The renowned Korean-American electro pop DJ/producer Yaeji will make her Bangkok debut on Thursday at Glowfish Offices on Sathon as part of her 2019 Asia tour.
Brought to you by dance-concert promoter HUH?, Kathy Yaeji Lee, better known as just Yaeji, a 25-year-old electronic artist who's well-known for her own brand of infectious minimal house, hip-hop and avant-pop music productions that morph from her soft, whispery-like singing style to dance-floor burners, is coming to perform a one-night-only engagement.
Born in Queens, New York, to South Korean parents, Yaeji moved around a lot growing up. She moved from New York to Atlanta when she was five, and then to South Korea in the third grade. While living in and attending schools between Japan and South Korea, Yaeji often found herself having trouble fitting in. But it was also a time when she first discovered her passion for music. As she moved back to attend university in the States, Yaeji embraced DJing as a hobby before she started making her own music in late 2015.
Yaeji eventually found herself at the forefront of the US independent-music scene after releasing two highly praised EPs in 2017 -- the Yaeji EP and the modestly titled EP2.
With some of her dreamlike dance concoctions, and highly remixable tracks such as One More, Raingurl and Drink I'm Sipping On, Yaeji soon became a fixture on the current lo-fi electronic scene. Critics and fans alike found a lot to love about her bedroom-style self-produced music, as well as her clever use of Korean and English lyricism, attracting worldwide attention.
Yaeji discussed with Life her music career and the upcoming concert.
When did you start making music and who has influenced you most?
I started making music around when I turned 20. It's hard to say who's influenced me most sonically, I'm always finding new artists and revisiting old ones. But throughout my life, my mom has been the constant inspiration and influence in the way I see the world.
How did you get into DJing/producing? Did you learn everything by yourself?
When I joined college radio I had my own show and started DJing. Many of my dearest friends now I met at the radio station, and they helped me learn. But it definitely came with hours of practising, recording and listening alone. Music production became interesting naturally as I got deep into DJing. I remember skipping class and watching tons of tutorials online for that. I'm still learning a lot about production while I'm in the studio. A lot of trial and error, and YouTube tutorials.
Yaeji live in Bangkok 2019 Paradigm Agency
In some of your previous interviews, you said your family moved around a lot when you were younger. Has the music you've listened to from different places (South Korea, New York, Atlanta, Japan) ever inspired the music you're making now?
I would say so. I never really listened to music that my peers were listening to growing up in these cities. I spent a lot of time alone, so it was usually just me on the internet trying to find something interesting to me, which was never Top 40. Because Korea and Japan were getting Western music imported a bit later at the time, I did find a lot of popular music way later than most people have -- like I was listening to Missy Elliott and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony for the first time in high school. I also found myself in various Asian internet subcultures, which was how I first found interesting electronic music like Fantastic Plastic Machine and Clazziquai.
Have you ever written songs about your experience with cultural differences?
My songs are deeply personal and abstract at times. So in a way, all of them have to do with my struggles with identity and cultural differences. If you are a third-culture kid or moved around a lot, I'd imagine you can relate -- these thoughts never leave your mind.
Your songs are featured in both the English and Korean languages. You once said the reason you wrote songs in Korean is to hide what you were actually talking about. Did you ever expect that your songs would eventually be heard in South Korea, or even take off on a global scale like today?
It started out as a code language for me. I first made music in college and none of my musical peers was Korean. It made me feel liberated to be able to share my inner thoughts in a language people around me couldn't understand. I could sing about anything! But as I wrote more, I realised that Korean is sonically so beautiful. The texture of every word I could make into a pleasant instrument. And as I released more music I also realised a Korean crowd would start listening to my music, and it became less of a secret, but still holds true as a code in some ways, since only Koreans can fully understand me.
You have quite a unique style in how you dress. What are your influences and what looks are you into at the moment?
Thank you! My biggest influence is my mom. All her looks I saw growing up as inspirational. But other than that, I try to focus on comfort, texture and fit. And make sure to include colour if I can. Where I am right now, I'm surrounded by lovely people who all know how to dress well and dress uniquely, so that helps me too.
Anything to shout out to Thai fans going to see your show in July?
I'm so excited to meet everyone!
Yaeji live in Bangkok 2019 Photo courtesy of Paradigm Agency
"Yaeji Live In Bangkok" will take place on July 18 at Glowfish, Sathon. Tickets are 1,200 baht, available at the concert's entrance or ticketmelon.com.
