— RCA Records’ Leikeli47 wraps up her beauty-themed trilogy, started in 2017, with its final album, Shape Up.
Just a few weeks ago, east coast native Leikeli47 made her debut appearance on The Tonight Show where she performed her January single, “Chitty Bang”. Now, as she promised, she’s concluded a journey that started back in 2017 with her debut studio album, Wash & Set.
Shape Up, released via Hardcover/RCA Records, is the finale to the beauty-themed trilogy that started with Wash & Set. It was followed by the second of the three-album run, Acrylic, released just a year later.
But between Acrylic and Shape Up, Leikeli took a step back and focused on her own personal growth, health, and refining a positive mental makeup which resulted in her strongest album to date — a stunning proclamation of individual self-love and overall Black love and an exclamation point on one of the most impressive three-album runs in Hip-Hop today.
When discussing the new project, Leikeli47 stated,
“Shape Up truly feels like my first album. It’s the craziest feeling. I feel like this is my first time out and no one knows me. I’m finally about to embark on a journey where I’m diving into my fans and they’re diving into me. It’s a fun process.”
After Acrylic, Leikeli struggled to see where she belonged both in her community and within the music industry. The self-reflection was hard and the work wore on her, but Leikeli was able to emerge from her hibernation with a newfound joy that is particularly apparent on Shape Up.
Leikeli further explained,
“When you’re going through it, you don’t have the mindset to just look up and appreciate the work. It took me a while to realize this, but Acrylic was my celebration of the struggle, but I only know that now. Shape Up is the defining moment where it just all made sense. I looked at the things that didn’t fold me and I just said, ‘I’m here.”
Shape Up, executive produced by Harold Lilly, is a celebration of Leikeli47’s work while she’s still in the game and includes the previously released tracks “Chitty Bang”, “Zoom”, “BITM”, and “LL Cool J”.
Listen to the entire album right here and be sure to follow Leikeli47 on Instagram and Twitter for more on what she has coming next.