thủy: 'I carry on my heritage through my artistry rather than the lyrics'
May 23, 2024 – [[read-time]] minute read
In our Artist Voices series, artists reflect on their music, lives and time on YouTube.
If you don't already know thủy, you really should! The Vietnamese-American pop R&B star and YouTube Foundry alumni, is a force to be reckoned with. From her breakout "girls like me don’t cry" to most recent track “hair down," thủy is known for her relatable lyrics and modern take on R&B. Her music has captivated listeners everywhere, landing her two sold-out tours and collaborations with major brands.
We sat down with thủy ahead of a performance at YouTube in New York City to learn more about her journey, what role family and heritage plays in her career, and how she turns raw emotion into such incredible music.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You made history this past April with your set at Coachella. Tell us about the call when you learned you were performing at Coachella.
thủy: I was driving back from Los Angeles to the Bay area and my manager asked to have a Zoom meeting with me and my agents, which they never do. So immediately I thought I was in trouble. We pulled the car over, I hop on the call and they tell me they had confidential information and I’m thinking, ‘this is it, I’m done, I’m getting dropped.’ My agent was quiet for a moment, then they said I just got an offer from Coachella.
I went through a lot of emotions within the 20 minutes of that call. After I hung up I just started crying because I couldn’t believe this was real. I was actually driving with my co-writer Charlie and my DJ — we moved out to Los Angeles together to pursue music so it was so great that it was us three in the car together when we heard the news. This was a year before they announced the Coachella bill so I had held on to this secret for so long and just kept asking my manager if this is really happening, and if I’m really going to be on the bill.
It sounds like imposter syndrome is something you've battled before.
When I see so many people that look like me in the crowd it's a sense of community that I really hold on to. I'm so proud of myself for working so hard and never giving up, and I hope they see a little bit of themselves in me.”
thủythủy: I have moments like that all the time when I see my name on the doors of business meetings or getting on a billboard or even when they have my picture on a welcome sign. Throughout all 10 years of me pursuing music, I just feel like I always have these moments where I'm like, ‘this feels crazy.’ Being the first daughter in my family who expects you to go to school and take care of my siblings and make my parents proud, I felt a lot of pressure. I always thought it was only going to be through a career in medicine. But I still felt like I'm going to be a singer, delusional and thinking about it every day.
It's really cool now to be able to make my parents proud through music — they come to all my shows and they love experiencing it and kind of living their life again through me. It's really fun. Publications in Vietnam are writing about me and how I’m making history and they’re like, that’s my daughter and they’re so, so supportive. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
When you’re up there performing and looking out into the crowd — especially on a stage at Coachella — what are the things you notice and experience?
thủy: First I notice my mom in the crowd because she’s always trying to be with the people, vibing with them, and I’m always trying to avoid eye contact because she makes me so nervous! [Laughs]. But really, when I see so many people that look like me in the crowd it's a sense of community that I really hold on to. I'm so proud of myself for working so hard and never giving up, and I hope they see a little bit of themselves in me.
I definitely feel like an older sister to them, and there’s a loving sense that I get from them — not as a fan but someone they can look up to and admire. I’m so grateful they show up for me.
Your heritage is a significant part of who you are, but you incorporate your culture in your music through subtler ways. Tell us about that.
thủy: I'm not an artist that talks about being Vietnamese through my music because I think it should just be about the music. I just want to be considered a dope artist that just happens to be Vietnamese American. What I love to do is showcase my parents in my videos, highlight my culture like little Easter eggs. That way I stay true to who I am.
I even changed my name recently to have the accent mark because Vietnamese is such a complex language that we can sound so different depending on what accent you have on your name. It’s important for me to carry on my heritage and my background through my artistry rather than the lyrics themselves.
Wrestling taught me to never give up on things that seem far out of reach and to keep manifesting it in your mind. Not a lot of people know about that and it’s such a core memory for me.”
thủyA lot of artists learn to be resilient in such a tough industry — but you learned it early on as a high school wrestler. That's not something most people associate with musicians — how did you get into it, and what was your experience like?
thủy: I was such a tomboy growing up seeing my brothers and cousins wrestling and I decided I was also going to do it and not tell my parents. I signed up in junior high, had my first match with a guy and he folded me like a taco. But I decided I wasn’t giving up and after a year and a half I was wrestling guys that didn’t want to lose to a girl and eventually joined a girl’s division. By high school, I was sixth in the state and a two-time North Coast Section Champion in heavy wrestling.
Wrestling taught me to never give up on things that seem far out of reach and to keep manifesting it in your mind. Not a lot of people know about that and it’s such a core memory for me.
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There are so many parallels here, like being the underdog and fighting through the odds and traditional expectations.
thủy: I still feel like I'm just the underdog in everything. Everyone's always like ‘How did you get into this music industry?’ and I'm like, ‘I don't even feel like I'm in the music industry.’ I'm still unsigned and fully independent. I'm also completely self-funded. Our core team is three people. It’s a very ground up business but everybody pours their heart into this and we love what we do and being able to share just a little bit of who I am.