Luiza has often found words inadequate for expressing the intensity of her feelings. They are too stiff and confining, so she sought another path. She let her voice lead her on her musical journey. She uses it like an instrument and has surrounded herself with the languages and landscapes she grew up with. Now Luiza invites us to discover her debut album “Luiza”.

Thirty years ago, Luiza first came to the world in Rennes, France, and grew up in surroundings where art was ever-present. Her French father is a jazz bassist guided by interest, curiosity and respect for the music. Her mother is a free, daring dancer from Brazil. And the rest of the family included numerous other artists who have left their mark on Luiza’s artistic sensibilities.

As a child, she was a member of the renowned Maîtrise de Bretagne children’s choir in Rennes, where she refined her vocal technique for eight years. At the conservatory, she concentrated on piano, guitar, harp and dance. Until she was a teenager, her life was marked by rehearsals and concerts of sacred music — the environment was sometimes too strict for a young girl, and she began to dream of something else.

She sought new ideas and inspirations and travelled to the Amazon region. Luiza was already familiar with this area, because as a child she often spent vacations in the Yanomami indigenous communities. At 18, she returned there and discovered the power of the forest — sometimes still, sometimes chattery. At concerts and festivals in Brazilian cities, she learned that one should sing from the depths of one’s soul.

A year later, Luiza was accepted to the art college at Réunion. On that island in the Indian ocean, she studied painting, documentary film-making and photography for five years. Here she wandered among the mountain peaks and revelled to the pulsing bass of reggae and dub music. This brought her musical and artistic spontaneity back, and she started singing again.

She sings at dub parties and jam sessions in various languages, including a language she’s made up herself. Her gut feeling told her that she should no longer suppress her voice. Even at big stars’ concerts, she feels the drive to sing too, gets right up on stage and snatches the microphone from Richard Bona, Emir Kusturica, La Caravane Passe or Soviet Suprem, and surprises artists and audiences alike with her courage and talent.

Luiza no longer had a choice: She had to make music her profession.

In 2019, she returned to France to dive into a new artistic life. The singer for whom spontaneity is so central had to learn to rein herself in and develop according to new rules — both in the studio and on stage. Moreover, she had to start writing lyrics in French, a language that still intimidates her. She puts forth a lot of effort, but never loses sight of her authenticity.

The years after that were marked by inspiring experiences and collaborations that moved her to release her first solo EP under her own name. In 2025, “Fantastik” appeared, a multi-language, multi-faceted work with a band led by Louis Thomas from the Armenian-French band Ladaniva. The EP is bewitching and colourful. Luiza experiments with Cumbia, dance hall, neo-soul and Brazilian styles, along with dreamy ballads.

Tom A. Smith

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LUIZA

SOFTPOWER