Behind the Scenes With Rising Singer Tei Shi as She Performs in New York’s Buzziest Label

Call Tei Shi the queen of the crop top. The darling of downtown designers. The woman with a volcanic ponytail and the most transfixing, on-repeat voice! And if you haven’t already downloaded her new album La Linda, you’re missing out. Over the past year, the Columbian-Canadian singer has been releasing a steady stream of music, including the video “Even If It Hurts” with Blood Orange—but while she looks fantastic on screen, there’s nothing like seeing the artist in the flesh. This past weekend, Tei Shi got on stage at New York’s the Dance for the release of her sophomore album La Linda, performing songs in both English and Spanish. Shi’s stylist, Kat Typaldos, appropriately described the sultry sound as something to soundtrack a “’90s basement dance make-out session.”

To mark the event, Tei Shi went for a high-impact look, wearing a slinky Collina Strada velvet catsuit and mini electric blue skirt from the Spring 2020 collection featuring the label’s signature scrawled flowers. (Her backup singers also wore Collina Strada.) Her favorite part of the look? “I’m obsessed with the shiny velvet of these pieces which catches the light beautifully on stage,” she says. And so are we.

Here, Tei Shi takes Vogue behind the scenes of her headline performance.