Julien Chang

Julien Chang brings classical training to his work as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, drawing on an exhaustive command of pop music. His fluid compositions merge seasoned insight with a fresh sense of discovery. At only 19 he issued his first album, Jules, in 2019; its fluid weave of jazz, folk, R&B, and pop displayed a polish that outstripped his age. The same poise marked 2022’s The Sale, where philosophical concerns met finely detailed musicianship.

Raised in the Baltimore area, Chang—whose surname is pronounced “chong”—stood out at the Baltimore School for the Arts for his command of the trombone and for the occasional hip-hop beats he fashioned. During his final year there he began assembling his debut record in private, having learned a broad range of instruments on his own and constructed a studio from equipment purchased with earnings from a part-time job at a neighborhood grocery store. The resulting songs joined the classical theory taught at school with his own listening discoveries, among them Pink Floyd and Afro-funk, while reflecting the uncertainties of early adulthood.

When he self-released Jules in 2018 the project surprised even those around him, yet word spread from Baltimore’s music community to London’s Transgressive Records, which signed the university student soon after their first meeting. The label then gave Jules an official release in October 2019. Three years later Chang returned with The Sale. Cut both in Baltimore and in his Princeton dorm room, the album examined the layered questions of identity, creativity, love, and capitalism.