Charley Yang (born August 25, 2002), known professionally as BoyWithUke, is a

Korean-American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

singer, musician and

internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

. Yang first gained popularity on the online platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

with his song "Two Moons" and later "

Toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

", "IDGAF", and "Understand". Until October 10, 2023, he was known for hiding his face behind an LED mask. He is currently an independent artist after leaving

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

Early life

During his performance in Seoul Jazz Festival, Yang revealed that he was born in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, South Korea. Yang went to Oak Middle School in

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Shrewsbury (/ˈʃruzberi/ ''SHROOZ-bury'') is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 38,325 according to the 2020 United States census, in nearly 15,000 households. Incorporated in 1727, Shrewsbury prospere ...

, and also attended Shrewsbury High School. He stated that he was forced into

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

from the age of four, but later dropped it. This was followed by him resuming music through writing music in high school.

Career

2020–2021: Beginnings on TikTok and early albums

Yang began uploading to

in 2020 after being introduced to the platform by his brother. His content did not attract much attention on the platform until 2021, when several of his videos (including a series of videos entitled "Minute-Long Songs") started to gain popularity. In September 2021, Yang released his

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''Faded''. Later, the song Toxic went viral on TikTok and was featured in over sixty-nine thousand videos on the platform. It was streamed around half a billion times. The single reached No. 1 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Alternative Airplay Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

charts after being on the charts for thirty-one consecutive weeks, which was the sixth-longest rise to No. 1 in Alternative Airplay's history. "Toxic" was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) and platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). In 2021, BoyWithUke released his first and second studio albums, ''Melatonin Dreams'' and ''Fever Dreams'' respectively.

2021–2022: Signing with Republic Records and ''Serotonin Dreams''

In late 2021, Yang signed a deal with record label

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

.'''' In 2022, he released the single " IDGAF", featuring Blackbear. He released his debut major-label album, ''

Serotonin Dreams ''Serotonin Dreams'' is the third studio album by American singer BoyWithUke, and his first on a major label. It was released on May 6, 2022, through Republic Records, and primarily written and produced by the singer. The album includes the sing ...

'', under Republic Records.'''' It debuted at No. 7 on the ''Billboard''

and '' Billboard'' 200 charts and features "Toxic" as its lead single. After the album's release, BoyWithUke was listed as one of the top ten ''Billboard'' Emerging Artists. On September 30, 2022, he released the single "Sick of U" featuring

Oliver Tree Oliver Tree Nickell (born June 29, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and filmmaker. Born in Santa Cruz, California, Tree signed to Atlantic Records in 2017 after his song "When I'm Down" went viral and released his debut st ...

. Throughout 2022, Yang opened for the

indie-pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and ...

trio

AJR is an American pop band founded by brothers Met (), collectively a trio of vocalists, , and songwriters. The brothers grew up in New York City, primarily focused on busking, singing covers and street tap dancing until shifting to songwriting ...

on their tour for their fourth studio album ''

OK Orchestra ''OK Orchestra'' (stylized in all uppercase), often abbreviated as ''OKO'', is the fourth studio album by American pop band AJR. It was released on March 26, 2021, by the band's own label AJR Productions. The album was supported by five singles ...

''. As of October 2023, he has almost eight million followers on TikTok and well over two billion Spotify streams and 870 million views on YouTube.

2023–2024: ''Lucid Dreams'' and face reveal

Yang released his extended play ''Antisocial'' on February 24, 2023. It contains three songs, including the single "Rockstar", which was released on February 10, as well as two songs that had previously been teased on his TikTok, "IDTWCBF (Friends)" and "Nosedive". On April 7, 2023, BoyWithUke released another single, "Out of Reach", which is the full version of one of his minute-long songs on TikTok. He also debuted the single in a

Roblox Roblox (, ) is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users. It was created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 200 ...

concert which also featured "Toxic", and "IDGAF". BoyWithUke later released "Trauma" as a single on August 3, 2023. BoyWithUke's fourth album, ''Lucid Dreams'', was released on October 6, 2023. It was preceded by the singles "Rockstar", "Trauma" and "Migraine", with "Problematic" being released as a single on the album's release day. BoyWithUke has claimed that ''Lucid Dreams'' will be the last album of the "Dreams" saga. BoyWithUke first revealed his face on October 9, 2023, at the end of his music video for "Homesick". On an Instagram post, the next day, he revealed his face and name. In the same post, he found that the mask gave him confidence in the past, but now it was negatively affecting his physical and mental health. BoyWithUke also expressed his plans to start a new chapter of his music without a mask. Yang also said that he kept his identity hidden in order for people to pay attention to his musical talent and not his appearance.

2024–present: ''Burnout'' and name change

After releasing the first single, called "Can You Feel It?", for his album ''Burnout'', Charley announced that it will be the last album of his under the name BoyWithUke. In November of 2024, he uploaded a comedy video interviewing himself, to his YouTube channel, in which he mentions why he wanted this change in the first place. He also mentions the discontinuation with his label. His album ''Burnout'' was released under

AWAL AWAL (shortened from Artists Without A Label) is a global recording business that claims to serve as an alternative to the traditional record label, offering deal structures that provide artists with the resources and expertise of a global label ...

Recordings on November 15th. When the album was revealed it was apparent that there was a collaboration artist on his new song, "Pitfall", who's name was "Chandol". In his music video for Pitfall, the name Chandol is shown, which was then confirmed to be his new artist name.

Artistry

Until October 2023, Yang wore an opaque face shield with two large

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

lights to ensure his anonymity. His music is centered around the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

but also incorporates other instruments such as the piano. He self-composes his music on

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

from his

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

, a free

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...

for

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

devices. Yang's music has been described as "alternative" and "alt-pop". Yang's first four albums all contain the word "dreams" in their titles. ''Melatonin Dreams'' spoke heavily about depression and suicidal thoughts. ''Fever Dreams'' focuses on low self-esteem and generally melancholic and depressed themes. ''Serotonin Dreams'' is supposedly him "waking up" and the "Magnum Opus" of the saga as overall unlike its antecedent, ''Serotonin Dreams'' focuses on realization and generally more positive values, while still having occasional references to the importance of its predecessors. His newest album, ''Lucid Dreams'', is intended to symbolize his "desires, his fear, his past, and his dreams."

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

*
BoyWithUke
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

*{{IMDb name, id=13328619, name=BoyWithUke 21st-century American singer-songwriters Alternative pop musicians American musicians of Korean descent American TikTokers American ukulele players Living people Masked musicians Musicians from Massachusetts People from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Pseudonymous artists Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts Songwriters from Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people)