Maverick multi-hyphenate Lexie Liu has always done things her own way. After high school in Changsha in central China, she relocated to Seoul—but turned down a K-pop contract to retain her identity as an independent artist. Liu’s cool charisma and creative daring secured her a spot in the final of hip-hop survival show Rap of China, and since then her profile has only grown with her talent. Whether she’s shaping poetic R&B melodies on “Sleep Away” or serving ice-cold confidence via the anthemic “Mulan”, Liu is unafraid to cross linguistic lines and tear down genre borders.