Yaeji

Kathy Yaeji Lee was born August 6, 1993, in Flushing, Queens, as a single child in a Korean family.[3] She moved from New York to Atlanta when she was 5, and then to South Korea in the third grade.[2] While living in South Korea, Yaeji switched between different international schools on a yearly basis, leading her to find friends on the Internet, where she would first discover music.[3] She also briefly attended school in Japan before moving back to Korea.[4]

Yaeji eventually moved back to the United States to study conceptual art, East Asian studies, and graphic design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.[5] She embraced DJing as a hobby while attending Carnegie Mellon, crediting the afterhours electronic music dance party Hot Mass with her "indoctrination into nightlife."[6][7] Yaeji learned how to use Traktor and began DJing at house parties. She DJed for two years before learning Ableton, making her own music[8] and debuting on Carnegie Mellon's college radio station WRCT.[9] Yaeji graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2015.[4]

After graduation, Yaeji moved back to New York City to get involved in the music scene and to DJ.[8] Her first single, "New York '93", referring to her year of birth, was issued on the New York City label Godmode on February 29, 2016,[10][11][12] followed by a cover of "Guap" by Australian DJ Mall Grab that May.[13] She had previously uploaded songs to SoundCloud, although they were removed; this included "Areyouami", which was released when she was at college.[3]

Her debut eponymous EP, including both prior singles, was released by Godmode on March 31, 2017.[14]

She began to gain attention following her first Boiler Room session in May 2017, which involved a remix of Drake's single "Passionfruit".[15][16][17][3] The song was later released officially on Godmode's SoundCloud page.[18] The first of several stand-alone singles, "Therapy" was issued in July 2017,[19] followed by a two-track digital single, Remixes, Vol. 1, on August 1[20] and the "Last Breath" single on August 28.[21] The music video for the single "Drink I'm Sippin On" was released on 88rising's YouTube channel in October 2017, quickly gaining over one million views in two weeks.[22] On November 3, 2017, Yaeji released her second EP, EP2, to positive reviews[23][24] and moderate commercial success.[25] The video for "Raingurl" was released on November 16.[26]

Yaeji was named to the BBC's Sound of 2018 longlist in November 2017.[27][28] She also performed at the 2018 Coachella Festival.[29]

In 2021, "Raingurl" made it into New York Times's T magazine Spotify playlist, "Right Here: Asian Women Artists in the West."[30] She also performed at BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn! music festival, where she was rushed by fans.[31]

A year after her release of "What We Drew", and a year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, Yaeji released her first collaborative work with Korean Indie band front man Oh Hyuk of Hyukoh. The release consisted two tracks: "Year to Year" and "29". Despite being artists of different genres, both artists were able to rediscover the joy that they feel when creating music because of the collaboration.[32] Her debut album, With a Hammer, was released in April 2023.[33] The lead single, "For Granted", was released in January 2023.[34] "Done (Let's Get It)" followed in February 2023.[35] Yaeji performed at Coachella 2023.[36]

Yaeji currently lives in Brooklyn.[1]

• Official website