Karlee Girl

Karlee Kishi-Jeeson Tanaka (born October 7, 2003), known professionally as Karlee Girl (stylized in all caps), and also known as Karlee Tanaka, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tanaka first garnered public attention as a contestant on Dream Academy, a reality show produced by Hybe and Geffen Records in 2023, which concluded with the formation of the girl group Katseye. Two years later, Tanaka became a contestant on the Netflix competition show Building the Band. She debuted as a soloist on April 25, 2025, with the independent digital single "Little Things".

Early life

Tanaka was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on October 7, 2003, of Korean and Japanese descent. Tanaka attended Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu.

2021–2025: Early career

In order to select the 20 candidates for The Debut: Dream Academy, Hybe and Geffen Records hosted online global auditions in November 2021. Over 120,000 submissions were received. Tanaka was eventually announced as one of twenty finalists on August 28, 2023. Tanaka was eliminated on October 8, 2023, when the results for the second mission were announced.

In August 2024, Tanaka appeared as herself in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye, which chronicled the original training periods under the Hybe and Geffen framework. Following her television exposure, she opted to develop an independent musical footprint, releasing an unreleased solo composition on YouTube, "Perfect Crime", in November 2024.

In July 2025, Episode 4 of the Netflix reality music show Building the Band aired and revealed that Tanaka was in the lineup of competing artists. She was subsequently eliminated during the same episode.

2025–present: Independent solo debut

Following her departure from music competition programming, Tanaka adopted the stage name "Karlee Girl". On April 25, 2025, she officially marked her solo musical debut with the release of her independent digital single "Little Things", which was accompanied by an instrumental mix the following month. Later that year, she formally relaunched her previously showcased track, "Perfect Crime", across commercial music streaming outlets, followed by her third solo record, "R.I.P. the Idea of You", in November 2025.

On February 20, 2026, Tanaka released the digital pop single "Right Back!". The track gained widespread attention on social media beginning in April 2026, when it went viral on TikTok and X, with notable figures including rapper Doechii and producer MNEK sharing the song. Billboard reported that the song's on-demand streams in the United States increased by 2,795% over four weeks following its viral spread.

Singles

Filmography