‘Backseat’ Finds SHALINI RANI in Full Femme Fatale Force and Soul-Pop Control –

Some of the lushest RnB of the decade landed when SHALINI RANI dropped Backseat. The Watford-based British-Indian soul-pop artist has built her voice and vision on her own terms, pulling from jazz, soul and pop while rooting everything in fearless self-expression, cultural truth and the search for belonging. Backseat catches all of that in motion. Blazing with the same unfuckwithable fire and energy as Lola Young, with raspy in all the right places RnB harmonies, SHALINI RANI knows how to bring the hypnotism to her juxtapositions of soul and salaciously spicy femme fatale ferocity.

As a metaphorical refusal to live small and operate from a secondary position, Backseat stirs vindication deep within without any of the emotion feeling forced. SHALINI RANI tempers it all with luxe grooves that grip your rhythmic impulses in a way that leaves you wondering whether they’ll ever let go. There’s sensuality in the movement, steel in the intent, and a self-possessed centre that gives the single its real charge.

That sense of reclamation runs through her wider creative life too, from self-teaching her musical language to advocating for queer and female artists through Haven Studios, while also contributing to The Ivors Academy’s early careers and jazz-focused spaces. Backseat feels like liberation in motion.

Backseat is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast