{"id":2433929,"date":"2026-05-27T09:14:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2433929"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:14:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:48","slug":"mallrat-talks-world-building-north-america-tour-and-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/mallrat-talks-world-building-north-america-tour-and-new-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Mallrat Talks \u2018World Building,\u2019 North America Tour and New Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tWhen Mallrat<\/a> returned with 2025\u2019s Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right<\/em>, the project wasn\u2019t so much a reinvention, but a creative revelation.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Light Hit My Face<\/em> (released via Nettwerk in North America, and via Dew Process \/ Universal Music Australia in Australasia), the Brisbane-raised, Melbourne-based artist built a new world, a universe. It\u2019s a collection that staddles both the future and nostalgia, built with bricks that are both organic and electric.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn it, Mallrat (real name: Grace Shaw) showcases her vocals, which at times take an otherworldly turn with the help of Autotune; her maturing songwriting; and features an array of collaborations, including contributions from Cub Sport\u2019s Tim Nelson, Australian producer Styalz Fuego, and U.S. producer Buddy Ross. Shaw\u2019s production on Light Hit My Face <\/em>earned her producer of the year plaudits at the 2026 Queensland Music Awards<\/a>, a badge she\u2019s particularly proud to wear. Mallrat was also nominated for album of the year at the QMAs, and best solo artist and best pop release at the 2025 ARIA Awards.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cThis was the first time that I was super-intentional with the world building with all of the visuals for the album, especially,\u201d Shaw tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cThe worlds that I was building was a parallel universe, a southeast Queensland, where magic appears through strange little portals.\u201d The album\u2019s artwork features Shaw climbing on board a Hills Hoist clothesline, an Australian icon that\u2019s right up there with Vegemite, koalas and the Lamington. In Mallrat\u2019s world, it\u2019s no ordinary Hills Hoist. It\u2019s a portal. \u201cI imagined it as a conductor of magic,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

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\n\tMallrat presented some of that magic on opening night of Vivid Sydney<\/a> 2026, with a set at Tumbalong Nights on Darling Harbour last Friday, May 22, where she fronted a three-piece lineup, which included a live drummer and a keyboardist who would switch it up with a guitar for the right number. \u201cHi Sydney, how\u2019s everyone feeling tonight. I\u2019m so happy you\u2019re here,\u201d Mallrat, wearing a white shirt and matching cans, told the audience after opening with album cuts \u201cMy Darling, My Angel\u201d and \u201cPavement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a more robust lineup to Mallrat\u2019s arena tour of Australia earlier this year in support of Kylie Minogue, when she performed alongside a DJ.<\/p>\n

\n\tMallrat emerged as a fully-formed indie-pop artist in 2016 with the first of several EPs, Uninvited<\/em>. Career streams across her catalogue, which include the timelessly charming \u201cGroceries\u201d and the cuter than a bug\u2019s ear \u201cCharlie,\u201d are north of 500 million, reps say. <\/p>\n

\n\tAmerican audiences will get to enter Mallrat\u2019s world later this year. U.S. and Canada live dates<\/a> get underway June 13 at Seaport District NYC, and include a tour in support of Swedish artist Tove Lo. Those Tove Lo Estrus<\/em> tour dates wrap up Oct. 1 in Mexico City, Shaw\u2019s first visit to Mexico\u2019s capital. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to go there,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cI\u2019m so excited about that.\u201d It\u2019s her second tour<\/a> of North America in just 12 months, following Mallrat\u2019s opening spot of MARINA\u2019s run last September and October. <\/p>\n

\n\tMallrat\u2019s universe is expanding. The goal, she tells Billboard<\/em>, is \u201cmaking more albums. I\u2019m working on maybe what could be two albums, or maybe it\u2019ll just be one. As well as alongside my own music, tinkering away at writing and producing with other artists that I find really exciting. I\u2019ll just have to cross my fingers that all that stuff comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a too early to lock in the style and sound of Mallrat\u2019s next project. \u201cBut I have been playing with a more electronic sample-based direction,\u201d she explains, \u201cand then I\u2019ve been playing with a more live indie direction and then I\u2019ve also been like experimenting with some kind of indie folk stuff. So, what I need to figure out now is where to concentrate my energy. Because it\u2019s all fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTumbalong Nights is part of Vivid Sydney 2026<\/a>, which runs to June 13. Vivid Sydney is presented by Destination NSW. <\/em><\/p>\n

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