The first time I heard ‘It’s On You,’ the new duet from SHAB and Preston Harris, it didn’t hit like a typical dance record. It didn’t rush to impress me. Instead, it unfolded slowly, like walking into a club just as the night is winding down. There’s a difference between songs made for the peak of the party and songs made for the aftermath. This one lives firmly in the aftermath.
SHAB has spent the past few years building a reputation as an artist who blends sleek electronic production with deeply personal undercurrents. Her story, arriving in New York alone as a teenager after fleeing Iran, teaching herself a new language, and eventually choosing music over law, has always given her work a sense of lived-in urgency. You can hear that resilience in her voice. There’s polish, but there’s also vulnerability, and she never lets one cancel out the other.
Preston Harris, meanwhile, brings a very different but equally compelling history. Known for his work across R&B, hip-hop, and soul, including collaborations connected to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, he carries himself with the ease of someone who understands the power of restraint.That restraint defines ‘It’s On You.’
The production leans into Afro House rhythms, steady, hypnotic, and unflashy. There’s no oversized drop, instead, the beat rolls forward with quiet confidence, giving both artists space to exist inside it. Harris enters first, his voice smooth and measured, setting the emotional tone like he’s opening a difficult conversation. When SHAB joins him, her tone carries more edge, more emotional weight, as if she’s less willing to leave things unsaid. What struck me most is how conversational the song feels.
Paired with Harris’s grounded, soulful presence, SHAB’s created something that lingers long after it ends. It’s a dance track, but also a reminder that sometimes the most powerful moments on the dancefloor happen when everything slows down and you’re finally forced to listen.