Sara Hjellström (born 5 November 1993), known professionally as Shy Martin (stylized as SHY Martin) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. As a songwriter her compositions have been streamed over 3 billion times on Spotify alone, while her songs as lead vocalist have been streamed 1.5 billion times on the same platform.
SHY Martin | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Sara Hjellström |
Also known as | SHY Martin |
Born | (1993-11-05) 5 November 1993 (age 28) Lerdala, Sweden |
Origin | Lerdala, Sweden |
Genres | Electropop[1] |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano |
Years active | 2016–present |
Labels | BLNK Music |
In August 2020 SHY released her Sad Songs EP, preceded by the singles "Slow" and "Are you happy?". The release was well received by blogs including The Line Of Best Fit,[2] Paste[3] and Idolator,[4] and has 120 million+ combined streams on Spotify.
Raised in the small town of Lerdala, Sweden, SHY Martin first began writing songs and poetry in her youth as a means of self-expression. After winning a music contest at her school at age 17, SHY signed with EMI for a period though ultimately she decided to go independent. She decided to start studying at the songwriting school Musikmakarna in Örnsköldsvik, in the north of Sweden. Shortly after she moved to Stockholm and signed to the independent label BLNK Music.[5] As of November 2020 she is no longer signed with BLNK.
SHY Martin first established herself as a songwriter, a path that launched in dynamic fashion via her co-write and featured vocal on Mike Perry's "The Ocean (ft. SHY Martin)." Recording the vocals in one-take in her home wardrobe, SHY wrote the track with longtime Swedish songwriting partner, SHY Nodi, with whom she has written several other songs for artists including The Chainsmokers, NOTD, Jess Glynne, Astrid S, Timeflies, NEIKED and Kream. The track won Spotify Sweden's ‘Most Streamed Song of the Year’ with a groundbreaking 550 million+ streams (now 719 million+).[citation needed]
SHY’s career as an artist in her own right took off in 2017 with the release of ‘Good Together’, which was praised by The Line Of Best Fit as “part dancehall, part R&B, and completely addictive”.[6] Several more singles followed, receiving positive coverage from Billboard[7] and others, culminating in the Overthinking EP in 2018. In April 2020, Martin released the single "can I call you back?". James Keith of Complex UK called the song "a dream-like flurry of breathy vocals, soul-touching songwriting and twinkling electronics." This was followed by the Sad Songs EP, her most successful collection to date.
SHY's songwriting catalog has gone on to generate over 2.5 billion streams on Spotify alone including credits on "First Time" by Kygo ft. Ellie Goulding, "(Not) The One" by Bebe Rexha, "All We Know" by The Chainsmokers, "I Wanna Know" by NOTD (ft. Bea Miller), as well as songs for Jess Glynne, Astrid S, and ALMA, among others.
In addition to her artistry, SHY is also a member of numerous music industry initiatives, most notably joining Spotify CEO/Founder Daniel Ek and songwriter/producer Max Martin's coveted 'Equalizer Project', a group aiming to combat gender inequality in the music industry. SHY also participated in Bebe Rexha’s 2018 'Women In Harmony' Dinner in Los Angeles, a gathering to empower female artists in music including Charli XCX, Kim Petras, and Avril Lavigne. She also performed alongside Matoma at the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Concert.[8][9][10]
In 2018 SHY was awarded the Stikkan Anderson award for Songwriting.
Album | Details | Track listing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overthinking |
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Sad Songs[11] |
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Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
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SWE [12] | |||
"A Little Longer" (with Kiddo and Sid Rosco) |
2017 | — | Non-album single |
"Good Together" | 79 | Overthinking | |
"Bad in Common" | 2018 | —[upper-alpha 1] | |
"Forget to Forget" | —[upper-alpha 2] | ||
"Lose You Too" | — | ||
"Just a Little Longer" | — | ||
"Out of My Hands" | 2019 | — | Non-album single |
"Same Old"[15] | — | ||
"Make Us Never Happen" | —[upper-alpha 3] | Sad Songs | |
"Slow"[17] | 2020 | — | |
"Still the Same" (featuring Boy In Space)[18] |
— | Non-album single | |
"Can I Call You Back?"[19] | — | Sad Songs | |
"Nobody Likes Moving On"[20] | — | ||
"Break with Me"[21] | 2021 | — | TBA |
"Remember You Were the One"[22] | — | ||
"Feelings"[23] | — | ||
"No Regrets"[24] (with Nea) |
— |
Notes
Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
---|---|---|---|
"Painting with Dreams (Nothing Like Them)" | 2016 | Tritonal | Painting with Dreams |
"Perfect Touch" | 2015 | Josh Philips | — |
Year | Title | artist |
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2016 | The Ocean | Mike Perry |
2016 | Summer Love | FO&O |
2016 | All we know | The Chainsmokers |
2016 | You on repeat | Jeremy Folderol |
2016 | Taped up heart | KREAM feat. Clara Mae |
2017 | Bloodstream | Astrid S |
2017 | First Time | Kygo feat. Ellie Goulding |
2017 | Raincoat | Timeflies feat. SHY Martin |
2017 | A little longer | KIDDO feat. SHY Martin & Sid Rosco |
2017 | (Not) The one | Bebe Rexha |
2017 | Sucker for you | Matt Terry |
2018 | Know this love | KREAM feat. Litens |
2018 | Us | Julie Bergan |
2018 | Old Skool Love (feat. Nirob Islam) | NEIKED |
2018 | I wanna know | NOTD feat. Bea Miller |
2018 | Good Vibes | Alma feat. Tove Styrke |
2018 | Used To | Sandro Cavazza & Lou Elliotte |
2018 | Different World | Alan Walker |
2018 | Bad in common | SHY Martin |
2019 | Trust Issues | Astrid S |
2019 | Out of My Hands | SHY Martin |
2019 | Same Old | SHY Martin |
2020 | Ever Really Know | Georgia Ku |
2020 | First Time | Daya |
2020 | Long Run (feat. Nina Nesbitt) | Deacon |
Year | Award | Category | Received for | Result |
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2016 | Ted Gärdestad Awards[citation needed] | Scholarship | Södra Station | Winner |
2016 | Denniz Pop Award[citation needed] | Rookie Artist / Band | Södra Station | Nominee |
2017 | P3 Gold[citation needed] | Song of the year | The Ocean | Nominee |
2017 | P3 Gold[citation needed] | Pop of the year | Södra Station | Nominee |
2017 | Swedish Grammy Awards[citation needed] | Song of the Year | The Ocean | Nominee |
2017 | Denniz Pop Award[citation needed] | Grand Prize (International success) | SHY Martin & SHY Nodi | Winner |
2017 | Swedish Publishing Awards[citation needed] | Breakthrough of the Year | SHY Martin & SHY Nodi | Winner |
2017 | Swedish Publishing Awards[citation needed] | International Success of the Year | SHY Martin & SHY Nodi | Winner |
2017 | Swedish Publishing Awards[citation needed] | Most Streamed Song | The Ocean | Winner |
2018 | Swedish Publishing Awards[citation needed] | Song of the Year | I Wanna Know | Nominee |
2019 | International Songwriting Competition[25] | Pop top 40 | Forget to Forget | Winner |