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TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – There are millions of Lucys but only one LÃœCY, a promising new singer-songwriter talent who was recently nominated for Taiwan’s Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA).
The 21-year-old came out of nowhere and from the depths of a new Taipei city after uploading songs she created to her Instagram Story. She followed the DJ, singer and producer Showmain, who liked what he heard.
Sitting in a Taipei cafe sipping latte, LÃœCY said that was before she added “two friendly eyes” or an umlaut, above the u in her name: “I was following him on Insta and he heard my songs, so he said: ‘Why do not collaborate on demos. ‘ He sent them to me and I made the melody and the lyrics.
The pair of inflected EDM tracks they produced heralded the arrival of a new voice to the local music scene. “Living“is the strongest tune, partly because it opens to its singing:” When I open my eyes, I love that you stay by my side, and I feel so alive, it doesn’t there is no going back. “
It’s a classic pop feeling, but the way she expresses it has a pure, fresh, painful quality that makes you want to keep listening. The songs also work, in part because she has the bravery to sing in English, a key selling point if a Taiwanese pop star is to shine on the world stage.
You could say it was a chance to get noticed by Showmain, but as the saying goes, “Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent sweat” (Thomas Edison). Behind the scenes, LÃœCY set the clock.
Before uploading a song to IG, she studied piano from around the age of eight, mainly classical music and Chopin in particular. LÃœCY says it was her mother who encouraged her because she thought piano teachers made a lot of money. After about seven years, however, LÃœCY was ready to rebel.
(Photo by Jijin agency)
“I wanted to play what I liked, and I didn’t think taking piano exams was what I needed,†she says. Despite strong objections from his parents, LÃœCY dropped out of school but redoubled his music.
“Even after I left school, I trained on my own every day†– on a piano that was sort of stuck in his small bedroom. She also listened, mainly to foreign bands like Coldplay, Dido and Radiohead. His ambition at the time was to be a DJ.
Most recently, LÃœCY says she was inspired by beabadoobee, featuring Filipino-British singer-songwriter Beatrice Laus. They are the same age and have a similar and seemingly carefree approach to life, music and fashion.
LÃœCY also took up the guitar, helped by a classmate at school. “She showed me where the C chord was and I found the rest on the internet.”
A student in the highly regarded performing arts program at Juang Jing Vocational High School in Xindian District in Taipei, LÃœCY began to write her own songs and perform them in her bedroom, or even in the bathroom, where the acoustics was better.
Famously, when she posted her songs on IG, producer Showmain said he liked their raw, unpolished look. In the background was the sound of LÃœCY’s brother crying and his mother screaming.
Here I must mention that I have known the family quite well for 15 years or more. There have always been musicians coming in and out of the family home and LÃœCY’s New Zealand stepfather often took the family to concerts or festivals.
(Taiwan News, photo Jules Quartly)
Her mother, Emily Chu, is a member of Saisyat and Atayal, while the singing and drinking sessions in the kitchen over the years are legendary. It was the center of the party quite often, so now that LÃœCY has moved to Taipei’s eastern district, she says she also enjoys the relative peace and quiet of having her own space.
LÃœCY’s next break from showbiz came rather fortuitously, after winning a nationwide songwriting competition. The price was NT $ 15,000, which allowed him to buy his own guitar. The event organizers also wanted to register him as a songwriter for their hit factory, “But I didn’t understand the contract because I had never seen one before,” she recalls. .
“I went to my high school teacher and he said, ‘Why don’t you ask my friend? »» Which turned out to be the interesting named Deja Fu, aka Hai Da Fu (æµ· 大 富). Another great producer, he has worked with stars like Rainie Yang (楊丞ç³) and rapper J. Sheon.
LÃœCY said no to the hit factory and has since delivered five folk-inspired songs, including Cactus, his first success. Although written in English, the lyrics are mostly in Mandarin for the local market, and the YouTube video has a multi-ethnic hippie vibe. His second success, “paradise.zip â€, has an earworm from a guitar hook and was nominated for an award in the Best Folk Song section at GIMA.
Her stepfather and my friend, Sean Kaiteri, told me some time ago that the big record company Sony Music had offered LÃœCY an advance to produce their debut album. I suggest to LÃœCY, there would have been strings and maybe it was a step too early?
“Hai Da Fu is like my big brother and he recommended that I do my music first, then choose my level. It means that I can be who I want to be and that I don’t have to do things that I don’t want to do. I am what I am and I want to be natural.
(photo LÃœCY)
The result is that instead of taking the money, LÃœCY decided to work on his craft by producing a debut album of up to 12 songs, a mix of acoustic and folk style that his local fans seem to love, as well as other more progressive and electronic music. Although she says she doesn’t want to think too far, the idea seems to be local-glocal-global.
As a nod to its heritage, LÃœCY also wants to record music with native flavors, including reworked versions of old classics. A typical example is “Naluwan», By the indigenous singer Dakanao, nominated twice in the Best Folk categories at GIMA, at the beginning of November.
“I sat down next to him,” LÃœCY says enthusiastically. “I really like her music, it’s different from everything else.”
Another artist she met at the GIMAs in Kaohsiung was an old family friend, Thomas Hu from Skaraoke, whose “Skaraoke, Vol. 1: the greatest successesWas nominated in the Best Album category. Hu describes LÃœCY’s appearance at the awards ceremony as “cute, smart, very smart, friendly in front of the camera, photogenic and almost stylish for this age.”
He also likes his ‘a little Spring Scream’ music. It has a retro vibe that’s enough to make a 45-year-old man cry with his youthful, half-sad and dreamy feel. I would say she was attractive in the Asian region, she also has Mandarin and English so she could do very well.
As for LÃœCY, she insisted on having fun at GIMA and compared it to a “graduation trip.” It was so much fun and the opportunity to meet so many cool artists. I didn’t mind not winning at all, it was great to be in the mix.
I ask her if she had a party after the awards ceremony and she looks at me a little askance before answering: “Of course! We went to a nightclub in Coco and partied until dawn.
In the meantime, she has an album to complete and is in the studio almost every day, with gigs and festivals scheduled to perfect her live performances. Catch her if you can to Street voice.
(Taiwan News, photo Jules Quartly)
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