Mallrat

Grace Shaw’s work as Mallrat feels both distinctly handmade and instantly accessible. Drawing initial inspiration from her future collaborator Allday and taking her stage name from The Orwells’ 2012 single “Mallrats (La La La),” the Brisbane-born multi-hyphenate mingled rapping and singing over dreamy bedroom pop on her 2016 debut EP Uninvited. Shaw developed her sound across two more EPs, with 2018’s In the Sky yielding the intimate multi-platinum hit “Groceries” and 2019’s Driving Music the affecting ballad “Charlie,” which came in at No. 3 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 poll. High-profile collabs with Basenji, The Chainsmokers, and Azealia Banks followed, with Shaw sounding more confessional than ever on her 2022 album Butterfly Blue while sharing dreams of rock stardom and other life goals. Her most dramatic creative leap came with 2025’s Light hit my face with a straight right, an ambitious opus that absorbed the myriad influences of hyperpop, shoegaze, multilingual a cappella, and even mid-century country crooners like Glen Campbell. “The things about that style of music I try to emulate are the warmth and beautiful lyrics,” she told Apple Music about the latter. “Especially all the warm textures.” “Horses” certainly plays like a loving valentine to close-sung folk, while “Pavement” delivers on that stated textural promise by enlisting quite disparate samples in the service of one killer pop song.