Innumerable singers have crossed the Canada’s Got Talent stage hoping for their shot at success, but Rachel Chiu’s incredible performance in the show’s fourth season instantly set her apart from the rest.
Rachel took to the audition theater with a bright and naturally lovable personality, radiating positive energy before cracking jokes with head judge Howie Mandell: “Right now, I’m a singer… Later, hopefully I’m still a singer.”
At 24 years old and from Richmond, Vancouver, B.C., Rachel took first position sitting at the grand piano, her all-smiling parents applauding from the audience. Her opening note was fire — a sweet bluesy intro to the jazz classic, “It Don’t Mean A Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing,” making judge Trish Stratus exclaim, “Oooh!” before her verse shocked the entire audience.
With a buttery, velvet voice, Rachel’s rendition was delicately sweet and dainty, like a female singer from old-school Hollywood, her tone adorned with natural charm. Her sugary scat singing was a timeless match, but when Rachel gritted her teeth to sing the trumpet line, the whole auditorium was taken aback!
Rachel’s “mouth trumpet” isn’t just a party trick, it’s a pitch-perfect accompaniment to almost any song you could throw Rachel’s way, and it sounds just like a real trumpet! It’s a novelty, but with class, and unexpectedly finessed, fitting straight into her track’s classic jazz sound.
Howie was instantly amused by Rachel’s switch from singing to trumpet and back, while Kardinal Offishall told her, “That is something that I personally haven’t seen before and I thought it was amazing,” sending her through with four out of four Yes votes!
This wasn’t Rachel’s first audition on a TV talent show, but with 116k YouTube views on her CGT audition, this time was certainly more successful. Rachel revealed she’d previously auditioned for American Idol’s 20th season back in 2022. Her audition was cut into montage clips without airing in full, but Rachel’s interview with American Idol Unaired revealed the backstory behind this incredible star.
Rachel began learning classical piano at the age of 5, and only started singing when she was around 15 or 16 years old. After finding her voice, Rachel took her piano-playing skills outside of the classical genre and loved it, discovering new potential for a music career empowered by her own independence. At university, she co-directed an a cappella group and just before the COVID lockdowns, started posting music clips on TikTok. She gained tons of views, enough to encourage Rachel to pursue music as more than just a hobby. Rachel now boasts an incredible 1.1m TikTok followers, with multiple TikToks surpassing one million views; one clip even hitting 21.6M!
If you were as captivated by Rachel Chiu’s incredible performance as we were, feel free to check out more of her work. You can subscribe to her YouTube Channel or follow her on Instagram for more amazing music.