HAYLA Finds Light in the Dark

Ahead of her August 28 performance at Denver’s Ogden Theatre, HAYLA opens up about grief, creative freedom, finding herself through songwriting, and why sometimes you just have to cry at the club.

For years, HAYLA’s voice has been a familiar presence in dance music, appearing alongside some of the genre’s biggest artists and becoming instantly recognizable to listeners around the world. But with Dark, she steps into a different kind of spotlight.

Softer, heavier and more emotionally exposed, Dark is a departure from the world many listeners first encountered through songs like “Where Are You” and “In My Arms.” More than a stylistic experiment, however, the album is a snapshot of a difficult period in HAYLA’s life, one she never intended to turn into an album in the first place.

“I’ve been through an incredible loss, and I’m still grieving and going through it,” HAYLA says. “I genuinely didn’t anticipate writing this album.”

HAYLA entered songwriting sessions without a clear objective, treating them as a possible form of therapy rather than the beginning of a new record. There was no predetermined genre, sound or commercial plan. Instead, she was simply trying to reconnect with songwriting and, as she puts it, “find some joy somehow.”

Those sessions became something unexpected.

“Even though the subject matter’s really difficult, those sessions truly became moments of light in so much darkness,” she says.

That sense of nature became central to the album’s creative world. Rather than thinking about genre or what listeners might expect from her, HAYLA imagined the places where she wanted to scream these songs: the ocean, the mountains and the forest.

The result is music that feels expansive and elemental, even when its subject matter is intensely personal.

HAYLA describes herself as an extremely visual person, and that instinct influenced the way she approached the record. One particular inspiration came from Imogen Heap’s seven-minute epic “What Have You Done to Me,” which reminded her that songs don’t need to follow a predetermined set of rules.

“There’s no rule book,” she says. “It feels good. Go for that.”

That philosophy also meant allowing herself to make music that didn’t necessarily fit neatly into the expectations surrounding her previous work.

Initially, HAYLA admits, she was somewhat apprehensive about releasing Dark. She wondered whether listeners who discovered her through her dance collaborations would expect her to stay within that world.

Instead, the response has reinforced a lesson she was already beginning to learn: trust yourself.

“As I’m aging, I’m getting to know myself better,” she says. “I think that what it’s kind of made me realize about myself is that maybe I should trust my gut.”

Her songs about grief became a way of expressing things she wasn’t necessarily able to say aloud.

“The songs were saying things that I wasn’t saying out loud,” she explains.

That vulnerability has created an unexpected connection with listeners. HAYLA says she hopes people come away from the album feeling like they understand another side of her, but more importantly, she hopes they find something within the songs that belongs to them.

For her, music has always been about connection.

“I just hope that people feel like they’ve got to know another side of me,” she says. “And maybe also… I hope that they found something for themselves.”

That desire for connection extends beyond the music itself. HAYLA has discovered that her songs have found their way onto playlists centered around women’s empowerment something she hadn’t even realized until the conversation.

“I think when writing music, you kind of hope that somehow maybe people find a bit of catharsis and… togetherness,” she says. “Feel less alone.”

If her music can make someone feel seen or empowered, she considers that meaningful.

And judging by her experiences at shows, that sense of togetherness is already taking shape. HAYLA describes seeing audiences made up of people across different backgrounds and ages and feeling grateful that her music can bring them into the same room.

“I think if I can bring people together, just, yeah, I’m really honored,” she says.

The title Dark itself carries layers of meaning. Dusk and darkness had always represented a particular atmosphere she loved listening to music in. But as her life unfolded, the title took on a meaning she could never have anticipated.

“In a horrible twist of life and art imitating life,” she says, “I didn’t really realize that even before I kind of decided this album was going to be called this, that my life would be so dark.”

The title track became an embodiment of grief and absence, but also of the strange ways love can remain present after loss.

HAYLA describes feeling surrounded by warmth in her dreams and being surrounded by people. In that sense, Dark isn’t simply about darkness. It is about finding a small glimmer within it.

The record has also changed the way HAYLA thinks about her future. She doesn’t see Dark as a permanent departure from dance music, nor does she intend to abandon the sounds that brought her to this point. Instead, she sees everything as becoming part of the same musical identity.

“I think it’s gonna blend all of it,” she says.

If anything, the experience has given her more freedom. Writing Dark showed her that difficult subjects can be worth confronting publicly, particularly when music can provide a way into conversations that might otherwise be too painful to begin.

“It’s hard to talk about hard stuff, but it’s important to talk about hard stuff,” she says.

Whatever comes next, HAYLA expects some of Dark to remain with her. The darkness, the vulnerability and the lessons of the album have become part of who she is as an artist.

But she isn’t planning to stay in the shadows forever.

She can’t promise that what comes next will be happy.

But she can promise hope.

“Sometimes you go cry at the club.”

And perhaps that is the perfect place for HAYLA’s music to exist: somewhere between melancholy and movement, grief and release, darkness and light.

And for the most important question of the evening, “If you could be any kind of shark, what would you be?” 

“I would love to be a Whale Shark, because they’re quite cute and chill,” she says.