HAYLA drops a preview of what to expect on her upcoming headlining tour.
- At the second last night of Calgary’s Badlands Festival, HAYLA, known to some as
“the voice of EDM”, captivated the audience with an array of EDM classics - sprinkling in
some of her darker new singles. She takes some time before her set to have a chat
about the lead up to her sophomore album DARK and its associated tour THE DARK
TOUR -
You wouldn’t expect HAYLA to be so soft spoken given her powerful vocals, but sitting
in her trailer drinking Throat Coat tea - “They don’t sell this back home…” she muses,
“have to load up while I’m here”- she’s sweet, kind, and quite happy to have a quick
chat about her upcoming plans, right before she takes the stage for her Calgary
Badlands set.
“Easier”, the third and latest single from DARK, that deals with grief and the aftermath
of loss, was almost like therapy for HAYLA. She says that “It just kind of spilt out”. Not
sure if she could still write, if anything would come out, or if she even had anything to
say, HAYLA scheduled recording sessions months after suffering a big loss to see
where she was at creatively. Just eight weeks later, she came out with DARK, a sharp
contrast from the time it took to complete her debut DUSK. “I’m really blessed to have
these amazing collaborations. But because of it, it took three years for me to do the first
album”. That, compiled with a schedule filled with live shows and the festival runs, never
really allowed for sufficient time in the booth. “We were just sort of around and about,
and were just never really in the studio long enough to create.”
Sensing an overarching theme, I ask HAYLA about the transition and connection
between her two albums. DUSK was created as a representation of the most magical
time of day and HAYLA’s favourite time to listen to music. Of DARK, she says it’s the
representation of being consumed by music, “There’s nothing else inhibiting your
listening experience.”
The creative process poured out of her for this album. Perhaps the aftermath of sitting
with grief for just long enough that it needs to be exorcised out. Perhaps the comfort of
working in sessions where she felt comfortable and safe enough to share and tells
stories about what she has been going on in her life. Or maybe it was not having the
pressure of having to make an album, that made this album so quick to come. When
HAYLA talks about the process she says “there was no pressure applied whatsoever.
And I think that really helped with me kind of not having to think okay I’ve got to write an
album because I didn’t know I was gonna do that.”
A veteran of live music, before she was known as HAYLA, she had worked in every sort
of avenue you can imagine a vocalist in - weddings, corporate events, even boats!
When we discuss concerts and gigs she speaks about the peacefulness she finds while
performing - “there’s kind of a calm that comes over me”, which seems ironic given the
energy she brings to her sets. Like when she plays “Where You Are”, her 2023 collab
with John Summit, the crowd loses it, there isn’t a hand that is not in the air, some with
phones and some to dance. We chat about how this wasn’t always the case with her.
Like a lot of artists, she’s an introvert and needs to take time to recharge on her own “I
used to be incredibly shy and I used to find it really hard to sing in front of people.”
When I ask if the dress and world-building she often talks about helps create this sort of
character who is comfortable on stage she tells me that’s she’s still definitely herself but
“she goes somewhere else.”
This stage presence is evident as soon as she walks out, making it immediately clear
we are in for something special. She was practically floating across the LED flooring
and had the crowd moving instantly to “Freefall”, the lead single from her debut album
DUSK, and “Shiver”, her second global hit with Summit. Halfway through the set, she
transitions into her newer softer and darker singles “Heal” and “Enough”, songs that
she is using to experiment with her audiences at the EDM festivals.
Now, almost 2 years after HAYLA’s first solo show, a sold out set at the Roxy Theatre in
LA, she is gearing up to embark on a new headlining tour. THE DARK TOUR is set to
kickoff on Aug 6th in Chicago. This is going to be her largest North American Tour yet,
17 stops in just under a month, mostly in America, with two stops in Canada. Openers
are yet to be announced, but HAYLA says we can expect to see some people she’s
worked with before. It might be a little different than what EDM festival goers have
come to expect but if Badlands was any indication, one thing’s for sure, it’s not a tour to
miss.
One of the best moments of the night was when HAYLA played “FADED”, a fun nod to
her being in Canada. “FADED” is her hit with Nelly Furtado, who is interestingly another
artist that has successfully transitioned in and out of the EDM world. Throughout the
high energy set, HAYLA still manages to slow things down enough to thank the crowd
and express her joy in returning to Calgary, before revving them up again with certified
bangers “Visions of You” and “Where Were You”.
She ended to a deafening crowd, with her Kx5 (the EDM supergroup made up of
deadmau5 and Kaskade) feature “Escape”, the song that would earn her a Grammy
nomination and would arguably be the single that changed her career trajectory.
———————-
A headlining solo tour is a little different than the festival run. HAYLA says that she is
still massively appreciative to audiences that come to the festival sets, after all
audiences are still spending their time and money to make it out. But it feels just a
touch different when it’s her own headlining show. “A bit more anticipation…people
really want to come and see, I’m incredibly grateful”. For THE DARK TOUR we can
expect a more intimate experience and more of HAYLA’s solo work.
This is less of a reinvention and more an evolution to the sonic work HAYLA has
crafted. Being an independent artist paired with a distribution deal that is very open to
what she wants to do has allowed freedom and space to experiment and create. ”I think
I would’ve found it quite hard if there was a sort of expectation on what I should be
doing. The most amazing thing about this sort of album/project/different body of work,
is I've been able to just really find what feels good and authentic.”
What does the future hold? Maybe more stripped back acoustic sets? Or even touring
with a string orchestra - something HAYLA has already dabbled in earlier this year “I
would love to do what I did in St. Pancras in London with the string quartet and piano.
… I think if I could tour that at some point in my life, that would be incredible for me.
Because I love strings…[the violin] was my first instrument when I was younger.”
DARK comes out July 31st, 2026.
Ticket to THE DARK TOUR are on sale now.
Listen to the new singles “ Easier ”, “ Enough ”, and “ Heal ” wherever you stream music.
Watch HAYLAs performance of “Easier” at Pancras Church here .
Gallery + Review written by Sara Zori
