Meet Shira Lucé
Jacqueline is a no-BS-east coaster, that’s for sure. She tells it like it is. She’s also an empath who took the long road to finding oneness within her soul. After college, Jacqueline moved to New York and worked on various political campaigns. She always knew she was supposed to be doing something more creative, but denied herself that truth. In her song “Dream State”, the lyric To find serenity, we have to find the truth within speaks to the light she found, following a respiratory infection and back injury, through integrative medicine and a diverse approach to spiritual healing.
Jacqueline’s evolution into Shira completely turned her life around - she became engaged, she was writing music, converted to Judaism, married and she’s releasing material that is authentic to her. “It was a complete overhaul of my entire being. It started with my body and with my health and after that I just started manifesting more opportunities to heal myself and fulfill my life’s purpose”.
Prior to Covid, Shira Lucé worked in politics and when the lockdown hit, she found herself without a job which pushed her to apply to graduate school and volunteer for the non-profit 501c3 Musical Empowerment. Her musical identity was strengthened once accepted to NYU Steinhardt’s Music Business program, and she found personal fulfillment in mentoring and songwriting. Returning to songwriting led to the collaboration “Kniffen Road” with Raman Mama and soon after joined HRDRV where she released “Winter Melody” with her songwriting partners Lily Lewis and Scotty Grand, producer Death Beach, and her mentee Melody Tun.
With her newfound confidence and with her songs beginning to take shape and grow in number, Jacqueline decided to release her new material as Shira, her Hebrew name. It was the creative community who helped Shira transform herself, notably in fall of 2020 at a collab camp where she met A.Z. who wrote the melody to the upcoming release “The Buddha is Stone”.
In February of 2021, Shira recorded songs at Sonalist Studios in Waterford, CT, engineered by Evan Bakke. Scotty Grand acted as creative director and co-producer to the project, along with co-producer Offtrack. The production team helped bring the recordings to life. Lucé also co-wrote a song called “Burn The Sage” with Scotty Grand, about the political climate which also represents Shira’s journey and her intention to come together and heal. In the second iteration of this song, a verse was written and performed by up and coming pop artist Maria Lynn, along with Grand and Lucé.
Shira’s upcoming projects all fall thematically under this idea of The Light and she will release the pop/rock song “Dream State”, a welcome return for the singer, with more mainstream appeal. The entire project which will see additional releases in the coming months is about finding God and the light within yourself. “It’s about being honest with yourself, about looking at your wounds and seeing what they are, not just getting past them but seeing them, noticing the triggers. They’re always going to be there but you have the choice to react differently and reframe the narrative”.
Shira Lucé thinks of herself as spiritually diverse, it works for her and it helps her keep balance and continue her self-discovery, with herself and her music. “It’s funny, I was raised a Catholic girl in Providence, but I’m a New York Jew at heart. I grew up with different religions impacting my life, and I try to take lessons from all of them. I believe that spirituality allows you to explore life’s meaning in a more intentional way without limits”. Shira Lucé was imagined perhaps most presciently because we have something to learn from one another - every religion, every culture.
From jazz to rock to pop, Shira Lucé has a lot of warmth to share with the world, life experience and years of hard work and healing. She’s better than ever and ready to take on this next chapter, with a healthy and confident mindset. She lives by the phrase: Stop listening to the false ego, be genuine and follow your heart. “We have to remember to look within ourselves when we are feeling lost or disconnected. You have to open your eyes to the truth, lead with compassion and love, and embrace your light.”
The Providence, Rhode Island native, born Jacqueline Paolino, is based in New York City and has gone through a transformation over the past few years, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
Converting from Catholicism to Judaism is one major shift that has realigned Lucé's path, recently marrying, taking control of her physical and mental health and building up the confidence she had when she was a child to sing and perform, while spreading messages and wishes of peace and togetherness.
The pop/rock singer offers a serene element to her music that blends beautifully with what Providence represents as a city. The small northeast coastal city is known to be a place that welcomes people of all religions, creeds and backgrounds and Shira Lucé is one of many of the city’s artists who embrace people and change. Her musical inspirations as of late are none other than George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Taylor Swift.
Lucé’s first album (recorded under her birth name) was a collection of a couple originals along with elegant jazz standards like “Smile”, “Unforgettable” with her own Rhode Island spin on “New York State of Mind”, renaming it fittingly to “Newport State of Mind”. It wasn’t until early 2021 that she decided on her new alias, Shira Lucé, a thoughtful blend of her Hebrew name Shira (meaning my song) and Lucé (Italian for light). Light has become the focus of much of Lucé’s music - and it’s all part of her spiritual evolution.
Shira Lucé is an empath at her core, with the rare ability to laugh at herself at the same time. She has also learned that there’s no light without the darkness, and she has had more than her fair share of tragedy, which she so courageously documents on her song “Light”:
I couldn’t see, I was blind, I lost my mind
and I couldn’t find a reason for being alive
This timeless and stunning prayer elevated Lucé throughout her spiritual journey leading up to her conversion and ultimately her marriage in 2021. It's been a long time, suffering major family losses and dealing with grief since she was very young. She lost others to addiction and dealt with her own struggles and challenges leaving her with a constant cycle of physical pain, depression and anxiety. Jacqueline is a middle child, third and youngest daughter with a younger brother. She did years of therapy and tried various methods for relaxation and concentration. She was out-smarting her therapists and wasn’t taking it seriously because she wasn’t actually doing the work. She cautions people that just because you are in therapy doesn’t mean you are doing therapy. But it started to make an impact about two years ago - the clouds started to vanish and the sun appeared, lifting Jacqueline’s pain and helping her to heal, largely by attracting herself to fulfill her dreams.
Faith and music have been at the center of Jacqueline’s life. At the age of five, Jacqueline was blessed by Pope John Paul II, and grew up on a street with both a temple and a church next door. She began taking piano lessons at seven, but just wanted to sing so her piano teacher became her accompanist instead. Jacqueline’s love for music seemed inevitable as there were several talented singers in the family, including her older cousin who inspired her to get into musical theater and a cappella. Jacqueline’s grandparents had a player piano in the basement and her grandfather is Mr. Christmas, always going overboard for the holiday, a lover of Bing Crosby songs and Christmas music while her grandmother was a long-time fan of “Send In The Clowns”.
Jacqueline shined on stage, in shows and in choirs, taking on solos numerous times. “In fifth grade, my favorite role I ever got was Golda in Fiddler on the Roof, so my connection to Judaism goes back. I had laryngitis on opening night but I powered through”. By eighth grade she was playing Marian The Librarian in The Music Man as a Soprano I. In high school, she was captain of the a capella group which went to Nationals. Jacqueline recalls her adoration of live music, enjoying Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, her first concert being a Barenaked Ladies show as well as several times accompanying her father to see Frank Sinatra Jr. perform at Mohegan Sun.
Though Jacqueline never gave up on music, she spent a large chunk of her career in politics, studying as a political science major in college but always feeling her connection to music. She tried her hand at public relations and even finance but neither really clicked. “I’m not politically correct, which is funny considering my background. I’m a little more laidback. I’m really spiritual, and I’m creative”.