Shaina Hayes honours vulnerability and self-expression on new song, "Timid"

The new single follows "Flourish" released in March as Hayes' first new songs since her 2024 album Kindergarten Heart, and is described as "an ode to introverts and quiet thinkers". The single was recorded live in Montréal alongside a band of collaborators including Francis Ledoux (drums), Étienne Dupré (bass), David Marchand (electric guitar), and Lysandre Ménard (upright piano).

Speaking about the song, Hayes shares: "'Timid' was a track that came about during a period when I was listening to a lot of Julia Jacklin and Billie Marten. I was loving the way their sweet, folky vocals float above the instruments in their more indie-rock tunes, and I wanted to create something similar. With this in mind, I created a basic demo of 'Timid' and left it with my super team, Francis Ledoux and David Marchand, to work out the arrangement.

"As far as the writing of the song itself, I wanted to explore the idea that even at our most articulate, the way we express ourselves is just a tiny glimpse into what's actually going on inside us - that we contain whole, unseen universes. Ultimately, Timid is a song about everything we feel but rarely manage to express."