Yaeji’s highly-anticipated debut album With A Hammer is a daring statement of emotional evolution. The shapeshifting sonics on With A Hammer follow Yaeji’s journey as she wades through the murkiness of sorrow and doubt and releases a frenzy of anger, with the help of a metaphorical hammer — which she wields to smash the rigid rules, expectations, and barriers that prevented her from speaking her fullest truth. Through this transformative process, she eventually meets the thrilling self-determination and hope that awaits on the other side.
Yaeji’s introspective, genre-pushing tracks have made her a global icon occupying a space all her own. After breaking out with her 2017 debut EPs that featured singles ‘Raingurl’ and ‘Drink I’m Sippin On,’ Yaeji featured on Charli XCX’s 2019 album Charli, produced remixes for DuaLipa and Robyn, collaborated with the beloved Seoul-based polymath OHHYUK for stand-alone singles ’29’ and ‘Year to Year’, headlined her own shows and festival stages around the world, and launched her bespoke lifestyle webstore JI-MART.
Born in Flushing, Queens in 1993, Yaeji has roots in Seoul, Tokyo, Atlanta, and New York City, all serving as the backdrop for her singular, hybrid-sound that synthesizes influences of Korean indie rock and electronica, late ‘90s and early 2000s hip hop and R&B, and leftfield bass and techno. With her critically-acclaimed 2020 mixtape WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, she sharpened her vision as a musician who is creatively unbounded by language and geography, leading to collaborations with timeless entities such as PAC-MAN. With A Hammer sees Yaeji excavating her inner world with full force, smashing everything in order to build it back up into the true visions of her dreams.
Release: April 7th, 2023, XL Recordings/Remote Control