SELECTED RELEASE
FREE RANGE
859K+combined Spotify + Apple Music plays
One of Shaolinn’s most-listened-to releases, reflecting the audience she has built across her independent catalog.
Virginia Beach · 2027
SHAOLINN
AWAKENING
A new independent chapter in music, visual storytelling, and artistic ownership.
01 / Profile
THE ARTIST
Shaolinn is a Virginia Beach recording and performing artist whose work moves through R&B, alternative music, hip-hop, and atmospheric soul.
Her music is centered on emotional honesty, intimacy, contrast, and storytelling.
After experiencing both independent artistry and the major-label ecosystem through a previous signing with Pusha T’s Heir Wave Music Group, Shaolinn is entering a new independent chapter with greater creative ownership and a more intentional artistic identity.
She is a member of the Recording Academy and has received support through REVOLT-related artist initiatives.
Her 2027 project AWAKENING is the clearest expression yet of her music, visual identity, and independent direction.
02 / Listen closely
SELECTED WORK
A selection of recordings, collaborations, and performances from Shaolinn’s catalog — work that reflects her evolution as a songwriter, recording artist, and performer.
SELECTED COLLABORATION / CHRIZ JAVEY, 1981 TOKYO × SHAOLINN
CRAZY ON MY MIND
156K+Spotify plays
Created spontaneously in Los Angeles after Shaolinn and chriz javey crossed paths during Grammy week, ‘Crazy on My Mind’ grew out of an unplanned studio session and became one of the stronger-performing releases in Shaolinn’s catalog. Released as chriz javey, 1981 Tokyo & Shaolinn.
SELECTED RELEASE
CHERISH
206K+combined Spotify + Apple Music plays
A six-figure-streaming release from Shaolinn’s existing catalog, highlighting the sustained audience response to her work.
SELECTED RELEASE
HEAVY HEART
201K+combined Spotify + Apple Music plays
A selected release from Shaolinn’s established catalog, demonstrating the depth of her work beyond a single breakout track.
03 / The era
AWAKENING
Nine songs.
One emotional world.
A complete body of original music bringing together visual storytelling, emotional honesty, and intentional presentation in Shaolinn’s next independent chapter.
The project narrative
AWAKENING is a complete nine-song body of original music. Recording, production, mixing, and mastering are being completed in 2026.
The 2027 phase brings the finished music into a fully realized visual and public-facing world through professional photography, styling, video, digital presentation, audience development, and live/public presentation.
Selected visual works are planned for television presentation through REVOLT, extending the project beyond digital release and introducing the visual world of AWAKENING to a broader audience.
The sequence / 01—09*
* Work-in-progress audio These previews reflect the current production stage of AWAKENING. Select vocals, arrangements, mixes, and production elements are still being revised; final release versions may differ.
- 01UNAWARE
- 02FOREVER
- 03BELIZE
- 04MIST
- 05CHASTE CASUAL
- 06WATER AND OIL
- 07LIGHT
- 08WITNESS ME
- 09NAOMI
Building the world
- ACampaign Photography
- BStyling Direction
- CMusic Video Production
- DVisual Content
- EDigital Presentation
- FMarketing & Audience Development
- GVirginia Beach Show
03B / Project Timeline
2027 PROJECT TIMELINE
All recording, production, mixing, and mastering for AWAKENING will be completed in 2026. Grant-supported activity begins in 2027 and is focused on visual presentation, audience development, promotion, and public engagement.
January
Project Preparation
Finalize 2027 visual concepts, production schedule, vendor bookings, styling direction, locations, campaign assets, and promotional strategy.
February–March
Campaign Photography + Styling
Professional campaign photography, Kat Fritz styling, visual campaign development with Des Scobey, and updates to press/EPK materials.
April–June
Video Production
Produce the primary AWAKENING visual content with Director Framez, complete edits and broadcast-ready assets, develop additional visual assets with Des Scobey, and prepare selected visuals for REVOLT presentation.
July–September
Audience Development
Paid digital promotion, press outreach, content rollout, continued visual releases, and audience-building around the project.
October–November
Virginia Beach Show
Produce and present a live Virginia Beach show for AWAKENING, bringing the project to a hometown audience through performance, visual presentation, final campaign documentation, and continued promotional support.
