Andrew Chou, known by his stage name MDD, is an American born Taiwanese songwriter, DJ, and music producer. He was the youngest member of the Taiwanese hip-hop group Machi. While in Machi, he released three studio albums with the group, along with his debut album, "Oh My!". Following his debut with Machi, he has composed and produced songs for numerous well-known artists including Vanness Wu, Nicky Lee, and S.H.E.
Early life
Andrew was born on July 16, 1995, in Irvine, California. He was raised in Newport Beach, California, living with his brother, sister, and parents, while taking trips to Taiwan during the summer. His father is a medical physician, while his mother is a homemaker. Both of them immigrated from Taiwan together to the United States. From age 5, Andrew was given piano and violin lessons. After his family and teachers discovered his talent for music as well as perfect pitch, they encouraged him to pursue music. At age 7, his brother introduced him to the guitar and drums, where he also took lessons and practiced. At age 10, his brother helped Andrew set up a home computer studio running Cubase software so he could write and record his own music. By age 12, Andrew reached the MTAC Certificate of Merit Level 8 on the piano before moving on to fully focus making music on the computer.
2002 - 06: Career beginnings and Machi
In 2002, Andrew performed a rap for Jeff Huang, who was then forming the group Machi. Impressed, Jeff asked Andrew to write a song to perform in an upcoming talent competition, hosted by Warner Music Taiwan. Andrew performed 2 original rock tracks for the competition. He was awarded third place, and eventually signed a record deal with Warner Music. Along with his brother, Kenny Chou, he released his debut album with his group, Machi, a year later. His song, "Machi DiDi", which featured Andrew rapping in reverse, was a promoted single, while the album itself reached platinum status in Taiwan. In 2004, Machi released their second studio album, with Andrew's rap on the title track "爽 ". Andrew performed at the 15th Golden Melody Awards. Later that year, he released his first solo album entitled "Oh My!". The album was a success, but Andrew's family made the decision to prioritize schooling over his music career, which forced Andrew to return to America to study, cutting short the time he was allowed to promote and perform in Taiwan. Back in America, Andrew was bullied and met with racism at Corona del Mar High School. He resolved to overcome the bullying and become a stronger person. In 2005, in order to be able to better pursue his music career, he moved to Taiwan, during which he attended Taipei American School. Machi released their third and final album, Superman. Once promotion of the album finished, Andrew went to Beijing, China, for several months to act in a movie, entitled "Slam", directed by Jonathan Lim. The movie won 2008 Worldfest Houston's Gold Award for "Best Film".
2007 - 14: After Machi & Hiatus
After the successful release of Superman in 2007, Jeff Huang announced that there were no further plans for any future albums. Some of the members of Machi went solo or formed their own groups. The rest, like Andrew's brother, Kenny, went back to America to pursue non-music related activities. Andrew continued with his passion for music, and in 2007, collaborated with Vanness Wu in his album V.DUBB, on the track "Eternity", as well as with Steven Lin to produce his EP, "War". He had also recorded several songs for a second solo album, which was not released. In 2008, he co-wrote and produced the track "Forever" with Chris Wiebe for Golden Melody Award winner Nicky Lee's album "Imperfect". In 2009, he composed the track "突然想愛你" for Della, and also produced two original songs for the movie "Road Less Traveled", directed by Jimmy Hung. In 2010, Andrew returned to America to attend college. Before completing his college degree, however, he left to attend Dubspot, a music school in New York, to learn electronic music production. After completing the one-year program at Dubspot, he moved back to Taiwan to pursue music full-time and revitalize his career. For the next three years, he focused primarily on improving his skills in music, although he did briefly coach the eSports Team M17 in 2014.
2015 - Current: Machi DiDi is Back
On July 10, 2015, Andrew uploaded his new single, "Machi DiDi is Back", to YouTube. A month later, he uploaded his second single, "Brave ". During this time, Bing Wang, a respected and well-known music producer at HIM International Music, took an interest in Andrew, and asked him to remix four songs for S.H.E. They performed these remixes during the 2015 SHE Anniversary Concert. In January 2016, Andrew signed with HIM International Music, a large independent label in Taiwan. He released his EP "My Law" on the label in 2017, with the title track, "MACHI DIDI 2.0", featuring a reverse rap like his original 2003 release, but with an entire verse written in palindrome form, a first in Chinese rap music history. In June 2018, he again performed at the Golden Melody Awards, his last performance at the ceremony being 15 years prior. Afterwards, he was released from his contract with HIM, citing differences in the direction he wanted to take his career, stating that he wanted to perform electronic music instead of pop. In September 2018, he performed at Ultra Taiwan, was nominated for the GMA's "Best Vocal Recording Album" for Karencici's album, and in 2019, released "My Wave", his first full length studio album, 16 years since his debut album.
