Mad Tsai lives and breathes pop music
The artist on his relationship with social media, stan culture, and creating space for more Asian creatives in the music industry
Mad Tsai's latest single, "DIET," dropped on Friday, April 17.
Courtesy of Mad Tsai
Words by Ryan Quan
If anyone can prove that TikTok can be used not only as a cultivator for community, but also as a viable music marketing strategy, it’s Mad Tsai. Time after time he has gone viral online for his candid and charismatic videos. But it’s his clever songwriting, addictive hooks, and agreeable pop sound that have gained him such overwhelming support and attention. And it all started in 2020, when he first started posting his songs and covers on the platform.
Back then, he was just a teenager strumming his ukulele in his bedroom, singing about high school regrets and uncertainties. Today, he’s a rising pop sensation with more than five million fans across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, as well as 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
His last EP, teenage nightmare, released in October 2024, was a coming-of-age reconciliation with his teenage years, a posthumous processing of the trauma that comes with growing up confused, angry, and queer in the suburbs of Southern California. Written while he was still at school (studying music industry and English at UCLA), the project concluded a part of Tsai’s life that he’s more than ready to leave behind.
Over the past year, the Chinese, Taiwanese, and Peruvian American artist has been teasing a new era with singles like “HOUNDSOFHELL,” “BITE,” and “STRAYS,” which lean full force into the darker, edgier themes hinted at in his earlier music. Now unburdened by unresolved regrets and collegiate obligations, Tsai has adopted a fearless attitude on his journey to realizing his full potential as a pop artist.
DIET
Rebellien Records
His latest single, “DIET,” which dropped on Friday, is another demonstration of his talent for worldbuilding and storytelling. With its EDM-inspired foundation and suggestive lyricism, it’s the ideal track to welcome the vigor and sanguinity that come with spring.
Before the single’s official release, Mad Tsai chatted with JoySauce about this new era in his artistic journey, sharing some ruminations on his relationship with social media, how he uplifts other creatives through his Mooncake concert series, and his holy trinity of Asian music artists.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Ryan Quan: How would you describe your music in your own terms?
Mad Tsai: I feel like I love so many different genres and I love being influenced by so many different genres and sounds, but at the end of the day, I am very much pop. I love pop music, and I feel like pop music has just always been my favorite genre.
RQ: Who are your biggest musical inspirations and influences right now?
MT: Oh gosh. Well, I always say every single time anyone asks me, I will always praise Lorde because I think she's just one of the best songwriters of our generation, and I think she is so talented. And she's honestly one of the reasons why I even wanted to get into being an artist or songwriting because her lyricism is just unparalleled.
I love Rosalía and how she makes so many different cool choices when it comes to production and her sound, and just building out an entire world. I just think she's so fantastic. I think the pop girls just do it so much better. I love the pop girls.
RQ: And they both released great albums last year.
MT: I know! LUX (by Rosalía) is so fantastic, and Virgin (by Lorde) is just so…I was crying. I was crying when I heard it for the first time.
RQ: Your Mooncake concert series spotlights Asian artists twice a year. Tell me a little bit more about why an event like this is important and how Asian artists are treated in the music industry.
MT: When I was starting out, a big factor of me not really feeling like I belonged in the music industry was the fact that there weren't that many Asian creatives, or just Asian people in the industry that I felt like I could find or connect with.
And I feel like Asian artists—at least in the Western music industry—are treated as a novelty in some way. I want so much more for our community, and I want us to have nuance and to be able to do whatever we possibly want and not have a designated sound. I hate the fact that people in the music industry or people in general just try to put Asian artists into this bubble. “Either you belong in the R&B route, or you belong in K-pop.” It only leads to these two roads, but we're built for way, way, way more than that.
I wanted to see and highlight a lot of these more fresh faces in the Asian community that I want to see up on the Grammy stage someday. We've had Emei perform, Stephanie Poetri, Tiffany Day, Rocco, so many wonderful, wonderful people, and so many wonderful friends come perform. I just want to see my community win. I think that's what it is about at the end of the day.
RQ: When you were first blowing up, it was with “boy bi” and the whole thing about coming out and being openly bisexual. How do you think your relationship with your identity and sexuality has changed and evolved as your music also has?
MT: Well, ”boy bi” is such a funny topic because, like I said, it was a writing exercise. I never really meant it to be my first song out into the world and the introduction to me. It felt like a silly Internet moment that I threw up in the spur of the moment, and it became my official debut single.
In “boy bi,” I declared that I was bisexual, but over the years, I think I've come to like the label of just queer. I feel like there's such entitlement to people's sex lives in the gay community, especially their bodies. Yes, I love posting my little shirtless pictures and whatever, but that's on my own terms. So I honestly just go by queer because I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like, and that's nobody else's business but mine.
RQ: If you had to choose a holy trinity of Asian artists, who would your three choices be?
MT: Oh my god. Okay. Rina Sawayama. Yeah, we need her back. We need her back so badly. She needs to come save us. It's looking dire out here. Rina Samayama, she's so fantastic and amazing, and I hope to god that she comes back and she comes back swinging because I want her to have her moment. Rina Sawayama is the most obvious to me.
Maybe Olivia Rodrigo. Y’know, we love our Wasians, and she changed the game honestly for a lot of U.S. Asian artists as well. Who else?
Okay, so Olivia, Rina Sawayama, and one artist that I predict right now that's going to blow up, and is one of my good friends and I adore her: Tiffany Day. She is so freaking talented. She has performed in my backyard, literally. And let me tell you, Mooncake saw it first, we got the preview before the blowup because I manifest all the best things for Tiffany. So freaking talented and creative. And she deserves all her flowers.
Published on April 20, 2026
Words by Ryan Quan
Ryan Quan is JoySauce's social media manager, associate editor, and all-around visual eye. This queer, half-Chinese, half-Filipino writer and graphic designer loves everything related to music, creative nonfiction, and art. Based in Brooklyn, he spends most of his time dancing to hyperpop and accidentally falling asleep on the subway. Follow him on Instagram at @ryanquans, and check out his work on his website.