Claire Barry first went viral singing Vienna by Billy Joel at a cultural talent show in Costa Rica. The audio engineer initially played the wrong song, but the unique start of the performance and her powerfully emotive voice earned her over 2 million views. Since then, she has curated a social media presence to promote herself as an artist. She has also performed with various bands at venues in Durham such as the Main Room of the Cat's Cradle, The Fruit, and The Eno House, as well as at house shows and around Duke’s campus. Her first song “Blue Jeans”, a pop piece published for streaming in 2023, was played on the WFUV radio in New York.

 

Growing up in Hong Kong with roots in La Jolla, CA and Shanghai, Claire has developed a love and curiosity for adventure, which is demonstrated by how she pushes herself out of her comfort zone when it comes to writing music. She writes across genres ranging from dreamy pop and angry rock to emotional ballads and eerie electronic music, but her common denominator as an artist has been described as one where “she captures very raw and authentic human emotion, whether that’s whimsy, melancholy, or playfulness”.

 

She is enamored with songwriting because she has seen how her songs impact others: out of the blue, a friend told Claire that her lyrics felt like she was living in her friend’s head. It was an empowering and moving moment, and she is in love with the idea that her songs can resonate like that with others.

 

Claire is currently working on four songs she hopes to publish in the upcoming months. Her song “Right Hook” was released December 13th, and her song "Sunset and Soju" was released January 3rd. Her current priorities are two pop punk songs called "Adrenaline" and "Hot Topic", as well as a dark, slow-building song named "Rip Me in Two".