PRETTY HAVØC

PRETTY HAVØC, born Tyler Thang Xue Xun in Singapore, is a singer, songwriter and producer based in Los Angeles who blends American pop-punk and alt-rock with Korean R&B influence. He built an independent catalog beginning in 2018, landed guest features with Sleeping With Sirens' Kellin Quinn and former 24K member Kim Jeong-uk, and by 2025 had become a co-billed collaborator and touring guitarist for Dutch Melrose on MADKID Records.

Early Life and Identity

PRETTY HAVØC was born in Singapore to a Singaporean mother and an American stepfather. His official sync-licensing biography describes him spending his formative years moving between Singapore, Boston, and Busan, South Korea, before eventually settling in Los Angeles. He describes himself in interviews as a "third culture kid," a phrase that recurs across his press coverage as shorthand for a childhood spent across three distinct cultural contexts. He is fluent in English and Mandarin and sings in English, Mandarin, and Korean.

The name most consistently attached to him in first-person reporting is Tyler Thang. Bandwagon.asia states plainly that "pretty havoc., whose real name is Tyler Thang," while his own university's student newspaper, the Cal State LA University Times, headlined its 2025 profile around "Tyler Thang, also known as Pretty Havoc." His sync-licensing bio opens with the same identification. KProfiles lists his birthday as September 25, with no year confirmed, height as 188 cm (6'2"), and nationality as Singaporean.

He attended Cal State LA, pursuing a business degree while actively gigging and recording, a dual track his university profiled in March 2025 as "student by day, artist by night." He compressed his class schedule to two days a week to protect studio time, telling the paper, "Sometimes, I've even finished class at 8 p.m. and drove over to a studio and did a session to three in the morning." His parents, per his own account, support his music career while still wanting him to finish his degree, a tension he describes candidly rather than downplaying.

Musical Foundations and the Move to Los Angeles

His musical foundation traces to childhood, when his stepfather gave him an iPod Nano loaded with '80s rock bands. That exposure led him to pick up guitar and join bands in high school. He did not originally set out to be a vocalist: he became the singer of one of his early bands only after its original frontman quit, a detail he has confirmed directly ("I did not start as a singer, but became one after he took over as the role for one band"). He cites Blink-182's "Always" as the specific song that made him want to become an artist, and lists Blink-182, blackbear, MGK, Nothing But Thieves, and YUNGBLUD among his core influences, alongside K-pop and K-R&B artists Jay Park, DPR IAN, and TWICE.

He moved to Los Angeles at the end of 2018, immediately after finishing high school in Singapore, a decision he has framed as strategic rather than sentimental: "rock music is not as commonly sought out in Asia, except maybe in Japan, so I thought it'd be the best move for me to try and make it here, in LA." Ahead of his own commercial breakthrough, he interned at Horse Latitudes Studios, the recording studio owned by The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, working under Grammy-nominated producer Eric Corne, a credential that grounds his production skill set in formal studio apprenticeship rather than purely DIY bedroom recording.

Early Releases and the Rock-Representation Mission

PRETTY HAVØC debuted in 2018 with "i'm sorry i broke your heart." The project originally involved bandmates identified in a 2021 profile as "Cosmo and Ryan" before consolidating around Tyler Thang as a solo artist identity; that debut single reportedly crossed almost 100,000 Spotify plays within two months. His 2019 single "goddess" became his first real proof of concept, accumulating roughly 1.1 million Spotify streams and contributing to an early total of more than 2 million streams across platforms and over 30 editorial placements, including Spotify's .ORG and Indie Shuffle. A separate, earlier indie-pop side project called "envy adams and the violets" logged an additional 12 editorial placements, though no further detail about that alias's music or timeline has surfaced.

From the start, his stated mission has been explicit and repeated: to be a corrective presence for the near-total absence of Asian representation in Western rock and pop-punk. "Growing up, it always felt like all the dudes I admired and all the posters I had in my bedroom wall, they were all these cool bands but like 99% of them, they're all white dudes," he told his university paper. To Bandwagon.asia he put it more directly: "I feel like it is a step in the right way for me to pave the way, as a Singaporean artist doing rock music in the US." He has also spoken candidly about the specific friction that comes with that position, describing a perceived expectation that Asian men underplay aggression or swagger in the genre: "I get the feeling that my music is not taken as seriously since the whole punk rock star thing would be to be loud and aggressive, but in the US, unfortunately, there is a tendency to think of Asian men as docile... I sense micro-aggressions toward me." His response to that friction has been forward-looking rather than defeated: "I try to think, 'I have every opportunity and every chance to be the first one to change minds.'"

ATOM BOMB and Punching Bag: Breakthrough Collaborations

His highest-profile early feature came with "ATOM BOMB" (June 30, 2022), a duet with Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens that he described as "a post-apocalyptic love song" built on an industrial, Nine Inch Nails-adjacent instrumental. Quinn recorded and self-produced his own vocals remotely and sent them back for PRETTY HAVØC to mix and master, an arrangement he detailed to Bandwagon.asia. The single reached number 10 on Spotify's rock editorial playlist The Locker as well as Apple Music's New and Rock.

