Lachi talks about her creative process, disability awareness in the music industry, social activism, and more [Interview] – EARMILK

New York musician Lachi didn’t arrive to blend in- she showed up to flip the script. She’s not just breaking down barriers in the music world; she’s turning the whole space into something louder, bolder, and built for everyone. Born blind, and raised in a world that kept trying to shrink her, Lachi grew up channeling her imaginative mind into music, stories, and anything else that let her creativity live out loud. Piano by ear. Songs as survival. She didn’t fit in, and she stopped trying. Instead, she built her voice like a muscle- and trained it on a future no one else could see.

The Manhattan-based musician, author, and CEO grew up a self-described “quirky little outcast” who carved out her own path in music from a young age. “I turned to writing songs and tinkering on the keys as my creative outlet at a super young age,” she says. “My mom played classics in the car and on Saturday mornings, like the Beatles, Dolly Parton, and the pop-rock bands that took over the late ’90s and early 2000s.”

Growing up blind, Lachi became proficient in piano by ear, “people passed me Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and the like, and I heard their whispers of ‘she might be some kind of savant,’” she says. “That influenced the way I saw myself. I didn’t have any blind female role models, so I settled for the few Black female heavyweights that came up during that era—Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, and Missy Elliot.”

Lachi’s aspiration is to re-invent the system and open hearts and mind to new ways of perceiving artists. “My ultimate goal is to infiltrate pop culture with ‘Different,’” she says, “from elements of dance instrumentation and jazzy vocals to folk storytelling with the lyrical wit of hip-hop, I connect them all with a message of radical self-love, empowerment, and f***-’em-energy that does what it can not to take itself too seriously.”

Always approaching music with a boundary-less, open-minded perspective, her songwriting process is cathartic and unbound. The beginnings of songs come to fruition in the car’s backseat, in the shower, in front of a piano, or in even in a songwriting camp with Alicia Keys. “It’s a truly organic experience,” she says. “My art is informed by the lives I and my ancestors have lived, gunning for first place in a society that was not built for our victory.” Creating from a place of heartfelt space of emotional release, she says “where I am now, my lyrics and melodies are a one-to-one discussion of me, my specific lived experience, and sharing lessons learned through my very unique perspective.”

Informed by her experience not only as a blind woman but also as someone dealing with OCD, PTSD, general anxiety, and maladaptive daydreaming, her music turns her challenges into self-empowerment. Lachi says, “my ADHD offers me endless energy and the capacity I need for all my one million bright ideas. OCD gives me the electric jolt to carry them out. Anxiety brings excitement, analysis, and critical thinking. PTSD brings humanity and empathy to build my crew and community. Maladaptive daydreaming brought about my novels. And Blindness has brought me focus, drive, hyper-problem-solving skills, and a dope-ass Glam Cane.” With a penchant for emotive songwriting that turns pain into power, Lachi is an inspiration and a trailblazer in the music scene.

“You may be thinking ‘wow, you overcame your disabilities, now you can see them as positive!’ Nope. I didn’t overcome my disabilities. I still have ’em. I overcame inaccessibility. I overcame stigma. I overcame giving a f***. I’m not spitting positives—I’m just spitting facts”, says Lachi.

Along with her accomplishments as an artist, Lachi is the founder of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), an organization she founded to shed light upon musicians with disabilities in the industry. RAMPD is blazing forth as a potent platform providing a much needed space in music culture. “We equip the industry with the resources and programming it needs to support music creators and artists with disabilities, neurodivergence, and other chronic and mental health conditions,” she says. “We’ve worked with the Recording Academy, Netflix, Live Nation and more. Best of all? We’re building community from a place of power, not pity.”

Now, RAMPD will be hosting an upcoming virtual songwriting camp with global participants from Sweden, L.A., New York, and Australia. “For folks who face barriers—whether immune deficiencies, parenthood, or finances—the Internet opens doors. It’s not perfect, but it’s powerful.”

As far as what is on the horizon for Lachi, she has new music dropping each month, including the recent “Diseducation (Dance Mix)” with Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas. Her memoir, I Identiy as Blind, is also being released next year via Penguin Random House. Moreover, she’s putting together a children’s music album with Grammy winners, hosting keynotes around the globe, running Glam Canes, being featured in ad campaigns for Google, Meta, and Mastercard, and she has published several sci-fi novels.

Lachi offers some closing words of wisdom on honesty and embracing your fullest self, “the best advice I ever took was embracing my whole, authentic self—including the parts society expected me to view as wrong or limiting. I used to hide my disability to avoid losing a gig. But as I got into better rooms, I found hiding that key part of myself was holding me back. Embracing it helped me perform better, build stronger relationships, and show up whole. It helped me grab the industry by the balls.”

“SO many exciting things are on the horizon,” she says. “Follow me @LachiMusic on socials, check LachiMusic.com, and keep an eye out—we’re infiltrating pop culture with Different.”

Connect with Lachi: Spotify | Instagram | X | Website