Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Yu.
Andy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My musical journey began at age three with classical violin. By middle school, I had taught myself acoustic guitar and how to sing by covering the artists I loved to blast on the radio. Artists like Bruno Mars, Train, Plain White T’s and so many more. With 12 years of classical training and 10 years of covering pop songs, in 2019 I purchased my first music production software to take a look into how to make music myself. I would be glued to my computer, spending 20 hours a day trying to reverse engineer my favorite songs, read articles and manuals on how to engineer audio, and doodle on my guitar trying to write songs for myself. After a year, I released my first single “Supernova” in April of 2020, a softer guitar-driven song written about the curiosity and lost feeling I had in this new world of music. I had truly fallen in love with the process of making music and how good it felt to be able to take what was in my mind and create a recorded version of it. Once I felt comfortable in my skill set and released a few more songs, by December 2020 I released my first viral song “Tennis” which garnered over 200,000 streams. In March of 2021 I released my second viral song “Can’t I Crash” which gained over 700,000 streams. In May of 2021, I released my third viral song “Castaways” which was a cover of The Backyardigans with over 3 million streams.
As I continued to build my discography and improve my skills along the way, I started performing live. Over the last several years, I’ve been performing live at various events and venues such as local open mics, concerts, and festivals, including highlights like opening for Jimmy Brown at Tulips FTW, performing at SXSW, and being a featured artist in the lineup at YAR Fest 2024 in Austin, TX.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely felt rocky at times. The culture of classical music is competitive and feels discouraging, especially for a kid. Like anything else, the frustrations of learning something for the first time can feel like a mountain on your shoulders. But after a few years, and a lot of improvement, all of the challenges were worth it.
And just like violin, learning music production and songwriting has had its frustrating moments as well. I would spend hours on rough drafts just to delete them the next day because they didn’t sound like how I heard them in my head. But even in that frustration, I really enjoyed the process of trying to figure everything out.
As old frustrations pass, new frustrations arise. As an independent artist, the challenges now reach far beyond just making the music. Aspects like promotion, budgeting, and outreach are now added onto that list.
To be an independent artist now means you must be a qualified producer, singer/songwriter, audio engineer, content creator, social media influencer, and not to mention a stylist, curator, and designer.
It’s a lot, but I also understand that I’m in a unique position and am willing to embrace all the challenges that come with it. I love the entirety of the process, from making the music to answering emails and wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an independent musician! I specialize in guitar based pop music and its many cultural influences. I’m known for my upbeat production and romantic lyrics. I am most proud of my discography. It reaches so many different places emotionally and captures my life like a time capsule over the last several years. My fingerprint is all over my music, from how I play and record my instruments, how I write and sing my lyrics, and how I mix & master my songs. All of these aspects of my process makes my music unique to me.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
You can reach out to me via email andyyumusic@gmail.com for any production and mixing & mastering services.
For collaborations, you can reach out to me via instagram @andyyumusic.
To support me, listen to my music on your favorite platforms and share them with your friends & family!
