The numbers attached to yung kai are, by any objective measure, staggering: two billion streams, ten million monthly listeners, and a debut world tour, flowers, moon, and star, that vanished from ticket sites during presale. But the data alone doesn’t capture the artist behind it, or the care baked into the music.

Born Max Aloyious Zhang, yung kai’s artistic identity was forged in the movement between two worlds: the high-energy, neon skylines of Shanghai and the sprawling, mist-covered quiet of Vancouver. That duality is the bedrock of his artistry. It is why his music so often feels like an ethereal sonic landscape shaped in the liminal hours of a long-haul flight. Blending Eastern melodic sensibilities with Western lo-fi production, it is a sound he refined during his time as a student at the University of British Columbia. Back then, he was a kid posting daily covers on TikTok to find his voice. Today, he is a defining voice in a new era of global indie-pop.

“I was exposed to a lot of Chinese culture growing up in Shanghai, like the music, dramas, food, etc. This really shaped my music since I always think, ‘Will this song work in a C-Drama?’ When I write my songs,” he tells us. “Then, moving to Vancouver in 2020, really allowed me to slow down my pace and think about how I want to make my music, because Vancouver has such beautiful nature, it makes me want to cry.”

While his debut album, stay with the ocean, i’ll find you, marks a definitive new chapter for the artist, it is hard to talk about this moment without circling back to the seismic shift of “blue.” In 2024, the introspective track went from a DIY bedroom experiment to a global hit. Beyond the Gold certifications in the U.S. and Canada and the viral loops, what really made it stick was how naturally it bridged cultures.

That breakout success eventually opened the door to a high-profile remix with i-dle’s Minnie, an artist yung kai has said was his “bias” back in high school. For a student still trying to finish homework between notifications, the leap from a viral moment to real-world recognition happened quickly. From his perspective, though, the clearest sign that life had changed came in a single onstage moment during the PELUPO festival in Thailand.

Despite the scale of his success and his signing with major players like Flood Division/BMG and Wasserman, yung kai has famously kept his creative process an insular affair. He remains the primary architect of his own universe: the writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who began his journey on drums and piano in middle school.

That refusal to outsource his vision gives the new album its cinematic, cohesive texture, the sound of one person’s unfiltered thoughts taking shape. Whether he is writing about his favorite Dramas or his beloved cat, Stinki, the music remains intensely personal, protected from the noise of the industry by the four walls of his bedroom studio.

“I feel the most like myself when I write and produce my own music since it allows for my full creative freedom, with no opinions from others,” he explains. “I’ve worked with some amazing writers and producers, but in the end, writing in my little bedroom will always be my favorite. As my listeners grew, it definitely did not feel like I had to abandon my bedroom-studio intimacy. Instead, it actually made me feel more inclined to make more music in my bedroom.”

The 11 tracks on the debut album are bound by a single, haunting thread: yearning. Unlike the finality of heartbreak or the simplicity of joy, yearning lives in the middle, a hope that persists even when reality looks grim. As he puts it, the album explores the idea that, "even if it doesn’t work, I’ll just imagine that it does." It is a romantic, slightly delusional, and deeply human sentiment that defines both mass-streamed tracks and deeper cuts like “wildflower” and “tell me (a lullaby).” By leaning into that specific frequency of longing, he creates a space where listeners can feel seen in their own “what-if” moments.

“I think that if you go look for love, you probably will never find it, but if you let life happen naturally, someone will eventually come to you,” the singer-songwriter divulges. “Even though I’m a heavy believer of this, I will always have the thought of ‘When will I find someone’ in the back of my mind. This album was me projecting that thought.”

One of the album’s most immediate standouts, “how do you dance?”, highlights yung kai’s ability to turn a personal insecurity into something broadly relatable. The song’s origins are surprisingly humble, rooted in the artist’s own admitted lack of footwork. Yet the track itself is one of the most rhythmic and “movable” moments on the record. Balancing that self-deprecating truth, the image of wanting a girl to teach him the steps, with production that invites the listener onto the dance floor speaks to his growth as a producer. It also taps into the ‘shy romance’ that has become his trademark. “I wanted ‘how do you dance?’ to be a song that people can jump around in their room to. Something that everyone can enjoy,” he explains.

That same instinct for connection has also shaped his rise as a live performer. With his high-profile U.S. festival debut at 88rising’s Head in the Clouds, yung kai moved further beyond the “internet artist” label, stepping onto a stage he says someone once told him was out of reach. On a platform that has long served as a beacon for Asian talent, alongside icons like G-Dragon and CL, kai looked out at the people behind those billions of streams.

The moment was transformative. It proved that his bedroom-pop sensibility could hold a festival crowd, and it set the stage for his solo flowers, moon, and star world tour, where fans packed venues like San Francisco’s Café Du Nord to experience the intimacy of his music firsthand.

As the tour continued from the West Coast of North America to storied European stops in London and Paris in the fall, the record’s dreamy atmosphere took on a new dimension in real time. The live show adds fresh texture to the songs, whether it is yung kai tossing actual flowers into the crowd during “flower” or the communal hush that settles over the room when the opening chords of “blue” begin. “Whenever I perform my songs, I find it so unbelievable that people actually know and sing my songs,” he begins. “It’s an actual dream come true for me. I would sometimes sing in the shower and imagine singing on a big stage, and now it’s really happening.”

With stay with the ocean, i’ll find you finally out in the world, the focus now shifts to what lies beyond the horizon. 2025 was the year yung kai proved he could build a world. 2026 will be the year he decides what that world can evolve into. Whether he chooses to settle into this signature indie-pop sound or push into new, experimental frontiers, one thing is certain: he’s grown from viral anomaly to a songwriter with a permanent seat at the table, optimistic and eager for the path ahead.

“I think I’m still developing my sound right now, since I feel like I haven’t had much time last year to just sit in my bedroom and make music like I used to,” He says. “[This year] I hope to spend more time vibing in my own bedroom studio.”