There’s a moment early in “Walk Don’t Run” where the rhythm locks in like a heartbeat you can’t quite trust: noir-disco cool threaded with something uneasy and cinematic. Featured in Dust Bunny (Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions), recently honored as a New York Times Critic’s Pick, the single is ShyBoy at his most magnetic: restrained, seductive, and impossible to shake. Veteran music journalist Larry Flick called it “less a pop song and more an experience,” and he’s not wrong. It sneaks up on you.

Written and produced with Nubar, his longtime collaborator and Hypnogaja bandmate, “Walk Don’t Run” extends a creative partnership that’s moved fluidly between rock stages and film scores, including their composing work on Bryan Fuller’s Emmy-nominated Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror. Vocal co-production from musician Jeeve, another Hypnogaja lifer, keeps the band’s DNA close even when ShyBoy is operating under his own name.

His solo album His Royal Shyness (King Size Edition), out via Stockholm-based Snafu Records, leans all the way into that duality: lush cinematic pop built on tension, desire, and sharp emotional turns. The expanded edition adds remixes and new tracks, closing with a stripped-down take on Lana Del Rey’s “Norman f**king Rockwell” that somehow makes the original feel louder by getting quieter.

And then there’s Hypnogaja. ShyBoy co-founded the band in Los Angeles, and after over a decade away from full-length releases, their 2026 album My Dreams Have Teeth landed like unfinished business finally settled. Thirteen tracks, guitar-forward but laced with electronic texture, moving between gothic weight and melodic precision. “Things That Go Bump in the Night” hit Apple Music editorial playlists. “Ghosts in the Hallway,” co-written with Matt McJunkins of A Perfect Circle, pulls toward something darker and more visceral. The band’s reimagining of Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again,” years old now, still racks up millions of streams, finding new listeners on its own terms.

That range is the throughline. ShyBoy’s credits stretch from RuPaul’s Drag Race to Capcom’s Devil May Cry 4, from a creative partnership with Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Allee Willis to remix work for Donna Summer. He was named Best Solo Artist in LA Weekly’s Best of L.A. Awards, is a partner in the indie label The Spaceman Agency, and has built a circuit of mashup-driven DJ/dance party residencies celebrating queer joy with brands like MaDonna Summer, Rihyoncé, Gaga Lipa, and Britney xcx.

None of it sounds like it should fit together. All of it does.

Bear World Playlist Featured Artist: ShyBoy