As one might expect of a Budapest-born Vietnamese singer/producer/sound-designer based in Brooklyn, Hien’s work challenges convention.

Growing up, Hien learned Hungarian folk songs in school, and also heard her grandparents—who were cải lương musicians—perform traditional Vietnamese music in Hanoi. Later, she attended Berklee College of Music, where she developed her craft while broadening her musical horizons. Today, her sound is both worldly and otherworldly: soulful, silky vocals that stand out among vaporous and ethereal electronic beats in a distinct style of left-field pop.

Hien has been all over the map: no stranger to the stages of Europe, Asia, and the United States, she has also starred as Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, been named one of Glamour’s “Women of the Year,” and showcased at SXSW festival. What is surprising about an artist as wide-reaching as Hien is that she is somehow able to bring these diverse parts of herself together to create a sonic unity that is all her own. Her latest offering, Bloom (2021), was funded by New York Foundation for the Arts, and has been featured on Nowness Asia, Earmilk, Ones to Watch, and Billboard Indonesia.