British Columbia·Q&AThe 23-year-old’s debut album is set to be released Sept. 26.The 23-year-old’s debut album is set to be released Sept. 26CBC News · Posted: Sep 13, 2025 11:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours agoMax Zhang, known as yung kai, is a Burnaby, B.C.-based musician. (Submitted)Until just last year, Max Zhang was a student at the University of British Columbia, making music in his bedroom in his spare time.Now, the 23-year-old is in the middle of a world tour, playing live shows for his adoring fans.Under his stage name, yung kai, Zhang released a song called Blue in 2024, which went viral on TikTok as a popular soundtrack for videos. Today, it’s been streamed on Spotify more than 600 million times. “It’s always been my dream to just make music for a living as my career,” he said. “Now that it’s actually happened, it’s just so hard for me to process.”In just a couple of weeks, yung kai’s debut album stay with the ocean, I’ll find you will be released, and shortly after he’ll resume his world tour with a show in San Francisco. On Oct. 11, he’s scheduled to play a show at home, in Vancouver, with bbno$. Zhang sat down for an interview on CBC’s On The Coast upon return from the Asia leg of his world tour. WATCH | yung kai speaks with CBC’s Gloria Macarenko:Burnaby musician Yung Kai on viral song, world tour and first full-length albumBurnaby-born, singer-songwriter Yung Kai, whose real name is Max Zhang, joins host Gloria Macarenko for an interview after finishing the Asia leg of his world tour. He talks about his first full-length album, musical inspiration, and collaborating with one of the most popular K-pop idols.This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How are you even processing all of this success?Honestly, I don’t think I’ve processed it yet. I’m kind of just still doing my same routines. I’m just playing games all day, making music in my bedroom. My routine hasn’t really changed I feel like, other than just going on tours and stuff. But when I’m back home, just the same thing.Take us back to the beginning, when your journey with music even began.I kind of always learned instruments my whole life. And it was around senior year of high school where I started trying to produce music. For years, I was producing my own music in my bedroom and putting it on YouTube, you know, like these beats and stuff.WATCH | yung kai’s Blue: And then I was like, you know what? I will try singing. And then I started posting covers on TikTok and on Instagram and people really liked it, I guess. That’s how I kind of first started getting a following.And then from that, I was like, OK, so start making songs. I put out one of my first songs, Wildflower. And then right after that was Blue. And then that’s when everything kind of boomed.Who are your inspirations? One of my biggest inspirations is a band called Wave to Earth, a Korean band, and I’m actually going on tour with them in November, which is crazy. You actually were following the band, liking their music and then they say, hey, come on tour with us?I started listening to them maybe in 2023, I believe. And I just got addicted to their songs, like every single day. And then I started trying to learn how they put their instrumentals together, their lyrics. And you know, I just took so much inspiration from them, honestly. You’re born and raised in Burnaby, but you spent time growing up in Shanghai as well. So how did the environment around you shape the perspective that you bring to your music?I went to high school and elementary school in Shanghai and there I actually was listening to music very different from the music I listened to now. I grew up with church music and then I kind of transitioned to a lot of hip-hop. I listened to a lot of rap music, like Juice Wrld and stuff.Blue by yung kai went viral on social media in 2024, and he’s been living the rock star life ever since. (Matt Solie)When I got into university, when I moved here, that’s when I started listening to like Wave to Earth, Laufey. That’s kind of how my music evolved.You’re making music in your bedroom. What’s the difference between that and actually getting out, going on tour and performing in front of an audience?It’s such a different world because just when I’m in my bedroom just making music, it’s just me alone with my own thoughts, right? When I’m going on tour, so many people just watch. They wanna come and watch me sing. That’s crazy. It’s so different, performing in front of people.What now? You’re heading to Australia, New Zealand to perform as well. What’s what’s left on your bucket list?I actually have no idea. I feel like I’ve accomplished so much already. I’m so happy with where I am at, you know? But yeah, usually I actually just like, go with the flow, you know? Like if something crazy happens, it happens. If nothing crazy happens, it’s cool.With files from Courtney Dickson and On The Coast
From making music in his bedroom to a world tour: How B.C.’s yung kai became a pop music sensation
