{"id":39680,"date":"2026-02-26T17:40:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=39680"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:42:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:42:31","slug":"yaeji-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Yaeji reflects on With A Hammer, healing trauma through music, and her favorite video games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Yaeji is a Korean American electronic music producer, DJ, and vocalist who has carved out a uniquely intimate space in the world of dance music.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in Flushing, Queens and raised between New York, Atlanta, and Seoul, she&#8217;s known for her genre-defying sound that weaves together house, hip hop, and ambient textures, often paired with her vocals that float between English and Korean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/0uWNm9IbLnhL7dEkTG8zMj?si=a0e12763ecdf42ba\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Emerging in 2016 with tracks like &#8220;Guap&#8221; and &#8220;Drink I&#8217;m Sippin On,&#8221; Yaeji&#8217;s breakout EPs quickly established her signature style: bass-heavy beats paired with hushed vocals that feel like sharing secrets on a packed dance floor. Her long-awaited debut album, <em>With A Hammer<\/em>, released in 2023, further expanding her sonic palette while maintaining the vulnerability and cultural fluidity that have made her one of the most compelling voices in contemporary electronic music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/2VYo0PSqdxVTMI0ydKUtoL?si=XOCENrJXT8CHdUtdmZ61sg\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the above installment of <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/tag\/ctrlb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Ctrl+B<\/em>,<\/a> we had the opportunity to sit down with Yaeji in her eclectic studio for an exclusive interview and unfiltered dialogue on everything from her creative process behind <em>With A Hammer<\/em> to her philosophical approach to her live shows, favorite video games, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For an even deeper look into her creative workflow, be sure to also check out Yaeji&#8217;s studio tour below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-blog-splice wp-block-embed-blog-splice\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"igjFf42VC1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-studio-tour\/\">Yaeji gives an exclusive tour of her inspiring multimedia studio<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Yaeji gives an exclusive tour of her inspiring multimedia studio&#8221; &#8212; Blog | Splice\" src=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-studio-tour\/embed\/#?secret=stOUCdSq0X#?secret=igjFf42VC1\" data-secret=\"igjFf42VC1\" width=\"370\" height=\"209\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And there you have it! What was your favorite moment from the conversation? Who would you like to see featured on our next episode? Start a dialogue with us and an ever-growing community of music creators via <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Splice Discord,<\/a> and subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Splice YouTube channel<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/tag\/ctrlb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more installments of <em>Ctrl+B<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Explore royalty-free sounds from leading artists, producers, and sound designers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Join Splice today<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yaeji sat down with us to discuss her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to performing live, favorite video games, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":39682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1694,1692,49],"tags":[1882,1307,918],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost-1024x640.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harrison Shimazu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/bitly.com\/namaboku-twt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harrison Shimazu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harrison Shimazu\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ed73f890efad66c4808440680e9e50d\"},\"headline\":\"Yaeji reflects on With A Hammer, healing trauma through music, and her favorite video games\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\"},\"wordCount\":279,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png\",\"keywords\":[\"ctrl+b\",\"pop\",\"youtube\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Artist Interviews\",\"Stories\",\"Videos\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\",\"name\":\"Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Yaeji Ctrl+B Interview\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Yaeji reflects on With A Hammer, healing trauma through music, and her favorite video games\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Splice Blog\",\"description\":\"An inside look at making music\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Splice\",\"alternateName\":\"Splice Sounds\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png\",\"width\":2928,\"height\":1540,\"caption\":\"Splice\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/splice\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/splice\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice\",\"https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/splice\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ed73f890efad66c4808440680e9e50d\",\"name\":\"Harrison Shimazu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/208af1495724cce6967f47553c4b971a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/208af1495724cce6967f47553c4b971a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harrison Shimazu\"},\"description\":\"Harrison Shimazu is a composer, content strategist, and writer who's passionate about democratizing music creation and education. He leads the Splice blog and produces vocaloid music as Namaboku.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@namaboku\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/bitly.com\/namaboku-twt\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/author\/harrisons\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice","description":"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice","og_description":"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.","og_url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/","og_site_name":"Blog | Splice","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice","article_published_time":"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost-1024x640.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Harrison Shimazu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/bitly.com\/namaboku-twt","twitter_site":"@splice","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harrison Shimazu","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/"},"author":{"name":"Harrison Shimazu","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ed73f890efad66c4808440680e9e50d"},"headline":"Yaeji reflects on With A Hammer, healing trauma through music, and her favorite video games","datePublished":"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/"},"wordCount":279,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png","keywords":["ctrl+b","pop","youtube"],"articleSection":["Artist Interviews","Stories","Videos"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/","name":"Yaeji Interview: With A Hammer, Healing Through Music, and More - Blog | Splice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png","datePublished":"2026-02-26T22:40:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T22:42:31+00:00","description":"In this exclusive interview, Yaeji discusses her creative process behind With A Hammer, philosophical approach to her live shows, and more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0126-CTRLB-Yaeji-Blog_BlogPost.png","width":1920,"height":1200,"caption":"Yaeji Ctrl+B Interview"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/yaeji-interview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yaeji reflects on With A Hammer, healing trauma through music, and her favorite video games"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/","name":"Splice Blog","description":"An inside look at making music","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Splice","alternateName":"Splice Sounds","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png","width":2928,"height":1540,"caption":"Splice"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice","https:\/\/x.com\/splice","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/splice\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice","https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/splice"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1ed73f890efad66c4808440680e9e50d","name":"Harrison Shimazu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/208af1495724cce6967f47553c4b971a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/208af1495724cce6967f47553c4b971a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harrison Shimazu"},"description":"Harrison Shimazu is a composer, content strategist, and writer who's passionate about democratizing music creation and education. He leads the Splice blog and produces vocaloid music as Namaboku.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@namaboku","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/bitly.com\/namaboku-twt"],"url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/author\/harrisons\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39680"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39691,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39680\/revisions\/39691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}