Shab (End Of Year 2025)

With the release of her sparkling new festive single and video for 'Santa Baby', the international pop powerhouse SHAB ushers in the holiday season with a playful, high-fashion twist on a timeless classic. Fresh from a massive year that included the release of her sophomore album 'One Suitcase', her first US Top 40 hit 'Lipstick', and a high-energy national tour with The Wanted, SHAB’s momentum shows no sign of slowing.

Known for her fearless genre-blending, commanding stage presence, and eye-catching style, SHAB has spent 2025 levelling up across every lane, from global chart success to standout live performances in New York, Los Angeles and beyond. This festive finale also marks the stylish rollout of her brand-new women-led fashion venture, DropTrou, a functional, fashion-forward jumpsuit line designed to make real life easier without sacrificing confidence or cool.

From glamorous Christmas visuals and sold-out tour highs to genre-busting new music and entrepreneurial power moves, SHAB is stepping into 2026 with vision, purpose, and undeniable star energy. We caught up with her for her end-of-year Q&A to talk Santa Baby, touring with The Wanted, favourite stage moments, future electronic projects, and why comfort, confidence and creativity should always go hand in hand.

You’ve just released a glamorous new music video for your rendition of 'Santa Baby', kicking off the festive season early. What inspired you to choose this holiday classic, and what made you want to give it your own modern, pop-inspired sparkle?

Actually, SANTA BABY has been a Christmastime favorite of mine for decades and a song that we actually recorded last year -- but we wanted to release the song with a cute holiday flair with a new and winsome video.  We fortunately had a short hole in our schedule following our wrap up of the recently concluded national mini tour with The Wanted and managed to shoot two videos in the same day!

 

You certainly do Christmas in style - from red sequined “Santa Baby” tops to the new DropTrou bodysuits featured in the video. How do these fashion choices tie into the song’s playful, sultry energy?

The Santa Baby top that I wore in the video was actually a gift from a dear friend of mine in Dallas, a talent development legend by the name of Linda Septien.  Linda has been a crucial actor in the rise of many artists coming out of Dallas – Jessica Simpson, Selena Gomez & Demi Lovato, for example -- and her hugely talented son Remi, with whom I am also very personally close, made major contributions to my ONE SUITCASE album.  While I hated to turn the lovely sequined shirt into a crop top, it seemed the right thing to do and also allowed me to honor the friends that gave it to me. 

And as far as the DropTrou jumpsuits are concerned, we now have a lot of them!

 

You’re known for your strong fashion sense. Is it important to you to blend style with your music?

While it may seem strange to you, I've really never thought about it in those terms.  The fashion sense that I exhibit in my videos or onstage is really not that much different than my attire and styling when back home in Dallas. For a lot of reasons and years, I have strongly favored jumpsuits as my GoTo Wear -- and if for no other reasons than I spend a lot of time working out everyday and want to be comfortable as I go about my errands and Kid Duty at home. I really disfavor uncomfortable clothing: but more importantly, I don't understand why people think that comfort needs to be divorced from cool styling.

 

“Santa Baby” feels like the perfect finale to an incredible year - from releasing your sophomore album" One Suitcase," to scoring your first US Top 40 hit with “Lipstick,” and most recently touring the US with iconic boyband The Wanted. What has been your proudest moment of 2025?

It’s been a great year – and it’s hard to top the drop of ONE SUITCASE last February, which was the culmination of a couple of years of hard work. I have to say that my work on the tour with The Wanted was maybe some of the hardest weeks of my life but also one of my proudest achievements.  The tour travel schedule was extremely aggressive and we were having lobby calls at 5:00a in the morning after not getting back to our hotel until 1:30a during the prior evening.  Any travel schedule where you are sequentially performing in Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and New York on consecutive nights is going to be tough.

 

Your live shows are loved for their high energy, hit-packed setlists, and dynamic choreography. Do you have a favourite song to perform on stage, and what makes it special for you?

I love all of the songs that I have in my current performance set list -- It's almost like asking a mother which of her kids that she loves the most!

But the two songs in my set list on The Wanted tour that are most meaningful to me are WHAT I DO and SKIN & BONES, because both of those songs are born out of critical moments with the Love Of My Life, who is always there as the chief facilitator of my tours. And he knows not to stand in my field of vision when I perform those two songs for fear that our respective gazes might connect and prompt me to start crying onstage.

 

Speaking of live shows - what was the standout tour date with The Wanted, and why did it leave such an impression?

The answer would clearly be my final performance on the tour in Manhattan was particularly meaningful to me. It was the end of a few difficult weeks -- and there I was in New York, the place where I originally landed when I came to America, and we were performing our asses off!

 

Looking back on 2025, do you have any favourite memories or funny behind-the-scenes stories you can share? 

I loved the trip that we made connected to my Memphis show at the start of August of this year.  I was closing out the summertime rooftop series at the historic Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis and famous for their ducks -- which spend their daytimes in the huge fountain of the Grand Lobby of the hotel. Every morning and early evening, The Peabody has a cool twice-daily event where the ducks parade to and from the fountain: and I was able to serve as the DuckMaster on the night of my performance, escorting the ducks back to their quarters on the rooftop.

But also while in Memphis, we managed to be treated to a private session at Sun Studio, where my Music Director Mike Manning and I did a totally impromptu performance of the title track to my album while using Elvis's microphone and the guitar previously owned by Scottie Moore & Carl Perkins.

And both of those moments can be found in my Instagram reels!

 

Your catalogue of hits keeps growing - most recently with the stunning Damon Sharpe remix of “Skin and Bones.” Do you feel you’ve found your signature sound, or are you excited to keep experimenting?

I think it's hard to say that I have a signature sound, as the only common thread among many of my tracks seems to be the timbre of my voice. But my musical range of interest is quite broad -- even surprising me at times -- and I am always hearing new types of grooves or beats or narrative concepts that I want the luxury to explore.  And frankly, I am particularly proud of the fact that the venerable HotPress outlet in Ireland previously labeled me as its Genre Buster Of The Year.

 

Can listeners expect more new music from you in 2026?

Absolutely!  In fact, I have another EP coming out during the first months of 2026 -- and here, the genre is electronic dance music -- that I have been working on since last April and together with Damon Sharpe and the guys in the rising EDM act Avalan Rokston out of Amsterdam. The EP will consist of four super cool tracks into which we have integrated some Farsi flourishes, sound great in the context of the overall compositions. 

And I would also expect to release my third album perhaps by the late summer of 2026.

 

And finally, as we head into the holidays, is there anything else up your sleeve that you can tease?

Well, the most immediate thing that comes to mind is something that you've mentioned earlier in this interview -- being the debut of my new DropTrou line of jumpsuits for women.  This line of jumpsuits will be somewhat special in that crowded marketplace as all of the garments allow women to avoid the indignity of having to strip they're jumpsuits down to their knees when they need to use the restroom: and instead are able to simply and quickly pull down the backs of their jumpsuits for such purpose.  It's a really cool utilitarian concept -- and I ended up founding DropTrou as my own firm earlier this year to pursue the concept, rather than partner with an established athleisure or sportswear firm.

Additionally, even as of this morning we are continuing to explore new touring opportunities and think that we may have a springtime European option that could get announced soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nujcz82KVY