LÜCY - LÜCY (2022)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — There are millions of Lucys but only one LÜCY, a promising new singer-songwriting talent who was recently nominated at Taiwan’s Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA).

The 21-year-old popped out of nowhere and the depths of gritty New Taipei City after uploading self-made songs to her Instagram story. She was following the DJ, singer, and producer Showmain, who liked what he heard.

Sitting in a Taipei coffee shop, sipping at a latte, LÜCY says this 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 not collaborate on some demos.’ He sent me them and I did the melody and lyrics.”

The pair of EDM-inflected tracks they produced announced the arrival of a fresh voice on the local music scene. “Alive” is the stronger tune, partly because it opens with her singing, “When I open my eyes, I like you to stay by my side, and I feel so alive, there’s no turning back.”

It’s a classic pop sentiment but the way she expresses it has a pure, fresh, aching quality that makes you want to keep on listening. The songs also work, in part, because she has the bravura to sing in English, a key selling point if a Taiwanese pop star is ever going to shine on the wider world stage.

You could say it was a lucky break getting noticed by Showmain, but as the saying goes, “Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration” (Thomas Edison). Behind the scenes, LÜCY has put in the hours.