A Witness For Christ | Yours, Sincerely [5]

T-Shirt and Keychain designs by TCCO for “Candlelight”

Hello Miss Lou! Could you share a bit about yourself?
I am a singer, songwriter, worship leader, and music producer at Loudanclear, which is a music production and live music company co-founded by my husband and I.

That’s amazing! How did you get into music and what do you think about it as a Christian?
Since I was a child, singing and music had been evident as interests of mine, and I was blessed to have had many opportunities to explore these interests all throughout my growing up and schooling years.

 Before I came to know and give my life to Christ in 2018, I was already actively pursuing music and the performing arts, and eventually became a full-time singer and music creative upon graduation from university in 2016. I never had any inkling that my interest and aptitude in singing and songwriting, or the opportunities that were given to me in developing my musicality would be for the purpose of worship. God started revealing that to me step by step as I started walking with Him.  

Music used to be a way to make a name for myself, to be noticed, to earn favour, likes, and compliments from others. With that came the roller coaster of building my identity on and tagging my emotions to external validation or lack thereof. My self-worth was largely affected by the response to my singing or my work.

Image by Miss Lou



As He started redeeming parts of my brokenness in relying on the gifts that He had given to me to form my identity and self-worth, He also started to show me the purpose of my singing and writing, and show me a different goal in pursuing excellence in my craft. Through many different encounters, prompts, confirmations, He guided me every step of the way in transforming my relationship with music:  

He first showed me my blindspots like not inviting Him into my creative process, then He equipped me with Biblical knowledge of worship and a supportive community as a student at Awaken Generation and in my home church, then He showed me many different ways to use voice and songwriting to serve Him and His church, and in the last two years alone, connected me with many other creatives in the body of Christ.

He has called me to be a bridge between the unchurched and the church, and music has been the tool He’s placed in my hand to do so. Music is a great tool at breaking down walls and softening hearts so that God may reach and save people. To be an effective witness for Christ in the world, as well as an effective worship leader, I’ve learnt that what I do offstage spills over into what I do onstage, so my priority now is to be filled with God’s Word and sing, lead, and write from revelations from encountering Him.

That’s really a powerful statement! Could you share about how “Candlelight” came about?
I co-wrote this song with my husband, saxophonist and keyboardist Daniel Chia, on a YouTube web-series on collaborative songwriting which I hosted and created, called ‘A Song A Day’. We finished writing it in a few hours, which was documented on the show.

Images by Miss Lou

The lyrical inspiration behind the song came from a moment from Circuit Breaker period in 2020, where I was sitting in our bedroom at dusk, with a scented candle that was lit, and where I felt a deep sense of gratitude that we had a roof over our heads, and a comfortable home to quarantine in. As the both of us are freelancers who relied heavily on live performances and engagements for income, we saw almost every bit of our income decimated when the pandemic hit.

As the sun went down and the room darkened, I looked at the candle flame in the silence and realised that the hope that God provides, even as an ember, is extraordinarily bright in dark times. Hence the line ‘Embers shine brightest in the dark.’  

I think to the secular world, it would have been acceptable and expected if we had responded resentfully to the destabilising circumstances, but in choosing to give praise to God through music and the internet wasn’t just a way to point others to the ultimate source of certain hope, but also to help fix our eyes on Jesus when everything else looked bleak.

The chorus sums it up: ‘Even if the sun goes down on me now, I won’t let it take my shine / I’ll still have my candlelight’ Even if what I had built my identity and security on started to crumble like sand, I still had my faith in God, who provides.

As you know, this collection is a part of a collaboration with Awaken Generation! What did you think as we approached you?
I love when Kingdom creatives come together to use our gifts to point to Him. Even when I was a pre-believer, I would be drawn to good and purposeful design and music. All human beings are all drawn towards beauty, and collaboration reveals different facets and expressions of God’s beauty through His creation.  

I’m praying that they’ll be reminders of God’s faithfulness to us, as well as conversation starters to talk to others about our own walk with God.

The goal of this is ultimately, to inspire the next generation of creatives, so what is some advice you would give to them?
I’m still relatively new to using my music to glorify God as a believer and worshipper, but in my limited time, I’ve experienced doubt in my abilities, as well as misguided pressure on myself to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. As long as we are obedient in stewarding and developing the gifts He’s given us, and viewing our craft and what we create as an offering to the Lord, we please Him with our faithfulness, and then we need to surrender the ‘success’ of our work to Him. We do our best, but the end result is not dependent solely on us, so we can rejoice and not be burdened by it!

Image by Miss Lou

Just like how Abraham built an altar to the Lord in Genesis 12 to honour and remember what God had promised him and his offspring, our creative works and songs can be altars we build in response to the truth of who God is and what He has done for us. We can someday use these works to tell our future generations stories of our encounters with God. The art we create doesn’t always have to be for public consumption, though it can be edifying! So my advice is, just do it, develop your craft to become skillful at it, but ultimately remember that God doesn’t need us to create in order for Him to love us.

What do you think the future would be like for creativity in the Christian context?
I haven’t been a Christian for very long, but in the last few years alone, I’ve observed and connected with many creatives working on a growing variety of sounds and genres. I believe the Lord is raising up songwriters, singers, and musicians to start writing lyrics, melodies, instrumental pieces, rap songs, rock songs, catchy pop-inspired hooks that are centred on Christ and stories about the journey of walking with Him.

In the next 5 to 10 years, I’m excited to see and hear more support for  diverse Christian music to reflect the creativity of our Creator.

Image by Miss Lou

Throughout this collaboration, we see all the different qualities of God - be it His mercy, gentleness, compassion and more. We see how God has impacted each of these musicians' lives and hear how the Spirit continues to work in their lives. 

As for myself, the greatest joy has been to see these designs reach the likes of others - being able to see them worn as testaments of God’s goodness, continuing to spread amongst people like seeds in a beautiful garden to grow. 

I am comforted by how God continues to stir in that way, and how even in our brokenness, I can come to Him as I am and continue to be a vessel for His glory everyday. We’re all gifted with something, even if we don’t realise it yet, and as Miss Lou shared, what greater way is there for us to use that than by being the bridge between the churched and unchurched?

Maybe it’s tough to push yourself out that comfort zone and share this personal part of your life to someone else, and I agree! Even I still get afraid to pray for people at times. But the important thing to know is that God sees you and will love you no matter what, and He is proud of every step you take for Him.

Growth requires us to take that step out, and it’s difficult - but He is there to support us all the way. He surrounds us with people, He blesses us with  gifts - all the tools are there for us, we just need to say “Yes Lord, I will live for you.”

So as this collection and collaboration comes to an end for now, I pray that hearing these weekly testimonies and a bit of mine, that you’ve gained a fresh perspective of what it means to sincerely be His. I pray we take our talents and grow them fervently as with our walks, taking bold steps forward.

Let this be the first step forward in our journeys into something new and challenge ourselves to think deeper about our faiths :).

Image by Miss Lou

As the live performing scene kicks back up, Miss Lou is riding the wave and continuing in her performances. Looking towards the end of the year, she will be involved in a number of Christmas outreach events organised by different churches, as well as a Christmas Eve concert at Our Tampines Hub. More details will be on her socials, but if you’d like push notifications whenever she has new releases or show updates, you can join her Telegram channel at t.me/hellomisslou! Do also feel most welcome to follow her journey on all socials @HELLOMISSLOU.

Reflection Time

1) What does relying on God look like to me?

2) How can I do my part to be a bridge for others?

3) What is one thing God has assured me on?