Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K., born Andrew Wilkes-Krier in 1979 and raised largely in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an American singer, musician and party-rock icon. After playing in various bands and relocating to New York in the late 1990s, he adopted the Andrew W.K. moniker — a name reportedly given to him by an elementary-school teacher — for his solo work, first drawing notice with the 1999 EP Girls Own Juice.

His breakthrough came with the 2001 debut album I Get Wet and its single «Party Hard», which established his signature sound: maximalist, distorted, arena-ready rock built around relentless positivity and the recurring theme of partying as a form of catharsis. Critics have described his aesthetic as gleefully over-the-top, pairing hard-rock bombast with an almost childlike sincerity. Visually, he's known for his uniform look of long hair, white t-shirt, white jeans and white sneakers.

Andrew W.K. has cultivated a particularly devoted following in Japan, partly because legal disputes over the rights to his stage name in the US meant that Close Calls with Brick Walls was initially released there as a Japan-exclusive album. Beyond music, he's known for motivational speaking and media appearances that extend his philosophy of relentless, unpretentious positivity.