Award-winning Canadian-Egyptian singer-songwriter, producer and mixing engineer Sarah Shafey has released her highly anticipated fourth studio album Blackbox Universe. This genre-bending collection has garnered her a Gold Award at the LIT Talent Music Awards, an award at the 2022 Artists Forum Competition in the Electronic/Dance category, and "Spotlight Artist" at the 2023 California Music Video Awards. Filled with big, bold, heavy production, this genre-bending collection includes influences of electronic, pop and rock and is her most theatrical album to-date. Sarah brilliantly weaves themes of unveiling different versions of ourselves, her Egyptian roots, women empowerment and science fiction, while captivating listeners with her seamless vocals and strong production. 

 

“We all have different versions of ourselves so I felt the need to explore who they were. It was cathartic,” says Sarah. “Some of it was a shedding of skin that I don’t want anymore and other elements are more closely aligned with who I am now and want to be more like.”

 

As an advocate for women’s empowerment, Blackbox Universe is a homage to celebrating the different facets of womanhood. Sarah is proud to have co-produced, co-engineered and co-mixed the album with Hill Kourkoutis; the first female to win a JUNO award in the Recording Engineer of the Year category (2022). Hill has produced for and played with some of Canada’s most notable artists including The Weeknd, July Talk, Serena Ryder, Madison Violet, SATE, Good Lovelies, Dear Rouge, Adam Cohen and more. Mastered by Kristian Montano of Montano Mastering, the album features musicians Sekou Lumumba on drums (Serena Ryder, Bedouin Soundclash, Kardinal Offishall, Thornley), cellist and Grammy-nominated songwriter Michael Peter Olsen (Drake, Funeral, K-OS) and well-known Toronto guitarist Mike Celia.

 

From her previous three albums and a decade-long history in the Toronto music scene, Sarah Shafey has been praised for her sophistication and professional production. She’s been described as powerful, influential and independent, with each release receiving rave reviews throughout the Toronto community and across internet music blogs. Although she has mixed albums for bands across genres in her studio Squeaky Clean Records, her personal sound has grown over the past decade from piano folk-pop, to emotive alternative and grungy shoegaze rock, to the present with the pop, electronic, and rock vibes of her forthcoming release. Along with her powerhouse team, Shafey has created a transcendent soundscape with Blackbox Universe, confirming her talent goes far beyond one specific genre.