FYE Records today announced a multi-year distribution deal with global music producer Yutong Zhang (also known as Morton Zhang), recognized for her cross-cultural sound that bridges Eastern musical sensibilities with Western contemporary production. The partnership will support Zhang’s upcoming releases through long-term distribution and creative development, as FYE expands its global footprint and invests in new-generation producer-led artistry.
In an era where music moves across borders faster than ever, Zhang is emerging as one of the most distinctive new voices shaping the future of global sound. Chinese-born and based in Los Angeles, she has gained attention for her ability to blend technical precision with emotional storytelling, crafting productions that feel both strategically built and deeply human.
“Her work exists in the rare space where art and strategy reinforce each other,” said Kamyrn Perez, CEO of FYE Records. “Yutong represents where music is heading—borderless, intentional, and deeply human.”
Under the new agreement, Zhang will launch her own creative imprint under FYE Records, a structure that will enable her to develop an independent catalog while contributing to the creative growth of emerging label talent. Perez described the arrangement as an “ecosystem,” allowing Zhang’s creative leadership to influence how a new generation of artists approaches sound, narrative, and audience-building.
A Career Shaped by Performance, Precision, and Emotional Intelligence
Zhang first gained recognition not behind the console, but on stage. In 2018, she served as the lead vocalist and arranger for QianYu Band x Chill Boy, a jazz-hip-hop ensemble known for layered harmonies and improvisational energy. Their six-city national tour became a breakthrough moment within China’s indie scene, praised for both its musical cohesion and cinematic visual presentation.
“That period taught me how to listen, not just to music, but to people,” Zhang recalled. “Every performance felt like a conversation.”
That sensitivity now defines her studio work. Known for building tracks with cinematic structure, she has earned recognition for projects including “Chapter 1,” which charted prominently on Spotify, and “Trust Me,” which entered the iTunes Top 50. Her production style is defined by detailed layering, dynamic tension, and intentional use of silence—treating sound not as decoration, but as architecture.
Her productions are built like films: every sound cue, every vocal layer, and every silence serves an emotional function. Zhang describes her process as “architectural,” building sonic structures that hold both fragility and force.
“I’m drawn to contrast, rough drums under soft vocals, digital textures beneath organic instruments,” she explained. “That’s how life feels. Tension and peace coexisting.”
88rising Experience and Large-Scale Production Operations
Zhang’s range has also been shaped by her work with 88rising, where she contributed to content strategy and production operations. She also supported music operations for Head in the Clouds Guangzhou, a two-day festival that drew tens of thousands of attendees and featured global names including Jackson Wang, Rich Brian, and Higher Brothers.
“That experience gave me scale,” Zhang said. “It’s one thing to produce a song for streaming, it’s another to make that song come alive for an audience that size.”
For Zhang, scale is not only about numbers, it’s about translating emotion into sonic structure. In the studio, she is known for beginning with silence, listening first to what is missing before she builds what is present.
“The first thing I do is listen to what’s not there,” she has said. “I don’t think of sound as decoration, it’s structure, it’s space, it’s story.”
That philosophy has led to comparisons with producers such as James Blake and Tokimonsta, artists similarly recognized for fusing emotional intimacy with experimentation. But Zhang’s identity as a cross-cultural creator gives her work a distinct dimension, one that speaks to a generation living between languages, cities, and expectations.
Her productions often weave together alternative hip-hop rhythms, R&B textures, and subtle influences rooted in Chinese tonal traditions, elements that may not be immediately obvious but are deeply felt through phrasing, harmony, and emotional movement.
“It’s not about showing where I’m from,” she said. “It’s about letting where I’m from shape how I feel rhythm.”
Zhang’s influence continues to grow beyond charts and placements. In addition to streaming momentum, her work has begun entering broader commercial spaces through licensing and media use. For her, the true measure of impact is not ranking, but connection.
“When someone tells me a song helped them get through something, that matters more than any number,” she said.
Looking ahead, Zhang is preparing an experimental EP under her FYE imprint exploring the theme of memory distortion, how time reshapes the way emotion and sound are experienced.
“Music is never static,” she said. “It’s a mirror that keeps changing shape.”
As labels increasingly look toward global and genre-fluid creators, Zhang’s rise signals a shift in how creative leadership is defined, no longer by geography or language, but by storytelling ability and artistic vision. With this new distribution partnership, FYE Records and Yutong Zhang aim to build a long-term catalog that reflects the sound of a new global generation, borderless, intentional, and deeply human.
Written by Kelly Walker
