Korean singer-songwriter Charley Yang, known now as chandol, released his debut album Mercurial on July 10. The album features 12 songs and a thirty-one minute run time including pre-release tracks “Breakfast in Bed,” “2002,” and “What’s the Rush?” Almost two weeks later, he went on a seven-city tour, appropriately titled “Mercurial Live” to showcase his debut. Although he’s fresh on the scene as chandol, Charley Yang is no newcomer to the music industry, in fact he’s quite seasoned. If Charley doesn’t sound familiar to you, then maybe BoyWithUke will.
BoyWithUke was Yang’s first musical persona, releasing five main studio albums and concluding with a compilation of unreleased songs. After a notable run with many accolades across three years, Yang hung up BoyWithUke to go indie as chandol.
Chandol met up with EnVi right before the start of his Boston show. While waiting for him to come out of his dressing room, his friends were playing around with a soccer ball in the empty venue. Eventually chandol came out with his manager, stopping to kick the ball around before introducing himself to me, clad in a plain white tee and an oversized hoodie. We sat in a quiet corner near the stage and discussed all things Mercurial and what it means to be making music again.
Becoming chandol (Again)
Before he was making music, chandol was just a kid thrust into a path many children go through: classical music lessons. Ever since he was four years old, he’s been playing instruments — playing classical piano and violin for a good number of years since his parents enrolled him in lessons. “But I think it’s the case with most people who enter classical music at an early age, they just kind of fall out of love with music, so I stopped playing for five or six years” he shared.
But once he got his first music player, he fell right back in it. There, he was introduced to music outside of classical and it changed the game for him. It wasn’t necessarily a pivotal moment, but the memory of being able to discover music on his own is what really pushed him into the idea of pursuing it as a career. “I forget what song exactly,” he said, laughing softly, “but it was a pop song and I was like ‘woah, I really like this a lot,’ and since then I’ve just been a lover of listening to music and eventually creating.”
Eventually, however, when he decided to pursue music it wasn’t really the path his mom envisioned for him. “I think it’s weird, I get most of my artistic flair or genes from my mother’s side,” he chuckled, “I’m sure if you asked her now, she’d probably still want me to go back to school.” And although it might be difficult to go against the wishes of your parents, chandol stayed true to his dream and decided to chase music, releasing his first project at just 19 years old as BoyWithUke. Back in 2021, he released his first album – Melatonin Dreams – brandishing a ukulele and an LED mask to hide his face and the rest was history. Under this moniker, Yang earned a Platinum Certification for his viral hit “Toxic,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in 2022, received an iHeartRadio Music Award nomination for Best New Rock/Alternative Artist in 2023, and more. To this day BoyWithUke has over 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and hundreds of millions of streams.
But with accolades comes pressure, and the strain of a label trying to control his creative direction was the breaking point for him. And so BoyWithUke’s final project Burnout (not counting BoyWithUke: B Sides) dropped in 2024 and that was seemingly the end of his musical career. Enter, or re-enter, chandol two years later.
Chandol was actually his legal name; it wasn’t until he was around 12 years old that he changed it due to it being made fun of. “Everytime I would see the name [I would say] ‘no it’s not that, call me Charley,’” he confessed. “It was kind of embarrassing, to have a weird name that people can’t really pronounce. Like the teacher would be like ‘who’s this? Chan-doll?’ and it used to be this source of insecurity for me.” It seems almost poetic to return under this name as an independent artist with more freedom now than he ever had as BoyWithUke. Instead of having a persona to rely on, chandol has just himself, laying out a more raw version of himself as opposed to a product of an artist. Shifting from BoyWithUke to chandol was less of a reinvention and more of an introduction to his authentic self. “I think now, it’s almost the same as my music career where I just feel comfortable with that name and kind of music I’m making and who I am right now.”
The Chaos of Mercurial
Naturally, once he shed his previous label the possibilities were endless, and chandol could release music that felt like him again. When it came to Mercurial, he was led by a sense of catharsis as it was a project he had wanted to make for so long. He revealed that up until recently he felt like he didn’t have the proper skillset in terms of production and instrumentality to tackle a project like this. “I think Mercurial is the first time I’ve really felt confident and comfortable about telling people about the music I make.” He jumped to his next point immediately, racing to get out that “at the same time though it’s like old music! Because some of the songs I made two years ago and it came out like … two weeks ago! Which is interesting. I feel like I’m always chasing ghosts.”
