070 Shake’s exploratory spirit has made her one of contemporary music’s most compelling shape-shifters. But she’s far more interested in making things than explaining them.
“I didn’t know that song won a Brit Award. That’s pretty dope.” Danielle Balbuena, better known as 070 Shake, and I are talking about “Escapism”. The Raye feature, not the reality-bending kind. A pop song so omnipresent that avoiding it would have required genuine effort, it climbed the Billboard Hot 100, topped charts around the world and took home Song of the Year at the 2024 Brit Awards. Yet somehow, Shake had no idea.
“I was friends with Raye before we ever made music together, we used to hang out a lot and play cards,” she remembers. “One day she was like, ‘Oh, I want you to do something on my album’, and she just played me a couple of songs. I guess I got a good ear, because I chose [“Escapism”] to do a vocal on, and yeah, it ended up getting a Brit Award, supposedly.”
Shake’s nonchalant reaction to the song’s success encapsulates quite perfectly what a conversation with the New Jersey-born-and-bred artist feels like. Borrowing her moniker from the ZIP code of the New Jersey collective she emerged from in 2016, 070 Shake has spent the past decade becoming one of music’s hardest artists to pin down. A sonic chameleon, the 29-year-old Gemini has built a career on bending genres to her will, moving from rap to electronic textures, classical inflections to pop-leaning indie hooks, while confidently resisting the industry’s instinct to categorise her. For her, creativity sits firmly as a north star, not something shaped by commercial pressure or music’s more suffocating boxes.
Along the way, she has kept her private life firmly out of frame, allowing the work to lead. She does not rush the process and has carved out a path to the top that feels entirely self-directed. Beneath it all, she turns out to be remarkably chill.
We’re speaking between London and Paris during Europe’s first heatwave of the year, where Shake has been spending much of her time. “I’ve just been trying to stay inside because it’s been so bad. It’s dangerously hot outside,” she smiles.
On her horizon sits a new single, arriving the day after our call – “Thanks for the reminder, I do have something dropping tomorrow,” she laughs – titled “Baby Driver”, created in collaboration with a video game, PUBG: Battlegrounds. Then there are a handful of undisclosed “side projects”, and a new album slowly but surely taking shape. The follow-up to 2024’s critically acclaimed Petrichor is currently being brewed in the French capital.
“I think it’s fun. I love it,” she says when I ask whether the creative process is an enjoyable one, or if she occasionally finds herself wandering into tortured poet territory. “I don’t know what this feels like, but I imagine, metaphorically, it’s like having a baby in the womb. I’m sure there’s a sense of relief once you have the baby, but it’s also now the world’s. The process of making [an album], though, that’s just yours.”
Since breaking through in 2016, first with a signing to Kanye West’s GOOD Music and then opening for The 1975 on the North American leg of their tour, Shake has assembled a body of work that places her in conversation with some of contemporary music’s most influential figures. From lending her voice to Ye’s 2018 hit “Violent Crimes” to collaborations with Madonna, JT, Nas, Little Simz, Ty Dolla $ign and Fred again.., among others, alongside her three albums – 2020’s Modus Vivendi, 2022’s You Can’t Kill Me and 2024’s Petrichor – her sound is at its best when experimentation takes precedence and creative possibility is given room to breathe. That, ultimately, is Shake’s MO.
“I get really bored of things, so I’m always trying to find new ways to [approach my sound] that’s fun for me,” she says. “It’s interesting that every artist has their own reasoning for making music. A big part of mine is just being experimental, searching for something, finding new ways to do the same thing, and just having fun with that.”
So where does she look for inspiration as this new album begins to take shape? “To be honest, I haven’t really been listening to music,” she admits. “Sometimes I just won’t listen to music, and I’ll just be in the world that’s right there with me, you know. I’ve been walking around and observing people, looking at [Paris’] architecture and just existing in life. I spend a lot of time not escaping reality, but forcing something onto my reality that wouldn’t be there naturally. I think the biggest inspiration sometimes is the world around you.”