Two months later came "Punching Bag" (August 26, 2022), a bilingual English and Korean duet with Kim Jeong-uk, formerly of the group 24K, released via OneRPM. The collaboration generated dual exclusive-interview coverage from The Honey Pop and KpopWise, both of which detailed a remote, cross-continental production workflow running between Los Angeles and Seoul. In those interviews he described songwriting itself as a form of catharsis, adding half-jokingly that "an actual Punching Bag helps too." He followed with "JENNIE KIM" (February 2023), named for the BLACKPINK member, and "IDOL GIRL" (June 2023), both continuing his pattern of threading K-pop and K-R&B reference points through pop-punk songwriting.

Entering the MADKID Records Orbit

PRETTY HAVØC's formal professional tie to Dutch Melrose and MADKID Records began not as a featured vocalist but as a producer. He is credited as co-producer on Dutch Melrose's single "FORGET YOU" (February 7, 2025), officially billed on Genius and Apple Music as "produced by Dutch Melrose & PRETTY HAVØC." That credit tracks with his stated multi-hyphenate skill set: his university profile describes him as a "songwriter, producer, and audio engineer" well before his own artist project gained wider visibility. MADKID Records' own artists page lists him by name alongside Dutch Melrose, benny mayne, Ashley Sienna, Natalia Marion, HARRY WAS HERE, and Rad Cat.

His relationship to the label is hybrid rather than a full-catalog signing. Releases co-billed with Dutch Melrose, including "MIRROR MIRROR" and its expanded "LOVERBOY" EP treatment, carry the MADKID RECORDS credit, while his other solo output, including DANGER, HUSH, THE MAN WHO CAN'T BE MOVED, and BABYDOLL, is self-released under his own artist imprint (℗ PRETTY HAVØC). That structure mirrors the pattern documented for labelmate benny mayne, where roster membership does not equate to the label owning 100% of an artist's catalog.

MIRROR MIRROR and Touring With Dutch Melrose

"MIRROR MIRROR" (July 23, 2025) is PRETTY HAVØC's most significant co-billed release to date, credited jointly to Dutch Melrose and PRETTY HAVØC under MADKID RECORDS. It was expanded into the "MIRROR MIRROR (LOVERBOY)" EP on August 8, 2025, bundling sped-up and alternate versions in the multi-version rollout style that runs through much of his 2024 to 2026 catalog.

Alongside the studio partnership, PRETTY HAVØC serves as Dutch Melrose's touring guitarist and backing vocalist, a live-band role documented directly in a HIVE Magazine review of Dutch Melrose's September 2025 stop in Manchester, UK, on the VOILÀ "Magic Word" European tour. The review describes him as "Dutch's guitarist and backing vocalist, who also makes music under the name PRETTY HAVØC," noting he took "centre stage with him" to perform "MIRROR MIRROR" live mid-set. The same review frames Dutch Melrose's sound as sitting between VOILÀ and singer-songwriter Christian Gates, and confirms that PRETTY HAVØC's cameo "had everybody warmed up and excited for VOILA to start their show."

Independently documented tour listings confirm that Dutch Melrose and Christian Gates were the official supporting acts on VOILÀ's sold-out 2025 European tour, which ran across the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands between late August and early September, with stops including Glasgow, Manchester, London's O2 Academy Islington, Paris's La Maroquinerie, Antwerp, Cologne, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Berlin. PRETTY HAVØC toured that run as part of Dutch Melrose's live band, sharing stages with Christian Gates night after night before stepping forward himself for the mid-set MIRROR MIRROR performance, functioning as part of a tight touring unit rather than a separately billed headline act. In February 2026, that ongoing creative partnership with Dutch Melrose extended into the visual side of his solo work: his cover of The Script's 2008 hit "THE MAN WHO CAN'T BE MOVED" shipped with a visualizer filmed personally by Dutch Melrose.

Sound and Visual Identity

PRETTY HAVØC describes his artistic project as a deliberate East-meets-West fusion, aiming to "blend the sound of modern rock acts like YUNGBLUD and MGK with KR&B acts like Jay Park, DPR IAN" while making music that stays "very reminiscent of American Western pop-punk, but with a lot of Asian influence... Asian-centric with the visuals, lyrics, or the musicality." His stylized name uses the Nordic slashed-O, a stylistic device also seen elsewhere in alt-pop and rock branding, though no dedicated origin story for the choice has surfaced. His represented emoji, per KProfiles, is the dragon, consistent with the East Asian visual motif he layers onto Western rock iconography.

Third-party coverage has converged on a consistent sonic description across years. Music Metrics Vault characterizes his current sound as "alt rock and alt pop with a distinctly West Coast edge... production that's sharp, modern, and a little unhinged, like Nine Inch Nails flipped through a pop lens," and describes his stage persona as carrying "that loud, fun, frat-boy energy... blending swagger with emotion in a way that just feels real." That framing directly echoes his own 2022 description of the ATOM BOMB instrumental as "very industrial, a little bit like Nine Inch Nails," a throughline that has held from his earliest guest feature to his most recent solo output.