He explained that the music he releases is more of a reflection of who he was as opposed to who he is at the time of its release. That follows, as the tone of Mercurial is much more somber and nostalgic. Considering its contents are two years old, at a time when chandol was going through his transition to an independent artist, Mercurial seems to reflect that headspace in tone. The album is littered with intention, a dedication to himself and his origin as a lover of music for the craft rather than what it can give him. From stripped back, underproduced tracks like “Clothbound” discussing the sting of a former partner’s words, to the pains of emotional drift and long distance over cried out lyrics in “While I’m Gone,” to the snippets of his mother’s voice throughout the album it’s no secret that Mercurial came from the heart, at a time when he couldn’t share its contents.
Not only is it personal, but it’s eclectic; a mashup of chandol’s favorite genres.The album blends folk, alt-pop, bedroom-pop, alt-rock, hyperpop and more in a way that preserves the overarching narrative. In short, it’s a mix of just about everything chandol is capable of – not an overproduced wreck but a well-worn body of music. When unveiling why he included such a blend it came down to the meaning of the word mercurial: a rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood. “But really,” he laughs, “I just kind of have commitment issues with a genre you know what I mean? I don’t want to be put in a box, never again.”
Footnotes
In the realm of being personal, the title of the album actually held a bit of a tender memory. While, yes, the blend of genres and the “chaos” of putting them all on one album encompasses the essence of the word mercurial, that wasn’t really the intention when naming the project. “So I like to play soccer a lot,” he chuckled, “And there’s a soccer cleat that’s made by Nike under the name ‘Mercurial,’ and growing up those were the boots I would wear and I thought the meaning of that word was just so perfect.” He expressed that it felt like a full circle moment, that he could incorporate soccer “which is a big part of my life and it’s precious in a way.”
It’s sweet how deeply he incorporates his love for the sport into his artistry. It even influences his pre-show rituals. Leading up to a performance, in addition to the standard vocal warm-ups, he does two-touch and refuses to eat a meal within 3 hours of show time – something he does before soccer games as well. And it works because that night at the Sinclair he put on a show fit for a seasoned veteran with the lungs of a pro soccer player.
When it came to picking a favorite song he sucked his teeth, “I hate this question, I don’t like choosing! They’re all like my babies.” And I can’t fault him. Every track is special, from the intimate lyrics to the landscape of the album as a whole, each song exists as an ecosystem so how could he pick just one? So we compromised, and he settled on two instead. “One of them is ‘Doubt’ (I told him my favorite was also “Doubt” and he immediately lit up, exclaiming “Yes! I’m glad to hear that!”), it was one of the first songs I made that I was like ‘wow, I really like this sound.’ And I think the other would have to be ‘Mercury,’ I found myself coming back to it a lot.”
“Doubt” closes out the album and also served as the closer for the show, and as he told the crowd that it was his favorite song he wrote they erupted into cheers. Right as the band played the beginning chords, however, you could hear a pin drop in anticipation. But once he began to sing, the crowd sang right along with him, screaming out every word. It’s a fitting conclusion, as he discusses every win he’s had but being unable to really enjoy it because his mind is strewn with seeds of doubt. The production is smooth, with a quiet intro to its cathartic crescendo, pulsing basslines, warped vocals, it feels like chandol’s final declaration of the type of artist he’s become: painfully vulnerable.
It makes sense why this would be a favorite, not only of the crowd but as an artist because it’s also the track he put the most of himself into. “It’s got a lot of [elements from] the genres that I like. Like fast rap and indie rock which is what I’ve been into right now.” As he launched into the specifics of the track, he began to gesture with his hands and got really into his element. You could feel the love for music radiating off of him as he explained that, “It just has like a really nice progression. It starts fast then it builds in energy but then it slows down a bit then at the very end it’s like calm. Like to me it’s my favorite song I’ve ever made.”
Take Your Time, “What’s the Rush?”
As we closed out our conversation, we took a moment to reflect on the past and look toward the future. After almost two years since he made the pivotal decision to abandon his old persona, there must be room for regret. However, when asked what he would’ve told himself back then he admits that the only thing he would’ve done is tell himself to get it over with and do it sooner. When it comes to the future he told fans to expect “a normal guy. More music I guess that’s not gonna change, but a less curated image, less social media presence for sure.”
His parting message took a moment to gather but had an air of vulnerability to it, as is the theme for this new era of his artistry. He pinched the cuff of his sweater as he stated: “To any old fans, I honestly hope that they’re doing really well. I hope that they know that I hope my music should serve as a stepping stone for them to pursue whatever they want in their own lives and that it’s not all about me that they should do their own thing.”
Mercurial is out on all streaming platforms. Keep up with chandol by following him – although he might post sparingly – on Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok.
Interested in more exclusives? Check out EnVi‘s interview with Persian American singer-songwriter Leyla Ebrahimi!
