Kathy Yaeji Lee (Korean: 이예지; RR: I Ye-ji;, born August 6, 1993),[1] known professionally as Yaeji, is an American singer, DJ, and producer based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her style blends elements of house music and hip hop with mellow, quiet vocals sung in both English and Korean.[2]
Early life
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]
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]
In 2021, "Raingurl" made it into New York Times's T magazineSpotifyplaylist, "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]
