Finding A Support System In Allday & Being A Vegan On The Road

With an adventurous new EP, In The Sky, Mallrat (aka Grace Shaw) is about wonky pop in 2018. Touring with Groovin The Moo, the star is unwinding the day following the Townsville leg. "It's so fun," she rhapsodises down a grainy mobile phone line. "We're having almost like a party. We're just all at Magnetic Island, at the beach. So it's really nice." Shaw appreciates nature and wildlife. She chats cheerfully about observing insects - a hobby. At one stage, Shaw espies a larger winged creature. "Oh, my god, there's a hummingbird!" she bursts out. "That's so cute."

Officially, Shaw has transplanted to California where she's positioning herself to become Australia's next international 'cool pop artist' a la Troye Sivan. "I just got my visa a couple of months ago. [But] I've got a lot of shows in Australia at the moment. So I'm just back and forth for the rest of the year - and then I'll be over there." Indeed, Shaw, who showcased at SXSW in Texas, now has a US booking agent. In October, she'll support a mystery act on a North American run. However, before that, Shaw will embark on June's national headlining tour (and hit Splendour In The Grass).

A tale of Shaw presenting a previously unidentified species of spider to a museum when she was five eventually inspired Baby Spiders, one of her two collabs on Tom "Allday" Gaynor's 2017 second album, Speeding. In fact, the Adelaide hip hop anti-hero has played a pivotal role in Shaw's career. As a high schooler, Shaw determined that she wanted to create music after experiencing Gaynor live in her hometown; connecting to his wry millennial persona. Similarly scanning such rapper/singers as Kanye West, she cut verses over GarageBand beats. Shaw shared a demo with Gaynor's keyboardist Tigerilla through Facebook. Impressed, he'd produce her 2015 breakthrough, Suicide Blonde. Shaw subsequently dropped her debut EP, Uninvited. The song For Real was licensed for a Google Pixel phone campaign.

Gaynor consistently bigs Shaw up in interviews. ("Awww - he's the best," she croons.) If initially the Right Now rapper acted as a mentor, then today the pair freely exchange ideas about songwriting - with Gaynor's approach narrative and Shaw's more instinctive. They have a formidable support system. "I couldn't even list all the things he's taught me," Shaw says of "Tom". "He taught me about veganism, which has been really big for me. And judgement of character we learn from each other a lot. Sometimes he has different ideas about people and then we end up seeing the other person's perspective... He's one of my most important friends, I think - probably my most important friend!" Both also belong to a new counterculture of individualistic, fluid and aesthetically subversive Australian hip hoppers.

Shaw is inherently post-genre, namechecking anyone from Yeezy to Lana Del Rey to SOPHIE. And, with In The Sky, she's presenting her most assured work: a bespoke playlist of hip hop, R&B, electronica, indie and pop. "I'm really proud of this EP because I co-produced everything and really put a lot of love and time into it, and learnt so much about songwriting and production and mixing in the process," she notes. "So it's a big step up from the last one."

Shaw introduced a folky vibe on 2017's lead single Better - voted #46 in triple j's Hottest 100 (and commended by The New York Times). "I think that probably showed me that I don't have to just sing on the beat. That was one of the first songs where I really co-wrote and co-produced all of the instrumentation. Up until then, I had kind of just done the lyrics and the top line and then worked with the producer to do the rest. But that was the first song where I really was super-involved with everything." Gaynor guests on the glitchy banger UFO, co-produced by Golden Vessel. Shaw's latest single, Groceries, carries a boho charm - its hook #peakMallrat. "Usually I say songs aren't about anything; they're more about a feeling," she reveals. "But that one's just [about] feeling like you have a crush, but you don't wanna have a crush." Shaw is particularly attached to Make Time, which she initiated with BJ Burton - the US studio type credited on Bon Iver's 22, A Million (Melbourne chillwaver Japanese Wallpaper completed it).

Curiously, Shaw isn't necessarily plotting an album. "I probably will do an album one day, but I usually just think about a song at a time. I don't even think about an EP at a time... But everything changes. I'm sure I'll wanna do an album soon."

Shaw's bio still heralds her as "the Hannah Montana of the rap game", but it's increasingly redundant. (For one, she's since left school.) "I don't really rap," Shaw laughs. She proposes "the Hannah Montana of wonky" instead. Live, Shaw is accompanied by her perennial DJ, Denim plus muso pal Tyne-James Organ. "He's a beautiful singer and guitarist, so we've added some acoustic parts to the set." Being a vegan on the road can be "tricky", but Shaw gets by. "Domino's garlic bread is vegan, believe it or not." She praises the HappyCow app. "Denim and I love going to new places and trying all the different vegan cafes, it's our favourite part of touring."

Shaw may exude insouciance, but she is ambitious and canny rather than idealistic. Early on, people advised Shaw that pursuing a vocation in music was "unrealistic", yet she believes in application. But the rebel does have sliding door moments, imagining a parallel life. "Just this morning I was thinking that I would probably enjoy being an entomologist, 'cause I really do love bugs and insects. But also I always thought that, if I wasn't doing music, I'd probably be a youth worker or maybe doing journalism or fashion - or music journalism... But I'm really glad that I'm doing music."