The Unique Voices Club #1: Lorine Chia

Every Friday, I write a post about unique singing voices not commonly heard in mainstream music in an effort to educate emerging artists and music lovers and inspire them to embrace their own quirks. This week I'm writing on Lorine Chia.

I remember when this Cameroonian girl named Libianca graced the Voice stage back in Season 21, the same season where I fangirled mightily over Bella DeNapoli. And besides the jazzy way that she sang, she especially made an impact on me because she was a third-culture kid like me, having also been born in America but grown up in an African country. (I grew up in South Africa, in case you didn't know.) These days though, you probably know Libianca from her afrobeat song "People" which charted hugely when it released in 2022 (Lord knows I needed that song). Which goes to say that if you love her, you'll love Lorine Chia.

According to her website, Lorine Chia is a LA-based singer, songwriter and rapper who's collaborated with Chance the Rapper, Janelle Monae and Wiz Khalifa, among others. She's performed at SXSW (South by Southwest), and her music can be heard on shows like Issa Rae's Insecure and movies like that Candyman one by Jordan Peele. And yet somehow she has 30k monthly listeners on Spotify and about 20k Instagram followers. A perfect example that follower count means nothing because some of her songs have millions of streams.

Like Libianca, Lorine is also from Cameroon, and was raised in Cleveland and Baltimore. Her music is a blend of stylistic influences from being from two different worlds, and her voice, according to the now-defunct music review outlet Pitchfork, sounds like it's been "plucked straight from a different era, but...ultra-contemporary." I can believe as much too. Especially in the song "Better Days." Sometimes you think she's jazz with a slight nasal undertone but until you listen to some of her afrobeat raps. Her music will keep you on your toes.

The fact that you never know what to expect is the beauty of unique singing voices. They violate your psychological expectations of what music is supposed to be like. Check out some of her songs in the Spotify playlist above, and happy listening, and stay tuned for my next post featuring an artist that inspires me!

Stay educated,

Alexia