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Andrew Huang (musician)

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For other people named Andrew Huang, see Andrew Huang (disambiguation).
Andrew Huang
Huang in 2024
Huang in 2024
Background information
Born (1984-04-08) April 8, 1984 (age 40)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • video producer
  • internet personality
Instruments
Years active2003–present
Member of
Websiteandrewhuang.com
YouTube information
Channel
Genres
  • Vlog
  • music
  • comedy
  • education
Subscribers2.37 million[1]
Total views344.4 million views[1]
NetworkFullscreen (2016–2021)
100,000 subscribers2011
1,000,000 subscribers2017
Last updated: 6 October 2024

Andrew Lewis Huang (born April 8, 1984[2]) is a Canadian musician, YouTube personality, and video producer. He is best known for his "Song Challenge" video series, which invites viewers to dare him in feats of musicianship, as well as for several viral videos featuring his music. He is also known for his videos where he creates music using sounds from unconventional objects and instruments. Huang has released more than 50 albums of original music independently and through various collaborations, under his own name as well as under various pseudonyms.[3]

As of July 2024, his YouTube channel has accumulated over 340 million views with over 2.37 million subscribers.[4]

Personal life

[edit]

Huang was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario.[5] He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts at York University studying music before becoming self-employed as a music producer and YouTube personality. At the age of 20, Huang developed a hearing loss issue overnight that medical professionals have been unable to explain. It has resulted in a diminished bass response and reduction in volume in both his ears, and is more pronounced on the right side. Due to this, Huang often seeks help from other producers during the mixing stages of production.[6][7] He lives in Toronto with his wife Esther and their daughter and son.[8][9][10][11] Huang has no pronoun preference,[12] and is gender non-conforming.[13]

Early career

[edit]

After little success finding a part-time job during his university studies, Huang began auctioning off his songwriting skills to the highest bidder on eBay. The winning bidders received a custom song in any genre, written and recorded to their specifications.[14]

In response to the success of the eBay auctions, in April 2004, Huang launched the website Songs To Wear Pants To, where visitors to the site could commission songs based on personal requests.[15][16] The popularity of the site grew as Huang also began to take on commissions for free, provided the song idea interested him.[16] The free songs often took on a comedic angle, either by poking fun at the person who requested the song, or simply because Huang would choose the most outrageous of submitted ideas to write about.[16][17] What resulted was an eclectic archive of hip hop, classical, doo wop, electronic, folk, rock and heavy metal tunes performed entirely by Huang.[17]

YouTube channel

[edit]

In October 2006, Huang started a channel on YouTube and began uploading fan-made music videos for the songs he created through Songs to Wear Pants To.[18] Huang's channel is known for a wide variety of musical genres, influences, and projects, often thematically focused.[19][20] Huang's videos often feature the artist himself, and frequently aim to showcase various elements of the song.

In November 2010, Huang uploaded the song "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows" (PFUDOR) on his YouTube channel. Inspired by a comment left on a previous YouTube video, it became a viral video. Huang stated that he "never expected [PFUDOR] to be my best-known work". As of January 2023, the song has over 13 million views on Huang's original upload.[3][21][22]

Huang is known for his "Song Challenge" series, an extension of the idea behind Songs to Wear Pants To, in which Huang takes on musical challenges submitted by viewers via social media.[20] In 2013, he released a rap song titled "Vass Tunga", written in five different languages.[23]

Huang occasionally uses unusual instruments to record cover versions of songs. One of his early efforts was released a week before AMC's Breaking Bad aired its series finale, featuring a cover of its unsettling title music using clandestine chemistry equipment.[24] Other examples include a cover version of "99 Red Balloons" recorded with balloons,[25][26] and a cover of The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face", using dental instruments filmed in his dentist's office.[9]

In 2016, Huang was signed to the YouTube network Fullscreen.[27] Fullscreen became defunct in October 2021.[28] In 2018, Huang was nominated for an iHeartRadio Music Award in the "Social Star" category.[29]

On March 18, 2021, Huang released a video titled "Final song before I leave" in which he ostensibly claimed that he is leaving Earth to go to space. The video used footage from real rocket launches including the Antares and other doctored images and videos, and was speculated by Newsweek to be promotional for an upcoming music project.[30] The album Spacetime was released on August 20, 2021.[31]

Collaborations

[edit]
Huang and Hannah Hart performing at VidCon 2012

Huang has collaborated with various other YouTube personalities, most notably with Boyinaband and Hannah Hart.[32][33] He provided instrumentation and songwriting for Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers' Incongruent, and toured across the United States with the band.[34] Huang produced the music for Rhett and Link's "Geeks vs. Nerds" music video in 2013.[35]

In 2010, Huang teamed up with musician and internet personality Gunnarolla to produce videos and music, including the popular series We Are What You Tweet and New State Plates. The pair have toured North America, Australia, and New Zealand together.[citation needed] Huang and Gunnarolla later created electropop music duo Dreamz. As a duo, they entered CBC Music's Searchlight contest under this new name, and their debut single "Come On" was selected as CBC Here and Now's Song of the Week on March 11, 2013.[36] Dreamz reached the Top 16 of the contest representing Toronto.[37][38]

In 2008, Huang entered a contest run by American Express and won a chance to develop a music project with Emily Haines, lead vocalist for Canadian indie band Metric. He created an interactive installation featuring a series of videos that visitors could use to create ambient music.[39] The piece was exhibited at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto during November 2011.[40]

Huang composed the anthem for WWF-Canada's official Earth Hour in 2012 using lyrics from user-submitted suggestions, taking the title of "Canada's first official crowd sourced song". Huang later performed the song live during Toronto's 2012 and 2013 Earth Day celebrations.[41]

In late 2018, Huang formed a duo with Rob Scallon called First of October, where Huang and Scallon record an entire 10-track album in one recording session.[42] The group has made five albums, Ten Hours, Gourmet Ravioli, Gotta Record Everything Good, Chaos, and Across the Road, all written and recorded in a day each.

Huang performing with Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers in 2016

In June 2019, Andrew began a new project with YouTuber and science educator Hank Green, Journey to the Microcosmos, a YouTube channel uploading short videos of microscope slides accompanied by voiceovers explaining different mechanisms of microscopic biological life. Huang produces all of the ambient tracks for the show's background music.[43]

On September 25, 2020, Huang was featured on track 8, "Top Secret", on funk-rock band TWRP's album Over The Top.

In April 2023, Huang launched a new project with YouTuber and musician Rob Scallon called Sonic Boom, a YouTube music show where the pair take on a variety of musical challenges often utilizing unusual instruments, time limits for creating full songs, and other factors.[44] Huang and Scallon often release music from the show under the band name Sonic Boom.[45]

In April 2024, Huang collaborated with Blue Man Group to write an original song and appear in their music video for “Desert Portal.”[46] The song was released on streaming services on April 20, 2024.[47]

Business ventures

[edit]

Education

[edit]

In 2019, Huang partnered with Studio (formerly Monthly[48]) to create a 30-day music production course called Complete Music Production.[49] He launched his music production courses in 2020.[50][51]

Music production and equipment

[edit]

In December 2020, Huang released Flip Sampler, a sample-based mobile music production app for iOS that allows users to create music using sounds recorded on their device as well as imported audio files. The app was conceptualized by Huang and developed by Oliver Greschke and Christian Blomert.[52] An Android version was released in November 2022.[53]

In October 2022, Huang collaborated with Endorphin.es to release a multi-FX Eurorack module called GHOST.[54] In October 2023, Huang and Endorphin.es iterated on GHOST to release a guitar pedal version.[55]

In August 2023, Huang collaborated with Baby Audio to release Transit for DAWs and iOS, a plugin designed to simplify and automate song transitions. It is available for DAWs and iOS.[56]

Authorship

[edit]

In February 2024, Huang released his first book Make Your Own Rules detailing his background as a musician and his approaches to making music and the business of music, published by Simon & Schuster.[57] The book became a USA TODAY bestseller the same month.[58]

Discography

[edit]

List adapted from Spotify on July 21, 2024.[59]

Studio albums

  • Summer (2009)
  • Autumn (2010)
  • Hearing a Truth Serum (2011)
  • Love Songs (2011)
  • Schism (2011)
  • Love & Desolation (2012)
  • Droop (2012)
  • You Are The Devil (2012)
  • Magical Body (2013)
  • Lip Bomb (2013)
  • Voyager (2013)
  • The Coldest Darkness (2013)
  • Winter (2014)
  • Internet (2014)
  • Spring (2014)
  • Galaxy (2014)
  • Comet (2014)
  • Interplanetary (2014)
  • Bouncy Castle (2015)
  • Cosmos (2015)
  • Pintxos (2015)
  • Interstellar (2016)
  • Lo-fi (2017)
  • Stars (2017)
  • FX (2018)
  • TV & Video Games (2018)
  • Synth City (2019)
  • Alabaster (2019)
  • Ganglia (2020)
  • Ooo (2021)
  • Spacetime (2021)
  • Dust & Dewdrops (2022)
  • Labyrinth (2024)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "About songstowearpantsto". YouTube.
  2. ^ Andrew Huang, [@andrewhuang] (April 8, 2024). ""40 today!!!! And I found this scroll outside my studio saying I would now be granted power over the sun and moon so I'm gonna try and figure out what that means in a lil bit"". Twitter.
  3. ^ a b "Andrew Huang: The YouTube phenomenon with a thousand musical works". Cross Rhythms. November 30, 2012. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "Andrew Huang". youtube.com. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  5. ^ "Creative Learning Centre Opens Its Doors: Impact Report 2014" (PDF). Ashbury News. Ottawa: Ashbury College. Fall 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2015. See page 36 of document: "Andrew Huang '02..."
  6. ^ I lost a lot of hearing overnight, 17 October 2016, retrieved 2021-10-30
  7. ^ My hearing loss is getting worse., 4 December 2019, retrieved 2021-10-30
  8. ^ Ton That, Corinne (November 9, 2013). "YouTube Video Creators in the Spotlight at the Buffer Festival". CTV Television Network. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  9. ^ a b "The Weeknd's 'Can't Feel My Face' re-imagined with dental utensils". CBC News. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on November 10, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  10. ^ "Evelyn Juniper Huang". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  11. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  12. ^ "Andrew Huang Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  13. ^ "well i'm not trans but def gender non conforming, appreciate the support :)". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
  14. ^ Assar, Vijith (September 2011). "Andrew Huang: Songs To Wear Pants To". Tape Op. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  15. ^ Wang, H. (March 3, 2014). "Outside the cubicle: Andrew Huang, YouTube artist". JPress Ryerson Journalism. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  16. ^ a b c "Interview with Andrew Huang". Newgrounds. August 26, 2010. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  17. ^ a b Efron, Sarah (March 9, 2005). "Ballad for an albino kitten please". The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ontario. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  18. ^ Tingen, Paul (May 2017). "Internet Famous: How three musicians have cracked the code and made it big on YouTube". AudioTechnology. Australia: Alchemedia Publishing. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  19. ^ Johnny Lieu (May 29, 2017). "Yep, someone has made music from a fidget spinner". Mashable. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  20. ^ a b J. Freedom du Lac (January 2, 2015). "The amazing Taylor Swift, Jessie J and Pharrell medley made with a bag of kale and other household items". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  21. ^ "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows". 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  22. ^ Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows (Original), 11 November 2010, retrieved 2022-11-24
  23. ^ "Andrew Huang and David Brown deliver 26 genres of music". Yahoo Music. 27 June 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  24. ^ Grossman, Sam (August 12, 2013). "Watch Breaking Bad Theme Song Played With Items You'd Find In A Meth Lab". Time. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  25. ^ Castrodale, Jelisa (September 12, 2014). "Musician Plays '99 Red Balloons' on Red Balloons". People. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  26. ^ Dicker, Ron (September 10, 2014). "'99 Red Balloons' Played With Red Balloons Is Breathtaking". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  27. ^ Weiss, Geoff (2016-05-06). "Fullscreen Signs Andrew Huang, Mia Stammer, Carly Cristman, And More (Exclusive)". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on 2018-04-08. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  28. ^ "Fullscreen". fullscreen.com. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-21. The Fullscreen Creator Network has ceased operations as of October 31, 2021.
  29. ^ "2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards: See The Full List of Nominees". iHeart. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  30. ^ Browne, Ed (19 March 2021). "Fact check: Did Canadian musician and YouTuber Andrew Huang go to space?". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  31. ^ "Spacetime". Andrew Huang. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  32. ^ Bagg, Allison (November 19, 2014). "These Talented Guys Perform 26-Genres of Music From A to Z". Buzzfeed. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  33. ^ Dryden, Liam (April 11, 2016). "10 YouTube Collabs You Completely Forgot Ever Happened". We The Unicorn. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  34. ^ Steven Matview (May 16, 2014). "Review: Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers 'Incongruent' (2014)". Punks In Vegas. Punks In Vegas LLC. Archived from the original on April 8, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  35. ^ Gutelle, Sam (October 3, 2013). "Rhett And Link Use A Rap Battle To Settle Geek Vs. Nerd Debate". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on May 23, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  36. ^ "CBC Radio Show Program Logs". cbc.ca. CBC Radio Show. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  37. ^ CBC Music. "Meet our Searchlight Top 16 acts". music.cbc.ca. CBC Music. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  38. ^ "Searchlight". cbc.ca. CBC Radio. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  39. ^ Wyder, Alex (March 25, 2012). "Andrew Huang Talks Experimental Music with Vancouver Music Review". The Province. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  40. ^ Lyonnais, Sheena (January 31, 2011). "Metric's Emily Haines & Toronto's Andrew Huang talk Room For Thought, Ghost, music and tech". Toronto Music Scene. Retrieved July 13, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  41. ^ Tien Trinh, Brian Vinh (March 30, 2012). "Canada's Earth Hour Song Takes Place Among Inspiring Anthems". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  42. ^ Stolzer-Gary, Isaac (16 October 2018). "Here's What An Album Written And Recorded In 10 Hours Sounds Like". GearGods. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  43. ^ "Journey to the Microcosmos". YouTube. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  44. ^ The most expensive sound on earth (Sonic Boom). Retrieved 2024-05-09 – via www.youtube.com.
  45. ^ "Sonic Boom". Spotify. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  46. ^ Blue Man Group & Andrew Huang 🥁🌵 DESERT PORTAL Music Video. Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via www.youtube.com.
  47. ^ I got to write something for Blue Man Group. Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via www.youtube.com.
  48. ^ Studio. "Monthly Changes Name to Studio, Signaling Expansion to Become the Hub for Peoples' Creative Lives". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  49. ^ "Complete Music Production: Build Your Full Toolkit As A Versatile Music Producer". studio.com. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  50. ^ "Music Lessons Change for the Better on YouTube". Forbes.
  51. ^ "5 of the best free music theory resources for producers". 16 December 2021.
  52. ^ Anatomy, Synth (2022-11-16). "Flip, Andrew Huang's sampler app is now available for iOS and Android". SYNTH ANATOMY. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  53. ^ "Andrew Huang's Flip Sampler Update 1.4 is out - featuring a new Looping Envelope". Audiobus Forum. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  54. ^ Demo of the effects unit we just released! (Endorphin.es Ghost). Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via www.youtube.com.
  55. ^ Ottewillpublished, Jim (2023-10-03). "Andrew Huang on AI, secret weapons in the studio and his new Baby Audio plugin: "Every new tech development arrives with a mixture of wonder and fear, but I'm optimistic we'll hold on to our humanity"". MusicRadar. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  56. ^ "Baby Audio Transit breathes life into your transitions, courtesy of Andrew Huang". MusicTech. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  57. ^ Huang, Andrew (2024-02-06). Make Your Own Rules. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-9041-5.
  58. ^ "Best-selling Booklist". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  59. ^ "Andrew Huang on Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
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