People-watching and admiring beautiful old buildings. Paris remains one of the best places to indulge in both. “Absolutely,” she affirms. The city’s creative undercurrent is also woven into Shake’s plans as she revives a long-held ambition: scoring her first film. The project remains tightly under wraps when we speak, but is already well underway. “I’m working with one of my good friends here in Paris, and it’s his debut,” she says. “I feel really lucky that he would trust me because it’s also my first time. It’s been such a learning experience and so magical for me. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so I’m really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity.”
Now that we’re already talking silver screens, is there any chance fans might get an acting debut too? “Nah, I’ll let my girl handle that,” she laughs. Perks of dating Lily-Rose Depp, I guess. “I’m probably gonna stay on the music side. I’d be a terrible actor.”
Fashion, however, is a world she’s more than happy to share with her beau. Last December, Shake was announced as one of Jonathan Anderson’s new ambassadors for Dior, following their previous collaboration at LOEWE that saw her become a front-row fixture across the Northern Irish designer’s runway shows and campaigns. “I’m so lucky and honoured that they think that I’m, you know, worthy to be in this world,” she says with a laugh. “Clothes and fashion are parallel to all art forms. Being able to express myself through that medium is pretty cool. I love it.”
There is a magnetic ease to 070 Shake that can be difficult to articulate. TikTok would probably chalk it up to aura. Fair enough. But perhaps it stems from the fierce protection of her inner-life, and the patience and self-possession with which she approaches her craft, qualities that feel increasingly rare in an industry built on constant visibility. Rather than forcing meaning, inspiration or even identity, Shake seems content to let things reveal themselves in their own time.
“I don’t really acknowledge [fame],” she tells me when the subject of stardom comes up. “I don’t think that I am [famous]. In the context of Hannah Montana, I’m more like Miley. Just chilling and living my regular life.” Outside of press tours and album cycles, it takes someone like Miley Cyrus to coax Shake out of her Parisian cocoon and in front of a camera to speak to a journalist about what she’s been up to.
“I think to, you know, grow up in the public eye, and be in a pool of sharks and be resilient, and be brave enough to be yourself through it all,” she reflects on the pop mastermind’s legacy. “I’ve always been inspired by her, and by the example that she’s been to artists and to people in general. I’ve always just been a big fan. She’s awesome.”
Much like Malibu Miley in her own Hannah Montana analogy, Shake is a self-proclaimed lover of the City of Angels. It’s a sentiment you don’t hear often amid a sea of jaded artists who seem to resent the very industry tied to its geography. “It’s because the real ones know what’s up,” she shares. “I love the history and the culture. It’s just a beautiful place. I’m over here in Paris dreaming right now, talking about LA,” she laughs. “I really love that Joni Mitchell song, “California”. Don’t get me wrong, Paris is one of my favourite cities in the world, but when you land in California after being away for so long, it really resonates.”
“With LA, you can’t be pretentious about it, you got to do all the fun stuff and not be too cool, you know,” she says. Like, going to see Miley Cyrus’ brand new star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first person born in the nineties to ever have one? “Hell yeah. That’s so cool. Congrats to her.”
WONDERLAND SUMMER 2026. GUEST EDITED BY MILEY CYRUS. SHOP NOW.
Photography Mario Sorrenti
Chief Creative Officer & Styling Alastair McKimm
Words by Sofia Ferreira
Hair Bob Recine
Make-up Diane Kendal
Set Design Philipp Haemmerle
Executive Producer Dana Brockman
Producer Max Bonbrest
Casting Alexandra Antonova for Samuel Ellis Scheinman
Lighting Technician Lars Beaulieu
1st Photo Assistant Kotaro Kawashima
Photo Assistants Paolo Afante, Kurt Mangum
Digital Tech Charles Meyer
Fashion Assistants Taylor Wood, Kassidy Taylor
Hair Assistant Jeelan Aleem
Make-up Assistants Eduardo Jiminez, Breanna Harmon
Set Assistants Oscar Haemmerle, Xavier Mozejewski
Production Assistant Din Morris