Yaeji

Kathy Yaeji Lee (; born August 6, 1993), known professionally as Yaeji, is an American singer, DJ, and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her style blends elements of house music and hip hop with mellow, quiet vocals sung in both English and Korean.

Early life Kathy Yaeji Lee was born August 6, 1993, in Flushing, Queens, as a single child in a Korean family. She moved from New York to Atlanta, Georgia when she was 5, and then to South Korea in the third grade.

Yaeji eventually moved back to the United States to study conceptual art, East Asian studies, and graphic design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She embraced DJing as a hobby while attending Carnegie Mellon, crediting the afterhours electronic music dance party Hot Mass with her "indoctrination into nightlife." Yaeji learned how to use Traktor and began DJing at house parties. She DJed for two years before learning Ableton, making her own music and debuting on Carnegie Mellon's college radio station WRCT. Yaeji graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2015. followed by a cover of "Guap" by Australian DJ Mall Grab that May. She had previously uploaded songs to SoundCloud, although they were removed; this included "Areyouami", which was released when she was at college.

She began to gain attention following her first Boiler Room session in May 2017, which involved a remix of Drake's single "Passionfruit". The first of several stand-alone singles, "Therapy" was issued in July 2017, followed by a two-track digital single, Remixes, Vol. 1, on August 1 and the "Last Breath" single on August 28. 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. On November 3, 2017, Yaeji released her second EP, EP2, to positive reviews and moderate commercial success. The video for "Raingurl" was released on November 16.

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

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

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. Her debut album, With a Hammer, was released in April 2023. The lead single, "For Granted", was released in January 2023. "Done (Let's Get It)" followed in February 2023. Yaeji performed at Coachella 2023.

Personal life As of 2017, Yaeji lives in Brooklyn.

Released: April 7, 2023 Label: XL Formats: CD, digital download, LP 13

Mixtapes

Title Album details Peak chart positions USWorld UKBreakers What We Drew 우리가 그려왔던 Released: April 2, 2020 Label: XL Formats: CD, digital download, LP 12 15

Extended plays

+ List of extended plays, with selected chart positions Title EP details Peak positions USElec.Sales Yaeji Released: March 31, 2017 Label: Godmode Formats: Digital download — EP2 Released: November 3, 2017 Label: Godmode Formats: Digital download 5

Singles

+ List of singles Title Year Peak chart positions Album JPNOver. "New York '93" 2016 — Yaeji "Guap" — "Noonside" 2017 — "Feel It Out" — "Therapy" — "Passionfruit" — EP2 "Drink I'm Sippin On" — "Raingurl" — "One More" 2018 — "Waking Up Down" 2020 — What We Drew "What We Drew " — "Pac-tive" 2021 — "Year to Year / 29" — "For Granted" 2023 — With a Hammer "Done (Let's Get It)" — "Passed Me By" — "Easy Breezy" — "Booboo" 2024 — "Pink Ponies" — "Believe in Ya" 2025 — "Pondeggi" — "Booboo2" — "Wo Ai Ni" 12

As featured artist Title Year Album "Swim Me"(Ellie Herring featuring Yaeji) 2016 What a Joy "Drink Redux"(DJ OG Uncle Skip featuring Yaeji) 2018 East vs. West "February 2017"(Charli XCX featuring Clairo and Yaeji) 2019 Charli "Mirror"(Bambii featuring Jessy Lanza and Yaeji) 2025 Infinity Club II

Remixes Title Year Remixed Artist(s) "Leave Me Alone (Yaeji Remix)" 2017 Calypso Rose feat. Manu Chao "Betty Than I Would (Yaeji Remix)" 2017 Tomas Barfod "With You (Yaeji Remix)" 2017 The Range & Jim-E Stack "Focus (Yaeji Remix)" 2018 Charli XCX "Beach 2K20 (Yaeji Remix)" 2019 Robyn "Don't Start Now (Yaeji Remix)" 2020 Dua Lipa

Videos "New York '93" (2016) "Guap" (2016) "Noonside" (2017) "Feel It Out" (2017) "Therapy" (2017) "Last Breath" (2017) "Drink I'm Sippin On" (2017) "Raingurl" (2017) "One More" (2018) "Waking Up Down" (2020) "What We Drew " (2020) "For Granted" (2023) "Done (Let's Get It)" (2023) "Passed Me By" (2023)