The “raingurl” Yaeji

Posted on June 18, 2018
Uncategorized

Image Source: Billboard

On the cover of Fader magazine’s Summer 2018 issue, you will find a 25-year old, Korean-American, bilingual producer, DJ, vocalist, rapper, visual artist, and fashion designer. Her name is Yaeji, born Kathy Yaeji Lee, and she released her first original production piece only in 2016. How exactly did Yaeji catapult herself from an underground, “raver-next-door” to an artist with more than 15 million listens on Spotify and a BBC Sound of 2018 nominee in a mere two years?

Yaeji grew up in Flushing, Queens and Seoul, South Korea with short stints in Atlanta and Japan. Her multicultural background informs every aspect of her creative expression. In her soothing yet electrifying tracks, Yaeji effortlessly switches from singing in English to Korean. Her bass-heavy beats were originally played in spaces in New York City that embraced and epitomized queer Asian-American nightlife culture.

Image Source: Pitchfork

With her first official gig at Technofeminisn in 2015, Yaeji produced and DJ’d in small, often unmarked, spaces across Brooklyn and Manhattan. Yaeji became an instant celebrity in the underground rave and DIY electronic party scenes, celebrated for her seductive, intimate, yet bumping creations behind the sound board. She combines hip-hop with house and electronic music, and somehow makes the end result soothing, and cozy. If her beats could speak on their own, they would say what Yaeji said herself in the tweet below: “your life is a banger.”

your life is a banger

— yaeji (@kraeji) April 6, 2017

In 2017, Yaeji released two different projects, the first being a self-titled EP yaeji and the second one titled EP2. “raingurl” is by far her most celebrated piece, amassing more than 8.5 million listens on Spotify. Her soft, whisper-like vocals cut through the deep, heavy, house-influenced beats.

In both of her projects, Yaeji exhibits her ability to master a diverse range of genres, jumping from the sweet, delicate remix of Drake’s “Passionfruit” to the smoky, seductive “drink i’m sippin on.”

This Korean-American artist is at her best when performing live. She has played a Boiler Room set, where she not only live-DJ’s, but also provides the vocals for the tracks in-time. Her shows across the country have sold out in minutes, and she even played Coachella in 2018 and is set to play at Panorama Festival in New York City this summer.

Want to see Yaeji work her magic, but cannot get a ticket to Panorama or one of her shows in North America or Europe? Check out Yaeji’s “Against the Clock” video below, in which Yaeji has 10 minutes to create some music for you. In this video, she is unassuming, soft-spoken, and her talents clearly shine.