Chad Randall Matheny, known professionally as Emperor X, is an American singer and songwriter.

For the release of the 2011 Emperor X album Western Teleport, 41 "translucent purple audio cassettes" were buried across North America, many of which remain undiscovered.

[7] In 2014, Matheny was commissioned by 99% Invisible to write a song titled "10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Settlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories (Don't Change Color, Kitty)" based on Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri's concept of a millennia-long nuclear waste warning message in the form of a folk song about genetically engineered cats.

[9] Matheny is a former high school science teacher,[10] and in 2004 he stopped his pursuit of a master's degree in physics in order to dedicate his career to music.

[11] Matheny is a testicular cancer survivor and has low vision, which makes him unable to legally drive.