BRAWLEY — Nate Aguirre, also known by his stage name Nate Shy, is a young Mexican-American songwriter and recording artist who has been pursuing his passion and releasing his own music for six years now, an interest he’s had since his days at Brawley Union High School.
“It started with friends in high school, just messing around at a friend’s house recording music. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I started taking it seriously,” Shy told the Chronicle during a recent interview.
Born and raised in Brawley, Shy’s music has a darker, more melancholy flavor that is based around hip-hop and R&B with many influences outside the genre; it’s a style he’s grown into in recent years, he said. Shy has been a music lover his whole life and his specific and evolving sound has built him a homegrown following.
But, he said of his stylistic choices, “I want to really perfect this sound before I move on to a new one.”
With the love and support of parents who encouraged him to pursue a career as a performer, Shy feels he has the foundation for success. “They’re my biggest supporters.”
His father also appears to have planted the seed of what Shy has grown into today, according to the musician. “My dad raised me on rap,” he said of his childhood musical influences.
Shy said he pulls inspiration from favorite artists like the late XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD, but says, “I listen to a lot of punk, post-punk, rap, hip-hop and R&B.”
Music, Shy shared, “It’s sort of like my therapy.
“I make a lot of love songs, and I write about my experiences. Sometimes good, sometimes not good, but a lot of people relate to it,” he said.
Not A Shy Guy Anymore
With some success under his belt, Shy has gained more confidence as an artist and has been meticulously planning out his next steps, with a packed calendar for 2024. Recently, Shy held a release party in Brawley at The Dream Center, where he performed new material, with guest spots by a few other local artists as well. “It was a really good turnout,” he said of the Sept. 1 event.
Shy held the release party to build hype for his new project, which was released a week later on Sept. 8. “Grief EP,” a new project with five tracks, was dropped, which featured collaborations from San Diego artists Amon and John Givez. Shy knows that a key to growth is these collabs, where different artists’ circles can start to overlap and grow together.
Amon is a growing San Diego artist, and more recently went viral on TikTok for his music. The other collaborator on the EP, John Givez, pulls some additional credibility to the track as he was signed to Interscope Records in 2016, a company that has signed big names such as Tupac Shakur and Lady Gaga.
Shy used to record music in his bedroom, but now travels to Los Angeles to record his tracks, where he works with his audio engineer Joseph “KRE8” Hurtado. In 2021, Shy leveled up and made his way to his first studio recording session. “The first time being in a studio in LA, it was crazy,” he said.
Hurtado also hails from the Imperial Valley and was recently recognized with a Grammy nomination for some work he did in 2020. He has worked with some big industry names like H.E.R., Kehlani and Ciara.
Shy talked about the origins of his working relationship with KRE8, and said, “When I graduated, he hit me up to see what I was doing and we started a partnership we’ve been in ever since.
“He helps with mixing, vocals, and he produces, too,” Shy told of his engineer’s talents and contribution to Shy’s tracks.
“He’s a big mentor for me,” Shy said.
Shy stays busy, traveling to San Diego and Los Angeles for various projects, and he said he performs gigs every couple months. He’s recently been shooting a lot of content like photos and videos to accompany his unreleased music. True to his words, later in the same day as his interview with the Chronicle, he was scheduled for another video shoot.
Shy said he’s met with potential venues in new locations in San Diego and Los Angeles lately and he wants to travel farther, and he hopes to go on tour one day.
In November, he did a “Stash-And-Grab” event in the community. This was a fun and free way to connect with his home and give back to fans in the Imperial Valley and stir up some buzz with his name. Shy placed a vinyl and a cassette of his latest project, “Grief EP,” at Discordia Records in El Centro, and advertised it to social media platforms. It was a first-come, first-serve event where citizens and fans were encouraged to snatch up the free music.
“It was really cool, I dropped them off, and whoever found them got to keep them,” he said.
Within a week, both of his giveaways were scooped up by happy fans in the community.
Shy’s Project Collabs and Inspirations
Shy is friendly with other artists to come out of the Imperial Valley like Imperial’s Eddie Zuko and El Centro’s Jay Roxxx. Coming from a small community, it’s inspirational for Shy to see that it is possible to rise up to larger fame with hard work and time.
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Shy has been actively doing gigs for about three years now, and “One of my first gigs was opening for Jay Roxxx at Spot 805. It was one of my biggest venues so far,” Shy reminisced.
“Eddie Zuko is a big inspiration to me,” he continued.
Zuko has been growing in fame over the last several years in the hip-hop and rap world, especially in Latino circles with his bilingual style of songwriting. Zuko and Shy met in 2022 and Shy said, “Since then, we’ve talked and know each other now. I’ve gotten to tell him thank you for getting me into this.”
Shy has been using his momentum over the last few years in the music world to push for exposure. He was able to land some radio airplay on Mexicali/Imperial Valley station Power 98 Radio (98.3FM) in November 2022 for a song he recorded with Oceanside artist Obed Padilla on a project called “Nocturnal.” The song played for a two-week period at various time slots.
His professional relationships have grown with other artists and he continues to perform and open for larger name artists like Padilla. Shy played in Santa Ana at the club La Santa on Dec. 9, where he said he was grateful for the opportunity to perform and open for his buddy Padilla. It’s just part of the constant hustle.
“I’m always working on stuff. Right now, it’s like getting all the content ready. But I’m always writing,” he said.
Shy is busy preparing the new tracks that he’ll be releasing this year, with several more projects in the works. His next song will be coming out in February. He was mum on the specifics but was able to share a few hints. “It’s a collaboration with another producer from the Valley, in El Centro. I worked with ‘Kronus,’ who recently went viral on TikTok for some beats he produced, so I’m really excited for that,” he said.
Shy’s career goal in 2024 will come from what he has already shown: hard work, motivation, inspiration and the ability to dream big.
“If I can do it, then anyone can do it,” he said. “Chase your dreams and don’t listen to what people have to say, because at the end of the day, people always will have something to say.”
