diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e23fbdc1..634af794 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ name = "sqlite-describe"
 path = "tests/sqlite/describe.rs"
 required-features = [ "sqlite" ]
 
+[[test]]
+name = "sqlite-macros"
+path = "tests/sqlite/macros.rs"
+required-features = [ "sqlite", "macros" ]
+
 #
 # MySQL
 #
@@ -126,6 +131,11 @@ name = "mysql-describe"
 path = "tests/mysql/describe.rs"
 required-features = [ "mysql" ]
 
+[[test]]
+name = "mysql-macros"
+path = "tests/mysql/macros.rs"
+required-features = [ "mysql", "macros" ]
+
 #
 # PostgreSQL
 #
diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/connection/executor.rs b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/connection/executor.rs
index b0042062..6530ab9a 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/connection/executor.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/connection/executor.rs
@@ -275,9 +275,10 @@ impl<'c> Executor<'c> for &'c mut MySqlConnection {
                 for _ in 0..(ok.columns as usize) {
                     let def: ColumnDefinition = self.stream.recv().await?;
                     let ty = MySqlTypeInfo::from_column(&def);
+                    let name = def.name()?;
 
                     columns.push(Column {
-                        name: def.name()?.to_owned(),
+                        name: if name.is_empty() { def.alias()? } else { name }.to_owned(),
                         type_info: ty,
                         not_null: Some(def.flags.contains(ColumnFlags::NOT_NULL)),
                     })
diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/type_info.rs b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/type_info.rs
index a37e5bd9..75153e84 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/type_info.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/type_info.rs
@@ -78,6 +78,18 @@ impl PartialEq<MySqlTypeInfo> for MySqlTypeInfo {
                     == other.flags.contains(ColumnFlags::UNSIGNED);
             }
 
+            // for string types, check that our charset matches
+            ColumnType::VarChar
+            | ColumnType::Blob
+            | ColumnType::TinyBlob
+            | ColumnType::MediumBlob
+            | ColumnType::LongBlob
+            | ColumnType::String
+            | ColumnType::VarString
+            | ColumnType::Enum => {
+                return self.char_set == other.char_set;
+            }
+
             _ => {}
         }
 
diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/types/str.rs b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/types/str.rs
index 86210901..17a6464e 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/mysql/types/str.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/mysql/types/str.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ impl<'r> Decode<'r, MySql> for &'r str {
                 | ColumnType::String
                 | ColumnType::VarString
                 | ColumnType::Enum
-        )
+        ) && ty.char_set == 224
     }
 
     fn decode(value: MySqlValueRef<'r>) -> Result<Self, BoxDynError> {
diff --git a/sqlx-macros/src/database/mysql.rs b/sqlx-macros/src/database/mysql.rs
index e6b04d48..43c5291e 100644
--- a/sqlx-macros/src/database/mysql.rs
+++ b/sqlx-macros/src/database/mysql.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ impl_database_ext! {
         f32,
         f64,
 
+        // ordering is important here as otherwise we might infer strings to be binary
         // CHAR, VAR_CHAR, TEXT
         String,
 
diff --git a/sqlx-macros/src/query/data.rs b/sqlx-macros/src/query/data.rs
index 3f7e4183..9af35a48 100644
--- a/sqlx-macros/src/query/data.rs
+++ b/sqlx-macros/src/query/data.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use sqlx_core::executor::Executor;
         deserialize = "Describe<DB>: serde::de::DeserializeOwned"
     ))
 )]
+#[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct QueryData<DB: Database> {
     #[allow(dead_code)]
     pub(super) query: String,
diff --git a/tests/mysql/macros.rs b/tests/mysql/macros.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f949fb48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/mysql/macros.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+use sqlx::MySql;
+use sqlx_test::new;
+
+#[sqlx_macros::test]
+async fn macro_select_from_cte() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut conn = new::<MySql>().await?;
+    let account =
+        sqlx::query!("select * from (select (1) as id, 'Herp Derpinson' as name, cast(null as char) email) accounts")
+            .fetch_one(&mut conn)
+            .await?;
+
+    assert_eq!(account.id, 1);
+    assert_eq!(account.name, "Herp Derpinson");
+    // MySQL can tell us the nullability of expressions, ain't that cool
+    assert_eq!(account.email, None);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[sqlx_macros::test]
+async fn macro_select_from_cte_bind() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut conn = new::<MySql>().await?;
+    let account = sqlx::query!(
+        "select * from (select (1) as id, 'Herp Derpinson' as name) accounts where id = ?",
+        1i32
+    )
+    .fetch_one(&mut conn)
+    .await?;
+
+    println!("{:?}", account);
+    println!("{}: {}", account.id, account.name);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct RawAccount {
+    r#type: i32,
+    name: Option<String>,
+}
+
+#[sqlx_macros::test]
+async fn test_query_as_raw() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut conn = new::<MySql>().await?;
+
+    let account = sqlx::query_as!(
+        RawAccount,
+        "SELECT * from (select 1 as type, cast(null as char) as name) accounts"
+    )
+    .fetch_one(&mut conn)
+    .await?;
+
+    assert_eq!(account.name, None);
+    assert_eq!(account.r#type, 1);
+
+    println!("{:?}", account);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[sqlx_macros::test]
+async fn test_query_as_bool() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut conn = new::<MySql>().await?;
+
+    struct Article {
+        id: i32,
+        deleted: bool,
+    }
+
+    let article = sqlx::query_as_unchecked!(
+        Article,
+        "select * from (select 51 as id, true as deleted) articles"
+    )
+    .fetch_one(&mut conn)
+    .await?;
+
+    assert_eq!(51, article.id);
+    assert_eq!(true, article.deleted);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[sqlx_macros::test]
+async fn test_query_bytes() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut conn = new::<MySql>().await?;
+
+    let rec = sqlx::query!("SELECT X'01AF' as _1")
+        .fetch_one(&mut conn)
+        .await?;
+
+    assert_eq!(rec._1, &[0x01_u8, 0xAF_u8]);
+
+    Ok(())
+}