Lexie Liu

From China to the United States, singer/songwriter Lexie Liu blends an exciting mix of electronic-kissed pop and lush R&B with a hip-hop edge. In English, her native Mandarin, and the occasional Spanish, the cross-cultural vocalist looped from China to Korea and then to the U.S., where she built an audience with late-2010s singles such as "Coco Made Me Do It" and "Nada" from 2019's 2030. After Meta Ego, a quick follow-up released that same year, Liu soon pivoted to electro-based pop on 2021's Gone Gold and 2022's The Happy Star. Born Liu Boxin in Changsha, Hunan province in 1998, she grew up playing piano and dancing before enrolling in an international school to broaden her horizons and improve her English. Toward the end of her high school years, she headed to South Korea to compete on K-Pop Star 5, placing fourth but ultimately passing on a pop idol contract. She later attended college in New York for a semester, studying global business at Fordham University before deciding to pursue music full-time, focusing on both the Chinese and American markets. Her first single, the hard-hitting, trap-influenced "Coco Made Me Do It" featured Korean-American rapper Nafla and gained enough traction to help secure a performing slot at that year's SXSW. A viral cover of Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez's "We Don't Talk Anymore" helped further grow her audience. In 2018, she joined another reality TV competition, this time on The Rap of China. Again placing fourth, she capitalized on her exposure in her homeland, releasing her debut full-length 2029 in October. Album singles such as the smooth "Like a Mercedes" and the romantic "Sleep Away" gained traction in the U.S., where the latter track caught the attention of label 88Rising. Liu signed with them and began her U.S. promotion with a return to trap-kissed beats on the single "Nada." The viral hit landed on her 2019 effort 2030. The short collection included "Hat Trick" and "Outta Time" with KILLY. She quickly followed with Meta Ego, another Rihanna-influenced set of beat-forward, contemporary R&B output that featured the streaming hit "Manta." In 2020, she provided the QQ Dance anniversary celebration song "Peacock Dance" and joined the K/DA universe as Seraphine, contributing to "More" from All Out. In 2021, Liu pivoted to a vibrant, synth-based brand of electro-pop, heard on tracks like "ALGTR" from the self-produced Gone Gold. In between releases, she issued the single "Deep Down" and "818," the official gala theme song for Chinese station, Zhejiang Television. In 2022, she released her third official full-length, The Happy Star, which touched on sounds ranging from '90s alternative trip-hop to contemporary dance pop. Continuing in her shimmering, synth-based direction, the LP included "Fortuna," a trilingual dose of dancepop that added Spanish to Liu's arsenal, and the sweeping digital epic "Magician."
© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo