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Andrew Huang (musician)

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For other uses, see Andrew Huang (disambiguation).
Andrew Huang
Huang in 2015
Born (1984-04-08) 8 April 1984 (age 40)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupations
  • Musician
  • video producer
  • internet personality
Years active2003–present
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
LabelsDFTBA
YouTube information
Channel
Genres
  • Vlog
  • music
  • comedy
  • education
Subscribers2.12 million[1]
Total views261.95 million[1]
NetworkFullscreen
100,000 subscribers2011
1,000,000 subscribers2017
Last updated: 5 July 2020
Websiteandrewhuang.com

Andrew Lewis Huang[2] (born 8 April 1984) is a Canadian musician, video producer, and YouTube personality. 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 through DFTBA Records and independently, under his own name as well as under various pseudonyms.[3]

As of March 2020, his YouTube videos have more than 250 million views with more than 2 million subscribers.[4]

Personal life

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. He is based in Toronto with his wife, Esther.[6][7]

Early career

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.[8]

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.[9][10] The popularity of the site grew as Huang also began to take on commissions for free, provided the song idea interested him.[10] 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.[10][11] What resulted was an eclectic archive of hip hop, classical, doo wop, electronic, folk, rock and heavy metal tunes performed entirely by Huang.[11]

YouTube channel

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.[12] Huang's channel is known for a wide variety of musical genres, influences, and projects, often thematically focused.[13][14] Huang's videos often feature the artist himself, and frequently aim to showcase various elements of the song.

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.[14] In 2013, he released a rap song titled Vass Tunga, written in five different languages.[15]

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.[16] Other examples include a cover version of "99 Red Balloons" recorded with balloons,[17][18] and a cover of The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face", using dental instruments filmed in his dentist's office.[7]

In 2016, Huang signed to the YouTube network Fullscreen.[19]

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.[20]

Collaborations

Huang and Hannah Hart performing at VidCon 2012

Huang has collaborated with various other YouTube personalities, most notably with Boyinaband and Hannah Hart.[21][22] He provided instrumentation and songwriting for Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers' Incongruent, and toured across the United States with the band.[23] Huang produced the music for Rhett and Link's "Geeks vs. Nerds" music video in 2013.[24]

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.[25] Dreamz reached the Top 16 of the contest representing Toronto.[26][27]

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.[28] The piece was exhibited at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto during November 2011.[29]

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.[30]

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 1 recording session. The group has made 2 albums, Ten Hours and Gourmet Ravioli both written and recorded in a day each.

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.[31]

Discography

Studio albums
  • Summer (2009)
  • Autumn (2010)
  • Hearing a Truth Serum (2011)
  • Love Songs (2011)
  • Schism (2011)
  • Retrospective (2012)
  • Console (2012)
  • The New Neglect (2012)
  • Love & Desolation (2012)
  • Droop (2012)
  • You Are The Devil (2012)
  • The Final Countdown (2012)
  • Remixes (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)
  • Darkness (2014)
  • Remixes II (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)
  • Monolith (2021
Extended plays
  • Premonition (2011)
  • Musculature (2012)
  • Skeletons.exe (2012)
  • Supremacy (2012)
  • Youth Mouth (2013)
  • Food & Drink (2014)
  • Alloys (2014)
  • ★★★★★ (2015)
  • Cosmic (2016)
  • Astrolabe (2016)
  • Level 5 Care (2018)
  • The Lyres in Trees (2019)
Singles
  • "One" (2012)
  • "Two Funks" (2015)
  • "We Are One" (2015)
  • "Good to Love" (2016)
  • "Alphabetical" (2017)
  • "Blaster" (2017)
  • "Rainbowgram" (2017)
  • "Love Is Real" (2018)
  • "Hangar Granular" (2018)
  • "Yours" (2019)
  • "Lake Louise" (2019)
  • "Summertime Feeling" (2019)
  • "Dolphins" (2020)
  • "Miss You" (2020)
  • "You" (2020)
  • "7" (2020)
  • "Freak" (2020)
  • "Monster" (2020)
  • "Sparkle Mountain" (2020)
  • "Liftoff" (2021)
  • "20 Hz" (2021)
  • "Calyx" (2021)
Collaborations
  • "Ma Bicyclette" (2012) - Andrew Huang & Side Pony Nation
  • Incongruent (2014) - Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers
  • Last Lights (2015) - Andrew Huang & Diveo
  • Hybrid (2015) - Andrew Huang & Brent Petrie
  • Friends (2016) - Andrew Huang & Friends
  • "Coffee" (2017) - Andrew Huang & Cuckoo
  • "Find Me" (2017) - Andrew Huang & Peter Hollens
  • "Tines" (2017) - Andrew Huang & Rob Scallon
  • "You Make Winter Warm" (2017) - Andrew Huang & Dusty Lima
  • Foreign Bodies Redux (2018) - Jeremy Blake, Cuckoo, Rachel K Collier, Andrew Huang
  • Running Redux (2018) - MALINDA, JVNA, Mr. Bill, Dyalla, Andrew Huang
  • Ten Hours (2018) - First of October
  • Practice Notes 35 Redux (2019) - Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Bad Snacks, Virtual Riot, Andrew Huang
  • Gourmet Ravioli (2019) - First of October
  • "Droppy" (2019) - Mr. Bill & Andrew Huang
  • "Bass Horns" (2020) - Andrew Huang & Moon Hooch
  • "Top Secret" (2020) - Andrew Huang & TWRP
  • "Sparkle Mountain (WangleLine Remix)" (2020) - Andrew Huang & WangleLine

References

  1. ^ a b "About songstowearpantsto". YouTube.
  2. ^ Don't Go - Rob Scallon, Andrew Huang, Brandon Acker
  3. ^ "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. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Assar, Vijith (September 2011). "Tape Op Interviews". Tape Op - The Creative Recording Magazine. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ a b c "Interview with Andrew Huang". Newgrounds. August 26, 2010. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Tingen, Paul (May 2017). "Internet Famous: How three musicians have craked the code and made it big on YouTube". AudioTechnology Magazine. Australia: Alchemedia Publishing. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "Andrew Huang and David Brown deliver 26 genres of music". Yahoo Music. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  16. ^ Grossman, Sam (August 12, 2013). "Watch Breaking Bad Theme Song Played With Items You'd Find In A Meth Lab". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  17. ^ Castrodale, Jelisa (September 12, 2014). "Musician Plays '99 Red Balloons' on Red Balloons". People Magazine. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ "CBC Radio Show Program Logs". cbc.ca. CBC Radio Show. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ "Searchlight". cbc.ca. CBC Radio. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ 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]
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ "Journey to the Microcosmos". YouTube. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
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