Su Lee is the perfect representation of what a musician can do in their bedroom, having launched her entire music career during the pandemic from the comfort of her 10′ x 10′ room, turning her awkwardly charming personality into a self-described Napoleon Dynamite musical. Her dreamy soundscape took you by the hand and lead you through a wonderland of unbound imagination where her heightened emotions, mainly loneliness, uncertainty, and anxiety, gushed out of her to encourage you to open yourself up to her ideology. She’s the complete opposite of the modern pop star, avoiding being clean and polished, she is instead a raw diamond who’s coarse edges cut through the noise and allow her to showcase her quirky authenticity for everyone to behold. Her EP Box Room Dreams is a testament to this and then some, with each track’s confessional lyrics feeling like your very own personal therapy session, but one track stood out and had me enamoured from the second it began to play.
Coward is everything that made me fall head over heels for Su Lee when I heard I’ll Just Dance at the start of the pandemic. The buoyant production of effervescent synths and crisp lo-fi drums brings out an undeniable joy that makes you want to throw shapes, whilst her lyrics cut through you like a knife, saying everything you’d be too afraid to say out loud. Caught in an inner conflict of being too afraid to ask for more in a relationship, creating a saudade atmosphere where the jubilant production finds the silver-lining of the situation whilst the confessional lyrics go deeper into her psyche. She’s a true gem and watching her career go from strength to strength is wondrous to watch. Dive head first into her EP Box Room Dreams ASAP.