Say She She

Combining disco, funk, and soul with dancefloor post-punk spirit, Say She She further set themselves apart as a trio of classically-trained singers whose material naturally deviates from good times, seduction, and romance with feminist messaging. The Brooklyn-based women made their recorded debut in early 2022 on the Karma Chief label with the breathy “Forget Me Not,” immediately putting to use their high-spirited harmonies. They’ve since released two albums. First LP Prism (also 2022), co-produced primarily by the Shacks’ Max Shrager, has been followed with the more disco-oriented double album Silver (2023), on which they’re backed by the core of Orgone, also the support on their first single. Together and separately, Say She She have worked extensively as background and featured vocalists, and two-thirds of the group have additionally been part of 79.5. The London-raised Piya Malik and Upstate New York native Sabrina Cunningham crossed paths as tenement neighbors in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. They started Say She She in 2017, naming themselves in tribute to premier disco group Chic. Say She She’s first live appearance was the following February, but it wasn’t until four years later — after the addition of Nya Brown, a D.C. native who had formed an instant bond with Malik at a party — that they released their first single. Produced by Sergio Rios and also featuring some of his bandmates from Orgone, “Forget Me Not,” an homage to activist artist collective the Guerrilla Girls, was issued in February 2022. Additional songs “Blow My Mind” and “Norma” arrived before that October, when Say She She issued eight new songs in the form of Prism. In addition to the likes of Max Shrager and Victor Axelrod (a founding member of Antibalas and the Dap-Kings), the album also featured input from Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman, with whom Malik and Brown had performed. Say She She soon appeared on a tribute to SWV with “Weak,” reimagining that trio’s 1992 hit as if it was from 25 years earlier, and before the end of 2022 also covered Jim Spencer’s AOR obscurity “Wrap Myself in Your Love” They started 2023 with the “Trouble” single, recorded with Ikebe Shakedown’s Mike Buckley and Vince Chiarito, then reconnected with Sergio Rios and company to write and record their follow-up, Silver, cut live at Rios’ studio and released in September 2023. By the end of the year, the women performed at Glastonbury and on Later…with Jools Holland, and completed a U.S. tour. ~ Andy Kellman