04 / Art direction
THE VISUAL WORLD
Portrait, movement, fabric, shadow. A visual language shaped around emergence and emotional clarity.
05 / Experience
SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
- 01
REVOLT BE HEARD WINNERREVOLT Summit
Winner of REVOLT’s Be Heard competition, which put Shaolinn in front of leading music-industry executives and helped expand her professional network.
- 02
SPOTIFY CULTURE NEXTFeatured artist
Featured by Spotify in its Culture Next campaign/report, spotlighting emerging voices shaping contemporary culture.
- 03
HEIR WAVE MUSIC GROUPPusha T’s imprint
Previous artist experience through Pusha T’s Heir Wave Music Group within the Universal / Def Jam major-label ecosystem.
- 04
WALMART BLACK & UNLIMITEDSomething in the Water campaign
Featured musician in Walmart’s Black & Unlimited campaign connected to Something in the Water in Virginia Beach, with artist support/funding tied to the campaign.
- 05
RECORDING ACADEMYMember
Professional member of the Recording Academy.
- 06
REVOLTTelevised performance + 440 support
Televised live performance experience and continued artist support through REVOLT, with planned television presentation of AWAKENING visual content.
- 07
CROSS-PLATFORM AUDIENCEApple Music + Spotify
563.5K lifetime Apple Music plays alongside 1.13M+ Spotify plays across four selected releases. Apple Music audience includes 371,991 plays in the United States, 61,357 in Japan, 15,511 in South Korea, 12,048 in China, and 10,620 in the United Kingdom.
- 08
TEEN VOGUEBest New Music
Heavy Heart was featured in Teen Vogue’s Best New Music coverage.
06 / Home
ROOTED IN
VIRGINIA BEACH
Shaolinn didn’t move here to make music. She was made here.
Her mother named her out of a love of Wu-Tang Clan, which is a fitting first fact about a woman who has spent her life holding several inheritances at once. She grew up Black, white, and Filipino inside one household, raised alongside her Filipino and white grandparents. Her heritage was never something she went looking for later in life. It was the ordinary condition of her childhood, sitting at the table with her.
The city itself was steadier than her time inside it. She moved between Lake Taylor, Bayside, and Ocean Lakes before graduating, a stretch she has called hectic, and she came to poetry before she came to singing. Writing was the first place the moving parts of her life could sit still long enough to be looked at.
What she carried out of all of it is a fluency in moving between traditions without trading one for another. It is audible in the work: music that lives at the junctions of R&B, hip-hop, and alternative, built by someone whose early ears took in rock bands, Billie Eilish, FKA Twigs, and Tyler, The Creator with equal seriousness.
Virginia Beach is where those separate inheritances became one person. AWAKENING is the first body of work where she says so out loud.
07 / Film & performance
WATCH
Heavy Heart
Live for Me
Live Performance
08 / Press
PRESS & PROFESSIONAL
Profiles, interviews, reviews, and editorial features on Shaolinn. Each entry opens the original publication in a new tab.
- REVOLTYoung, Talented and Ready: REVOLT Summit’s “Be Heard” contest winner Shaolinn got nextProfile · 2021
- Teen VogueTaylor Swift & Big Red Machine, Rico Nasty, and LOONA: Best New MusicIncludes Shaolinn’s “Heavy Heart” · 2021
- Beats Per MinuteInterview: Virginia Beach songwriter Shaolinn dishes on her debut EP, working with Pusha T and much moreInterview · 2021
- District FrayArtist Shaolinn Offers a Meditation on Pain + Loss in “Blackstone”Feature · 2021
- REVOLT8 songs by REVOLT’s 440 Artists you need to hearIncludes “UNAWARE” by Shaolinn
- REVOLT8 songs by REVOLT’s 440 Artists you need to hear, Pt. 2Includes “Belize” by Shaolinn
- PopscureThe Journey to Finding Peace in Shaolinn’s BlackstoneFeature · 2021
- A1234Shaolinn – Lie 4 MeReview · 2021
Professional document
ARTIST CV — 2026
Selected original work, performances, recognition, press, and professional affiliations.