She was the magic touch behind the biggest K-pop song of 2023. Now, this alternative R&B artist returns with her third album

Over the past half decade, de Casier has flown mostly under the radar, while attracting a loyal cadre of fans, from Dua Lipa, who recruited de Casier to remix of her single “Physical” in 2020, to Blood Orange, with whom she collaborated on the song “Relax and Run” in 2022. 

But last summer, de Casier’s singular brand of alternative R&B exploded into the mainstream with the release of “Super Shy,” an irresistible hit she co-wrote and co-produced for the rapidly-rising K-pop group New Jeans. 

A high-tempo slice of bubblegum pop that features a thrilling Jersey club beat, the track briefly ruptured the disco-pop monotony of mainstream music, racking up hundreds of millions of online streams, and sparking a viral TikTok challenge. 

“...this is a revelation for pop music,” Canadian musician Grimes declared on X following the release of “Super Shy.” “The dance, the sound, every aspect of this is perfection of the craft.”

Powered by the song’s success, New Jeans’ sophomore EP, “Get Up” became a global hit, even outmuscling the “Barbie” soundtrack to reach number one on the US Billboard 200.

Several months later, the hidden mastermind behind the EP’s success – de Casier co-penned four of the project’s six tracks – still seems shocked by its success. 

“I feel like I have this secret,” de Casier tells me in a video call from her home in Copenhagen following the release of her third album “Still” last month.“I never thought I would have something on the Billboard charts.”

“I love working behind the scenes,” she adds. “I don’t need my face on things to be proud of them.”

I pull up the Grimes tweet, which she hadn’t seen before. “Whoa! That is crazy!” she exclaims with a sheepish smile. “That is pretty crazy.”

“Still” marks an evolution for de Casier. While the project remains indebted to R&B pioneers like Aaliyah, TLC and Sade, it feels more daring and experimental, incorporating elements of UK garage, IDM and hyperpop.

Lead single “Lucky” works as a perfect distillation of these varied influences – opening with a sentimental piano melody sampled from a song by Hungarian singer Linda Király, the song is propelled forward by an explosive current of flitting snares and staccato kick drums.

“Time with you goes by too fast / Words that I could never ever tell ya,” de Casier coos, before letting out a Janet Jackson laugh.

“This is the feeling of falling in love,” she says, explaining that she wanted to build a beat that felt like running through a field. “It’s a bit chaotic and confusing, but also heavenly and blissful.”

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De Casier, who turned 34 last week, is exceedingly humble during our call, which she took from her apartment in Copenhagen ahead of her North America tour. She’ll perform at the Velvet Underground in Toronto on Wednesday.

I ask if she feels pressure to move to a bigger city like Los Angeles or London. 

“I love travelling and I love those places, but I have my friends here, my studio, my cat, my community. I like the feeling of coming home and it’s just a little boring,” she says with a laugh, as her fluffy white cat jumps in front of the camera. 

That sense of humility, she suggests, is a product of her northern European upbringing.

“In America, you’re taught: ‘there are so many of us! You have to push to make your voice heard, you have to rise to the top!” she explains animatedly. “Here, we’re more socialistic – we’re told ‘don’t think too highly of yourself because you have to make space for others. There’s room for everyone, and you just need to find your place.’”

Born in Portugal to a mother from Belgium and a father from Cape Verde, de Casier’s family moved to a small village in Denmark when she was still a child. Unable to speak Danish, she and her brother – the only non-white kids in the school – were prime targets for bullying.

She found solace in R&B music videos: “MTV was the only place where I saw other Black people,” she explained in an 2021 interview, citing Destiny’s Child, Aaliyah and TLC as inspirations alongside trip hop pioneers like Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky. 

As a teenager, she struggled to master the drums – “I spent more time picking out the perfect snare for my kit than I was actually playing,” she says – and instead found herself drawn toward the world of sampling and beatmaking.

After high school, she moved to Copenhagen where she began releasing music under her own name while performing as one half of the R&B duo Saint Cava.

In 2019, she dropped her first solo project, the cheekily titled “Essentials.” Co-produced by de Casier and frequent collaborator Natal Zaks, the project arrived as a fully realized showcase of her skill as a songwriter and singer, with a knack for writing intoxicating songs about modern love.

But it’s the album’s production – the spongy basslines, the delicately plucked harpsichords, and the complex interplay between de Casier’s vocals and the percussion – that most stands out.

“The beat always comes first,” de Casier says when asked about her songwriting process. “If the beat is good, that’s when I bring out my notebook to write the song. It has to bring out a feeling in me – whether it’s ‘oh I want to party to this’ or ‘I want to feel confident to this’ or ‘I feel like I’m falling in love,’” she adds with a laugh.

Her 2021 sophomore album “Sensational” marked a stylistic and aesthetic evolution for de Casier, who invented an alter ego named “Bianka” – a strutting, wig-wearing diva – to explore a darker, more sensuous style of music, channeling the chilly sophisti-pop of early Sade on songs like “Polite.”

Cloaked in wit and subtle irony, the album felt like an attempt to quietly distance herself from the tedious attempts among critics to classify her as just another R&B revivalist.

“I can get a little tired of the questions about Y2K R&B” she tells me. “I love how R&B – is very straightforward, and honest and in your face. But it’s not the only reference for me. It’s not the only thing I’m inspired by.”

“Still” feels like de Casier’s most conscious attempt to both transcend (and poke fun) at her reputation at the revivalist labels. The album’s artwork features de Casier decked out in a leather trench coat and oversized sunglasses, a winking ode to shiny suit era of aughts hip hop. 

“I think it’s hilarious” she says about the album’s title, a reference to both “Jenny from the Block” and “Still Dre.”  “This idea that you have to assure people you’re still something – like if you have evolved, or if you’ve changed, that’s a bad thing.”

And though it contains all the hallmarks of early work, “Still” explores new sonic territory, from the liquid drum and bass of “Lucky” to the jazzy textures of “Test It” to the old school hip hop vibes on “ice.”

The result is a project that feels more dynamic and textured, especially on tracks like “Ex-Girlfriend,” a slinky duet with English rapper Shygirl, and the Blood Orange collaboration “Twice.”

But the album reaches its climax on the conspicuously drumless track “The Princess,” a stirring ballad about the pressures of womanhood.

“I wanna have it all,” she sings in delicate falsetto over a tender plucking of synthesized guitar. 

I wanna make love /

Make my own money /

And still feel you love me down to my core/ 

I wanna be a mom and still do my job /

Why can’t I have it all?

“I wanted it all,” she repeats in the song’s mournful outro.

It’s a lovely and unexpected moment of vulnerability from an artist who once concealed themselves behind an alter ego, who seems most comfortable working from the shadows. 

“It’s an honest song,” she says.“The hard part was sharing it,” she adds, her voice trailing off. “I guess if I don’t get it all, just remember me by this song.”