HAYLA Brings Her Heavenly Vocals to San Diego Pride

Singer songwriter from the dance EDM world, HAYLA, brought her angelic vocals and striking lyricism to San Diego Pride last weekend. She put on a phenomenal, powerful show, and we were lucky enough to chat with her after her set.

Listen SD: First of all, that was incredible, how do you feel after that show? How was the crowd?

HAYLA: It was amazing! It was incredible not only because of the energy, but because of the way the layout is, it’s on an incline, I could actually really see the crowd. It was incredible to be able to actually take everybody in. It was my first ever San Diego Pride! Really, it’s an honor to be here.

Listen SD: What does it mean to you to perform at pride?

HAYLA: It means absolutely everything, honestly its an honor to be at these events. Life in the community, it means so much to be here. It makes me emotional really. The love and community, its just such an amazing space.

Listen SD: You have a new album coming out, Dark, there’s three singles out already. I hear a new strings element that isn’t present in your first album Dusk. I was wondering about that, making that decision and how that feeling came about?

HAYLA: I’ve always loved orchestral music, I think the decision really was an organic one. I didn’t plan to make the music sound in the way it does now. I did one song maybe a year and a half before I wrote the rest of the body of work, which was really cinematic. It made me think, okay, that was really fun to play with style and genre but also space. I thought a lot about nature, writing this album. I thought about where I would like to hear this song, or maybe sing this song at the top of my lungs. I thought nature is such a healing space for everybody. When I approached this body of work, I was going through a really dark period in life, and I didn’t know if I had anything in me really. If I knew how to vocalize what I’d been through. It was loss, grief, failed potential relationships. All these stories I didn’t know how to tell ended up just falling out in a really natural way. The production, it was the easiest but most cathartic, authentic thing, it just came out the way that it did. I think the intention with strings added in, it sounds almost like, a big exhale out. I love strings, my first instrument was violin, I’ve always been so attracted to strings. The emotiveness of strings and what they can offer in music. It’s been really fun to play around with style and genre and space.

Listen SD: What inspires you outside of music, hobbies or interests that fulfill you and connect you back to yourself and in turn your writing?

HAYLA: Do you know what’s really funny? My hobby has become my job which is amazing, and totally not taking it for granted, but it took me a while to find a hobby again. I was like oh, so the thing I did for my therapy, which i still use for my therapy, but its now my job, so I view it slightly different. I started painting again. It’s nice, because it’s a creative endeavor but i don’t have to think. It allows me to switch off, but still be creative. I’ve been really enjoying it. I went to a painting class the other day, with people I didn’t know, which i was nervous about, but it was so fun. Apart from that I love cooking. Singing is always my therapy, when I’m on stage I feel the most myself. But yea, those two things have brought me a really nice headspace recently.

Listen SD: What are you most excited about for your upcoming tour? Is there a difference in production in terms of the newer music?

HAYLA: Interesting you ask that! I did a show in St. Pancras with a string quartet and a piano, and I would love to say that all of my tour is going to be like that, one day, hopefully. The production, I’ve worked with stage design, we’re changing up a bit, maybe some added elements in one of the shows. My show is going to consist of the collaborations that I’ve done, a lot of songs that I love from Dusk, and a few choice ones from Dark. I want to take people on a bit of a journey to get to know me. If they haven’t heard me before, I hope they know me a bit better when they leave, and people who have seen me before, know me better. We’ve worked really hard to make this journey of music weave together nicely. I’m visiting some places I’ve been before, and also some places I haven’t been to before. On a bus, as well. So hopefully I’ll get to see places a little more this time.

Listen SD: Do you like the tour life?

HAYLA: I actually fortunately love being on the plane. I love film, and I just sit there, and actually I’ve been reading a lot recently, another nice thing I’ve been doing for the mindset. I’ve always enjoyed traveling, I think its one of the best things you can do for yourself. So getting to do this as a job and be able to travel is amazing. I feel really blessed to be able to do this. I don’t know if I’m really ever processing it fully. If you’d asked me a couple of years ago even in 2020, if this would be my life I’d be like, “Really?”

Listen SD: How have you grown since your last album and how is that reflected in your upcoming work?

HAYLA: There’s two defining things. Dusk was written over three year period. It took me a while to get an album together, it was a mixture of songs I love, whereas Dark is definitely a significant period of my life. So rather than it being a collection of times, its kind of one specific time. It spans a few different subjects but its all in one. So this album was pretty much, nine of the songs were written and recorded and done over 8 weeks. And I didn’t know I was going to do that by the way. There was no time scale set. I suffered a huge loss and I’m still grieving. Through music, I’ve found it really helped me process it a bit more and heal a bit more. I didn’t expect to write what I was gonna write. Now, listening back to it I feel like I had to do that, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I wasn’t sure if i was going to have anything, I was kind of in an abyss. Dark is a specific pinpoint in time specifically, apart from two songs that I really love and they kind of resonate oddly with what I was going through.

Listen SD: What is the most meaningful part of being an artist to you?

HAYLA: When you see it resonate, when you see songs make people feel like they’re 1) not alone 2) heard 3) seen respected and protected. It always baffles me when I’m watching from stage, when I see people sing something back. I still can’t believe people know these words that I sang somewhere in somebody’s front room or a little studio in London or in notes on my phone. Apart from that, it’s the messages I get from people, and especially the new music I’ve released. The song Easier, the first grief song I put out, I’ve had so many messages. It’s made me realize how connective music can be in times of darkness. We go through so much hardship in life and it can be so isolating. I’ve always written, but it was never my project until my first single in 2020. I’m totally grateful for everybody who listens and follows this journey I’m on, music is so important. I’m starting to realize it more and more.