Yaeji

Kathy Yaeji Lee was born August 6, 1993 in Flushing, Queens as a single child in a Korean family.[3] Growing up, Yaeji 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, causing her to find friends on the Internet, where she would first discover music.[3] Yaeji 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] Yaeji embraced DJing as a hobby while attending Carnegie Mellon, after learning how to use Traktor and beginning to DJ at house parties. She DJed for two years before learning Ableton, making her own music[6] and debuting on Carnegie Mellon's college radio station.[7] 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 DJ.[6] 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,[8][9][10] followed by a cover of "Guap" by Australian DJ Mall Grab that May.[11] 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.[12]

She began to gain attention following her first Boiler Room session in May 2017, which involved a remix of Drake's single "Passionfruit".[13][14][15][3] The song was later released officially on Godmode's Soundcloud page.[16]

The first of several stand-alone singles, "Therapy" was issued in July 2017,[17] followed by a two-track digital single, Remixes, Vol. 1, on August 1[18] and the "Last Breath" single on August 28.[19]

The music video for the single "Drink I'm Sippin On" was released on 88rising's YouTube channel in October 2017, quickly gaining over a million views in two weeks.[20]

On November 3, 2017, Yaeji released her second EP, EP2, to positive reviews[21][22] and moderate commercial success.[23] The video for "Raingurl" was released on November 16.[24]

She was named to the BBC's Sound of 2018 longlist in November 2017.[25][26]

Yaeji performed at the 2018 Coachella Festival.[27]

Yaeji did a virtual Boiler Room set to raise funds for The Bail Project on August 28, 2020.

Yaeji was born in Flushing, Queens and currently lives in Brooklyn.[1]