Tei Shi

Blending elements of sultry alt-R&B and downtempo electro-pop, Tei Shi is the indie electronic project of multifaceted musician Valerie Teicher. Often incorporating layered vocal loops, she made her full-length debut with Crawl Space in 2017. She then delved deeper into R&B influences in collaborations with Blood Orange, who was featured on her second album, 2019's La Linda. A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Teicher grew up in both North and South America, also spending several years in Bogotá, Colombia; Vancouver, Canada; and Boston, Massachusetts, where she attended the Berklee College of Music. After school, she settled in New York City to pursue music professionally. Teicher uploaded her first Tei Shi single, "M&Ms," to music-sharing sites in mid-2013. It made waves in the blogosphere and earned her an attentive fan base. The song was one of six on the self-released Saudade EP later that year. In the meantime, she was invited to sing on tracks by artists including Glass Animals and Shy Girls (Dan Vidmar). She followed up her debut in 2015 with another EP, Verde, issued by Mom + Pop imprint Mermaid Avenue. Its lead single, the atmospheric dance track "Bassically," accumulated seven-figure streams within weeks and landed on social-media charts. Tei Shi then signed with Downtown Records, which released her full-length debut, Crawl Space, in March 2017. In 2018, Tei Shi was featured alongside Diddy on the Blood Orange track "Hope," which she also co-wrote. Blood Orange returned the favor, appearing on the song "Even If It Hurts" from her second album, La Linda, which arrived on Downtown Records in November 2019. ~ Marcy Donelson