always treated her projects like chapters you can timestamp. This one just happens to document the messier middle. “I look at all my music projects as eras of my life and this era was very transitional and chaotic in a lot of ways. Trying to balance everything with grace a lot of times made me feel like the title of this EP.”

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The title hits hard, but it isn’t about spectacle. It’s about pressure. LA can feel like a highlight reel from the outside. Living inside it, alone, is another story. “It truly did feel like a movie sometimes, very surreal being away from home to start a new. You may not get this impression from my music but I am introverted as hell. I had to get out of my comfort zone a lot to meet people on my own. There were good times and bad times. Sometimes I had a blast. Other days I felt like I didn’t quite fit in; and so you’ll see a contrast of me talking about partying and having a great time, while other moments were more isolating and led me to feel misunderstood.”

 

That tension doesn’t get cleaned up on the EP. It’s left intact. Nights out sit next to doubt. Confidence coexists with feeling out of place. She doesn’t sand off the rough edges. “Yeah it’s honestly hard for me not to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. Writing music is like journaling for me. I think the best music comes through transparency and authenticity.”

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If there’s a flashpoint on Little Miss Crazy B!tch, it’s ‘London’s Burning’. The track feels like a night teetering on the edge of chaos. “I guess I was reminiscing on one of those nights you don’t fully remember but never forget.”

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When she first heard the beat, there was no hesitation. “I wasn’t there when the beat was being made but when I heard it, I was obsessed with its intensity. It felt like a cyber punk video game. It was so hardcore, and I was in the mood to rap my ass off that day, and that I did.” Instead of matching the heaviness with more heaviness, she twists it. “With the heaviness and intensity of the beat it felt right to contrast it with fun cadences, delivery and lyrics.” It’s that instinct for balance again. Push, then pivot.

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The video builds a world big enough to hold that energy. A dystopian city where autonomy is outlawed, and individuality is policed. “The video takes place in a dystopian world where AI systems have taken over and there are strict rules over human rights and individuality. Autonomy is illegal, but we have the power to change the system, or blow it up. In the end everyone joins in dancing on the ashes of the system that oppressed them. There’s power in numbers. You can accomplish so much through unity.” The rave at the end isn’t just aesthetic. It’s release. It’s collective refusal.

Transformation has always been part of Shelailai’s language. From day one, she’s invited her “caterpillar gang” into that evolution. “We grew our wings with Butterfly Effect and now, with Little Miss Crazy, our butterfly experienced some tough winds and turbulence on her journey, but we’re still flying. We’re still learning and growing as always.” Growth, for her, isn’t linear. It’s turbulence, recalibration, flight again.

 

That fluidity goes back to her upbringing. Raised by two DJ parents, genre was never fixed. “I’d say being exposed to such a broad array of music has tuned my ears to so many different sounds. So I’m able to approach many different types of music and I feel more pulled to experiment and take risks.” It’s why comparisons don’t box her in. “I think we’re all part of a larger creative lineage. Artists like Doja and Nicki have their own influences, and those influences inspire me too. I honour them by respecting their artistry, but I protect my lane by creating instinctively, pulling from different genres, cultures, and experiences that are uniquely mine.”

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Independence sharpens the pen too. LA doesn’t separate ambition from emotion; it tangles them together. “Adulthood and dating in LA is a struggle in general. When there’s something or someone in life disturbing my peace, naturally I have to write about it.” Nothing lingers unspoken for long. It turns into a hook, a verse, a release valve.

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What this era ultimately proves is that chaos can be material. It can be momentum. “I think it showed me how to turn something messy and chaotic into something beautiful and fun. Every experience is for a reason a season or a lesson and sometimes it helps to wrap it up with a little song.” There’s no attempt to rewrite the difficult parts. They’re folded into the music and sent back out louder.”

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By the time ‘Pickup’ closes the EP, the weight shifts. Not gone, just redirected. “This EP takes you on a bit of a journey. There’s some highs and lows with the energy and tone but in the end I’d like for you to feel pumped up and motivated with the final track, ‘Pickup.’ You might be going through some things, but eventually you gotta pick up your mood, pick up your attitude and get through! Had to end on an uplifting note.”

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Little Miss Crazy B!tch doesn’t tidy the chaos. It reframes it. It takes the nights you’re not sure you survived gracefully and turns them into fuel. Shelailai isn’t spiralling. She’s accelerating. And this time, she’s steering.

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