070 Shake is the stage name of 25-year-old singer/rapper Danielle Balbuena. The first time I came across 070 Shake was in 2018. Kanye West was in the middle of promoting his Wyoming album cycle which featured five 7-track album releases from artists including himself, Pusha-T, Nas, Kids See Ghosts (Kanye and Kid Cudi), and Teyana Taylor.

070 Shake appeared on three of the five albums, including the track “Not For Radio” on Nasir by Nas, “Ghost Town” and “Violent Crimes” on West’s underwhelming Ye, and “Santeria” from Pusha-T’s album Daytona. I remember finding her guest vocals to be the most interesting parts of the largely uneven project. I quickly checked out her similarly excellent EP Glitter, which came out on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label that year. Her follow-up full length Modus Vivendi hit in 2020, also on G.O.O.D. Music.

070 Shake is back with her newest release You Can’t Kill Me, an appropriate album title for a time in cultural history that is forcing artists to call it quits left and right. The 14 tracks across the album are sweeping and epic in scope. The instrumentals are sensual and minimalistic, with some horns, some drums, some synth, and some strings. In fact, the presence of instruments throughout the album could be characterized as “some.” They’re definitely in the mix, but never overbearing. And they never overshadow the vocals.

Balbuena’s sultry, lower register voice cuts through the mix with crystal clarity. She presents herself as a mature, confident presence. Balbuena largely traded in her earlier melodic rapping for strictly singing. You Can’t Kill Me still has hip-hop cadences with entirely silky vocals. In fact, it takes quite a few musical and thematic cues from hip-hop. Exploring themes of queer sexuality, love and loss, and general malaise of the world we live in, the album is grittier than your typical R&B fare. The sings “Web,” “Body,” and “Skin and Bones” dropped ahead of the album. They show the musical and emotional scope listeners can expect from the full project.

You Can’t Kill Me is a hypnotic, ethereal experience whose atmosphere could appeal equally to the avid Radiohead fan as it does the hip-hop head. Follow 070 Shake on Instagram and pre-save the album HERE.