Susan Chi Lucas introducing… Su-Chi

BORN Susan Chi Lucas (professionally known as “Su-Chi”), Su-Chi is a Taiwanese-American, Indie Folk/Pop multi-hyphenate: singer, songwriter, producer, entertainer, acoustic guitarist, and pianist. With a heart to connect, a desire to highlight health/wellness, and a passion to be an inspiration to fans around the world, Su- Chi views her music as medicine to the soul and a vessel to share authentic, dynamic, soul-bearing, identifiable, relatable stories. A quintessential artist at her core, Su-Chi will tell you, “I want stories that last longer than I do…The work is not about me. It’s a vessel to open a conversation”. Those conversations — inclusive, vulnerable, and often uncomfortable but necessary — are intended to help her listeners find their voice; to provoke their personal healing, self-acceptance, and personal growth; to ignite their self-proclaimed power; and to empower them to hold space.

That is undeniable when you have the privilege of experiencing her raw, live performances — something she refers to as her “absolute favorite thing to do”. In an effort to create a communal, sacred, safe space where she and her audiences can share vibrations, it is not uncommon to see Su-Chi step onstage and first ask everybody to take a deep inhale and exhale together; of course, not before taking off her heels to be barefoot and grounded (for the remainder of her show). Intimate moments organically unfold throughout the course of her sets because her intention is so keenly focused on building an environment where everybody is invited to be present, warm, comfortable, honest, and real. To participate in a Su-Chi performance is to find yourself engulfed in an artist-fan community where everyone is going to cry together, laugh together, and heal together through her unique auditory-visual experiences. It is clear that this artist possesses a palpable confidence and deftness onstage that only comes from first-hand experience; in Su-Chi’s case, that came from spending 2018-19 soft touring Hawaii and San Francisco and playing 6-8 monthly shows across iconic Los Angeles and Orange County venues (i.e. The Peppermint Club, The Mint, Hotel Cafe, Silver Lake Lounge, Viper Room, Space 15 Twenty/Urban Outfitters, Breaking Sound, Unplugged LA, Sofar Sounds, and The House of Blues).

Although gifted with boundless talent that lends itself to her strong range that can span multiple genres, Su- Chi cannot help but run back to her musical roots as an Indie Folk/Pop singer-songwriter. In fact, to hear her say it, “Ideally, in a beautiful world, I [would] write with Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams”. This comes as no surprise after learning that Seal, Bare Naked Ladies, Tracy Chapman, and Jackson Brown were the only types of music that her father allowed in their Camarillo, California home. Inspired by her musical heroes — including Sade, Lauryn Hill, Tracy Chapman, and even TLC — and excited by her contemporaries — including Chance Peña, Bren, Benson Boone, and Infinity Song Bad — Su-Chi pens her lyrics with a prolific specificity and sense of nostalgia that leaves space to draw her listeners in and allow them to fill in the blanks on their end.

Out of traumatic life experiences — for example, her mother’s death to Stage 4 colon cancer when Su-Chi was 17; her and her family’s history of mental health issues; and her concussions that ended a short-lived collegiate soccer career — Su-Chi discovered an affinity for neither being afraid to take risks nor do things differently.

When asked whose career she hopes for hers to mirror, Su-Chi is clear: “I really resonate with […] a version of the female Donald Glover […] Other than that, John Mayer or…Taylor Swift”. As she looks towards genuinely expanding her audience on a global scale and creating a sisterhood/matriarchy à la Taylor Swift or Lana Del Rey, Su-Chi is excited to one day play at music festivals such as Allen Stone’s Stone Family Field Trip, Coachella, Stagecoach, and 88rising, and maybe even embark on a coffee shop tour since coffee shops, according to Su- Chi, are “a home to any great writer”.

Su-Chi is a welcome breath of fresh air and a bright light needed more than ever in this turbulent, uncertain day and time. When she is not creating impactful songs that tell heart-tugging stories or performing live, you are bound to find Su-Chi coaching vocal lessons, meditating, spending time with her three sisters, or slipping away with her dog Indigo and her acoustic guitar to the solace of Ojai or Santa Ynez where she more than likely will find inspiration for her next musical pill.