Australia gains a young Missy Elliott with Tkay Maidza's new single, Shook

Tkay Maidza is a face in Australian music that doesn't need an introduction - at least, the old her doesn't. Since her earliest arrival, the Adelaide-raised rapper has fleeted between the worlds of hip-hop and pop in a similar way to now-stars like Doja Cat; her vocal, as shown over the years, capable of switching between quick-firing hip-hop and singalong-worthy, light-hearted dance-pop, regardless of whether she's in the driving seat or collaborating with names ranging from Martin Solveig and Troye Sivan through to Killer Mike and DUCKWRTH, the latter two as guest stars of her own work.

Recently however, something has seemingly snapped within Tkay, and she's almost reinvented herself as a fierce, dominative name with a confidence that matches that of her sound's biggest stars. It's something that snuck though on her Last Year Was Weird EP in 2018, but in the singles that have come since it's become clearer and more potent; last year's JPEGMAFIA-assisted Awake and IDC IF U BE DED, for example, seeing Maidza snap above thick, bass-centric productions that feel like a second coming for Tkay, and a far throw from the more playful and relaxed work that defined her come-up.

In 2020, that seems to be continuing. Over the last few months, we've heard snapshots of Tkay Maidza's pronounced fierceness and the glimpses of music she's shown that through, but with her new single Shook (which is also her first new track for the year), it's clear-cut and in the spotlight, and in a way that feels more ready for the limelight than ever before - and that's a big thing to say.

Shook features Tkay Maidza at her most lively and energetic yet, channelling a young Missy Elliott as her vocal focuses itself on the shattering production underneath; rich with the certain lyrical playfulness and stand-out, tongue-twisting rhymes we've come to expect from Elliott (hence the comparison to the female hip-hop pioneer), but in a distinctly fresh way that feels unexplored, particularly within Australian hip-hop. It's abrasive and razor-sharp, yet more polished than anything she's put out thus far; a winning crossover that could take Maidza further into stardom than ever before.

Arriving with an official video directed by Jenna Marsh (Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj), Tkay Maidza steals the attention on Shook, and after years of working on her craft and bubbling up into the next big thing, we think that soon enough, she'll be stealing the attention from everyone else in the world too - the time is well and truly coming.

Dive into the single and its video below - her first via her new international label at 4AD - and brace yourself for the reckoning of Tkay Maidza:

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