He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bass, piano, and ukulele, and his current public identity is structured around a dual live role: audiences most often encounter him first as part of Dutch Melrose's touring band, with his own PRETTY HAVØC project revealed as a secondary, mid-set moment rather than through an independently headlined show.

Business Side

PRETTY HAVØC's professional structure runs on two parallel tracks. As a MADKID Records roster artist, his collaborative work with Dutch Melrose, including production credits and co-billed singles, is released under the label. As a solo artist, he self-releases under his own ℗ PRETTY HAVØC imprint across Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify through standard independent distribution channels, with no distributor named in his metadata the way Dutch Melrose's DistroKid credit is documented. No named personal manager or booking agency has surfaced for him specifically, consistent with the informal, in-house management structure that appears to govern the MADKID roster more broadly rather than a separately branded outside agency. No dedicated PRETTY HAVØC merchandise storefront has been identified.

Personal Life

Friends describe him warmly and specifically. His CSULA classmate and childhood friend David John calls him "a manchild, but has a very sweet relationship with his mom, especially where he can open up to her about anything," and praises his music as sounding like "nothing I've ever heard before... chill, alternative vibe but still manages to have this crazy energy mixing in Pop-punk, rock and even industrial sounds." Thang himself is candid about the strain of running a full academic course load alongside a touring and recording career, describing it as "a 24/7 grind."

His personal tastes lean toward K-pop fandom layered onto 2000s pop-punk and emo nostalgia. TWICE is his repeatedly named favorite group, with specific favorite songs including "Cheer Up," "Fancy," "Alcohol Free," "Thank You Family," and "Likey"; he has half-jokingly called a hypothetical TWICE collaboration his ultimate career goal, saying, "if it happened, my life would have peaked, and I could probably just retire afterwards and be happy." Alongside that, Blink-182, My Chemical Romance, and Green Day anchor his rock and emo reference points. Sushi is listed among his favorite foods, and he processes negative emotion primarily through songwriting, with an actual punching bag as backup.

Timeline

Streaming and Audience

PRETTY HAVØC does not appear on Kworb's Spotify tracker, which generally only indexes artists above a certain streaming threshold. As of July 2026, Music Metrics Vault lists his Spotify audience at approximately 119,261 monthly listeners and 9,602 followers, with top listener cities showing a geographically concentrated fanbase. An earlier cached snapshot of the same tracker showed a much lower figure of roughly 6,774 monthly listeners, a discrepancy that likely reflects genuine growth around the release of "MIRROR MIRROR" and the 2025 European tour rather than a data error. On Last.fm, his most-logged tracks all-time are DANGER (332 listeners), HUSH (221), SIRENS (137), goddess (108), and DANGER (Sped Up) (104), figures that mark Last.fm as a niche secondary indicator rather than a primary metric for an artist of his current scale.

Discography

Frequently Asked Questions

What is PRETTY HAVØC's real name?

Tyler Thang Xue Xun, referred to consistently in press as Tyler Thang, per Bandwagon.asia, his Cal State LA University Times profile, and his sync-licensing bio.

Where is PRETTY HAVØC from?

He was born in Singapore and spent his formative years moving between Singapore, Boston, and Busan, South Korea, before settling in Los Angeles at the end of 2018.

Is PRETTY HAVØC signed to a label?

He is a roster artist of MADKID Records, the label run by Dutch Melrose, but the arrangement is hybrid: collaborative releases with Dutch Melrose carry the MADKID Records credit, while his solo catalog is self-released under his own artist imprint.

How did PRETTY HAVØC connect with Dutch Melrose?

His documented entry point was as co-producer on Dutch Melrose's single "FORGET YOU" in February 2025. That production credit led to the co-billed single "MIRROR MIRROR" later that year and an ongoing role as Dutch Melrose's touring guitarist and backing vocalist.

Did PRETTY HAVØC tour with Christian Gates?

Yes. In 2025 he toured Europe as part of Dutch Melrose's live band on VOILÀ's "Magic Word" tour, on which Dutch Melrose and singer-songwriter Christian Gates were the official supporting acts across UK, Belgian, French, German, and Dutch tour stops.

What is PRETTY HAVØC's most successful collaboration?

Press-wise, "ATOM BOMB" with Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens remains his highest-profile guest feature, reaching #10 on Spotify's The Locker rock editorial playlist. His co-billed catalog with Dutch Melrose, particularly "MIRROR MIRROR," represents his most significant recent professional partnership.

What genre is PRETTY HAVØC's music?

He describes his own sound as Western pop-punk and alt-rock filtered through Asian influence, citing Blink-182, blackbear, MGK, Nothing But Thieves, and YUNGBLUD alongside K-R&B artists Jay Park and DPR IAN as reference points.

Further Reading

PRETTY HAVØC's story runs directly through the MADKID Records ecosystem built around Dutch Melrose, alongside labelmate benny mayne and touring circuit connections to singer-songwriter Christian Gates. Readers interested in the broader label structure and touring map that produced his 2025 European run may find useful context in the Dutch Melrose entry on this wiki.