Amy Shark

Amy Shark had been working on music for years under various names before finally hitting paydirt with 2016’s “Adore”. That intense portrait of romantic longing not only went multi-platinum in her home country of Australia, but scored a stack of awards and even got covered by Dashboard Confessional. Born Amy Billings in 1986 on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Shark quickly followed up that expressive single with 2018’s industry-inspired retort “I Said Hi”—the lead single off her debut album, Love Monster—and other breakout tracks setting her incisive emotional shorthand against moody production flourishes. The Apple Music Up Next honoree was soon guesting with The Chainsmokers (“The Reaper”) and inviting Keith Urban to sing on a tune she co-wrote with Ed Sheeran (“Love Songs Ain’t for Us”). Her 2021 album Cry Forever magnified her intensity of feeling by curating an even more intimate vibe, despite collaborating on writing half of the tracks. “I just have so much more confidence now,” she told Apple Music in 2021, celebrating the freedom of not overthinking her work. “I just don’t care…And it’s so fricking exciting.” That unfettered energy carries over into 2023’s “Can I Shower At Yours”. Penned by Shark alone during an extensive regional tour, the song harks back to the familiar courtship manoeuvres of “Adore”, rattling off rapid-fire verses that detail the vulnerability required for any new relationship.