This post was updated May 28 at 8:20 p.m.

With each note sung and guitar chord strung, Chianie Chi’s melodic tone echoes her love for music.

The fourth-year linguistics and computer science student said her love for music began at a young age, as she grew up watching singing competitions for fun with her family and recorded voice memos of herself singing the songs she made. As time passed, Chi said she started to watch YouTube covers, performed in talent shows and joined a choir in high school. She is a self-trained musician and invested her time in communities that enjoyed music such as songwriting camps, Chi added. Her artist name, chiabiee, ties back to her outdated middle school Instagram handle, she said, but has now become the way she chooses to express her name as an artist.

“More recently, my songwriting process has been very personal,” Chi said. “Before, I drew a lot of lyrics and inspiration from not personal experience, … but more recently, it has been very much personal experiences.”

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Chi said she usually writes songs with just her guitar, strumming different chords in her bed. As she plays around with different chord progressions, Chi said she is able to progress the process once she finds a cool sound. Her songwriting is guided either by a phrase or how she feels in the moment, she said. Some of her songs begin with a beat, but most are developed with the verse and chorus first, she added.

For her specific lyricism, Chi said she understands that music can overlap and artists take inspiration from one another. She said she curates a playlist during her process and draws inspiration from the different sounds and concepts it includes. Her songs tend to be loquacious, she said, and her new music is moving in a more personal direction. She said the stylistic choices in her music, such as ad libs, are reflective of her as a person and her tendency to ponder a topic.

“My ad lib sometimes will echo something that I’ve already said,” Chi said. “It reflects how I think, in a way. I’ll think about the same thing a lot of times.”

In addition, her artistry goes beyond her music-making, as she expresses her creativity in multiple forms such as dance and painting, Chi said. Even with different creative expressions, she said she is drawn more strongly to music compared to dance – which she feels she needs to be in a group to perform, or painting, which is more time-consuming. Music is in everything around her and comes to her much more naturally, Chi said.

As a developing artist, Chi said she has learned from her musical inspirations, notably Ryan Beatty, whose lyrical precision has exposed her to a new songwriting approach and the impact that poetic and personal lyrics can have on a listener. Beatty’s approach to lyricism allowed her to learn that listeners don’t always have to understand a song’s message if the feeling of the song still translates. From Beatty, Chi said she is learning to be more intentional with her word choices by aiming to show, not tell, adding a sense of mystery to her songs.

Kai Tsao, a friend and collaborator of Chi, said he has noticed her progression as an artist. Tsao said he has seen Chi be faster with her writing and recognizes her vocals as a key strength of hers. Another friend and collaborator of Chi, Eefay Wang, said she has a deep respect for Chi’s work ethic, especially when it comes to promoting her music. Wang said promotion is a part of an artist’s life that is important but not always recognized, but Chi’s authenticity contributes to her promotion of her music.

“It’s not always the most fun component of getting it done, but she takes it all in stride,” Wang said. “She’s not embarrassed to share what she’s proud of, what she’s made. That’s something I really respect about her.”

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Music is a project filled with passion, Chi said, not something that she puts stressful deadlines on. She recently performed at a backyard show at USC. Chi added that this was her first time planning an event like this for her own performance, which helped her recognize the costly aspects of being an artist, but it was worth it because of her love of performing live.

For the future, Chi said she has an upcoming EP that she has been crafting. This EP is centered on her personal experiences, which she said she believes adds depth to her lyrics. Chi said she has the goal of one day becoming a full-time artist but is flexible to what other plans are in store for her life.

“I definitely want to try being a full-time artist,” Chi said. “After I graduate, I’m going to try being an artist for one or two years. … My goals for this year is definitely release the EP and try to open for someone on tour.”