Emei

With an agile, clear-as-crystal voice, Emei’s pulsing, theatrical alt pop is concerned with the tensions of the everyday. After finding some success as a competitor on reality shows in China as a teen, the New Jersey native went viral with 2022′s “Late to the Party.” Her first EP, End of an Era, followed later the same year,” and she quickly offered new material including “Scatterbrain,” which clocked eight-digit streaming numbers upon its release in 2023.
Emily Li was born in New Jersey to Chinese immigrant parents and got her first taste of fame as a contestant on Chinese Idol at the age of 15. After finishing in third place, she went on to compete on the Chinese version of Dancing with the Stars. Li then stepped away from show business to major in cognitive science at Yale. During her time in New Haven, she joined an a cappella group and started a band with other enrollees of the residential Timothy Dwight College.
Upon graduating, she relocated to Los Angeles and set to work on honing her sound and musical persona. She settled on the stage name Emei, a blend of her English nickname, Emmy, and her Chinese name, An Mei. Emei’s debut single, 2021′s “Distracted,” was a collaboration with LEMIX for Joyride Music Group. She then self-released the solo effort “Better People to Leave on Read.” January 2022′s sleek and spacious “Late to the Party,” which included the line “21 without a Grammy or degree,” then went viral across social media and streaming platforms when she was 22. She followed that with a string of self-released singles, all of which were gathered along with “Late to the Party” on her debut EP, October 2022′s End of an Era.
In January 2023, Emei accepted an invitation to perform during an NBA halftime show in L.A., and a month later, she released the single “Scatterbrain,” which did even better streaming numbers than her breakthrough. She continued to mix insecure lyrics with a pulsing, striding pop sound on songs like September 2023′s “Don’t Know About the World.” ~ Marcy Donelson