Thuy Thi Thu Tran (born October 29, 1991) known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

as Thuy or Thủy (stylized in lowercase) is a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth largest Asian Ame ...

singer and songwriter based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Thuy is an independent artist and has released 2 EPs. Her single " Girls Like Me Don't Cry" went viral on the video-sharing platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in the middle of 2023.

Early life

Thuy was born in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

parents, and was raised in Newark in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...

region of Northern California.

Karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

was a primary source of entertainment in her family. She attended

Newark Memorial High School Newark Memorial High School (NMHS) is a comprehensive high school in Newark, California, United States. It is part of the Newark Unified School District (NUSD). History Newark Memorial High School was formed in 1983 as part of a school consol ...

, where she was a member of the choir, and then went on to attend the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, where she majored in

biopsychology Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology,Psychobi ...

Career

2015–2020: Career beginnings

After graduating college, Thuy planned to pursue a career as a

physician assistant A physician assistant or physician associate (PA) is a type of non-physician practitioner. While these job titles are used internationally, there is significant variation in training and scope of practice from country to country, and sometimes be ...

and held a number of jobs in the medical field but frequently changed jobs due to her lack of interest in her chosen career, working variously at several dental clinics, dermatology offices, and as an optometric technician, while writing and recording songs at night. During this time, Thuy released various cover videos on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. In 2015, Thuy released her song "Hands on Me". The song gained widespread support in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

community after winning KMEL 106.1's Home Turf contest. Following the song's success, Thuy moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with her boyfriend and childhood friend to pursue music-making full-time. In 2017, she released "All Night Long", which initially gained a small amount of traction. In 2020, the song gained a resurgence in popularity after a slowed-down version of the song went viral on

2021: ''I Hope U See This''

In 2021, Thuy released four singles leading up to a nine-track debut EP, ''I Hope U See This'' (stylized in lowercase). The full project was released on October 29, 2021, on her birthday. ''I Hope U See This'' was released with an accompanying music video, which Thuy co-directed herself. The music video portrays a younger version of Thuy, who is played by her real life cousin.

2022–present: ''Girls Like Me Don't Cry''

After the release of ''I Hope U See This'', Thuy released a deluxe version of the EP. In May 2022, she embarked on her first tour with four sold out dates. In August 2022, she performed at Outside Lands Music Festival in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and Head in the Clouds in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. In the fall of 2022, Thuy released her second EP, ''Girls Like Me Don't Cry''. The EP was supported with a sold out North American west coast tour. In January 2023, it was announced that Thuy would perform at the 2023 Sol Blume Festival. It was also announced that she was named as one of

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

's DSCVR Artists to Watch 2023. From March through August 2023, Thuy served as the opening act on

Ella Mai Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English R&B singer and songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ...

's Heart On My Sleeve Tour. In March 2023, she made her debut in the Vietnamese music market by releasing a remix of " Girls Like Me Don't Cry" (the EP's title track) featuring Min. In addition, "Girls Like Me Don't Cry" entered the ''Billboard'' Vietnam Hot 100 and peaked at number 9. In April 2024, Thuy debuted at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

as the first Vietnamese-American female artist to ever play at the festival. On October 21, 2024, she announced her 2025 Wings World Tour on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

after the release of her album ''Wings''.

Artistry

Thuy grew up listening to R&B and pop from the early 1990s and 2000s and cites her early musical inspirations as

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

Tamia Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development deal with War ...

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

. She has been described by

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

as having a "signature, nostalgic sound — catchy R&B melodies, agile runs and dreamlike soundscapes". Thuy has expressed admiration for contemporaries such as

Kehlani Kehlani Ashley Parrish ( ; born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group PopLyfe in 2011. Kehlani's debut mixtape, '' ...

and

Keshi Keshi may refer to: * Keshi (singer) (born 1994), American singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist * Keshigomu, often shortened to "keshi", a type of collectible miniature figure from Japan * Keshin, also known as Keshi, a ...

Personal life

Thuy currently lives in Los Angeles. She has a boyfriend named Charlie who is also a musician, with whom she co-writes songs. She has a dog named Oliver.

Discography

Studio Albums

Extended Plays

Singles

As a lead artist

As a collaboration artist

As a featured artist

Soundtracks

Other Songs

Concert Tours

Headline Tours * I Hope U See This Tour (2021) * Girls Like Me Don't Cry Tour (2022-2023) * Wings World Tour (2024-2025) Opening Tours * Heart On My Sleeve Tour (

) (2023)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thuy 1991 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American musicians of Vietnamese descent Living people People from Newark, California Newark Memorial High School alumni Singer-songwriters from California Vietnamese-American culture in California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni