INTERVIEW // BRI NG SCHWARTZ
PHOTOGRAPHY // MALLORY TURNER
STYLING // RACHEL THORSON
HAIR + MAKEUP // KARLY KETELLE
STYLING ASSISTANT // LISA BRE PARKER
After almost a decade of singles, EPs and features, singer/songwriter Daya will release her sophomore album ‘Til Every Petal Drops, on October 10th. Having first stepped into the spotlight at just 16 years old with Sit Still, Look Pretty, Daya has taken her success with stride and at her own pace, prioritizing herself above industry expectations. ‘Til Every Petal Drops is, in many ways, an exploration of this growth, which we discussed at length in lieu of the album’s release.
‘Til Every Petal Drops is your first album in nine years. What is it like to return back to that sort of creative process?
I’ve done a lot of creative world building around my EPs and singles over the years, but building and putting together a 12 song LP feels like a new thing for me. I was 16 when I recorded my first album. I was so young, and under the creative direction of other people who were more experienced and older.
I’m on an independent label right now, and I basically executive produced this. It’s a collection of songs that I’ve written over the past two, three years. Ultimately, it feels like it’s really my baby. It feels exciting and very vulnerable.
How did the concept for the album come to be?
I went to Stockholm for a few writing trips to work with some people there, and that gave the project a new burst of inspiration. It renewed my love for making music. I don’t know if there’s just something in the water over there, or if I needed to get space from what was going on in LA for me. That really kickstarted the momentum of finishing. I realized that in a lot of it, there were so many narrative and thematic lines of just me growing up in LA and searching for connection. The relationships that I was in were very short term. Friendships too. It was really hard for me to find my people in LA for a long time.
There is that theme throughout the album of wanting to make something longer lasting, wanting to be fully vulnerable and seen with someone. So I think that’s Til’ Every Petal Drops. It sums up that sort of endurance and devotion to finding real intimate connections.
Are there any songs in particular you’re excited to perform live?
I’m very excited to perform the focus track of the album, which is called “Drift Away”. As we were writing it, it’s just one of those songs that you picture playing live. I love that song so much.
I love the visualizer for “Bandit”. What themes and imagery from the album felt important for you to convey through that?
My sister, who’s been helping a lot with creative, found this creator online called MADEULOOK© and we thought their animation videos were really cool. They’d been making these stop motion lyric videos, and I felt like the horses tied in with the theme of “Bandit”. It was this very classic action movie type of visual.
By the time this comes out, you will have performed The Away From Home festival. What you have planned for that set?
I will be performing “Bandit” and a few other singles that have been released from the album, and some new arrangements of the old stuff. It’s going to be a two piece band: drums and guitar. It’ll be a switch, but I used to perform with a band all the time, so it’s going to be back to the good old days.
Speaking of festivals, you were at Lollapalooza this year, making an appearance with Gryfinn for your song “Feel Good”. How did that experience feel for you?
I love Dan Gryffin. He is one of the oldest collaborators that I have. We released that song in 2017, so we’ve known each other for a long time, and I love the way that that song has evolved as we’ve played it live. I played it with him at Coachella shortly after it came out in 2017 too and that was amazing.
In addition to Gryffin, you’ve had a handful of collaborations, including The Chainsmokers, and others on the way. To you, what makes a good collaborator?
The special thing about collaborating is that you can take your style, they take theirs and you find where you meet in the middle. That blend is always really interesting, and I feel lucky that a lot of the collaborators that I’ve worked with either have just come to me with banger songs already and I’m like, this is a no brainer.
That was the case with “Don’t Let Me Down”. The song with Gryffin, I had written in LA a few years before he had heard it. It started off as a piano ballad, very stripped down just like me and the piano. Then he heard it and we got in the studio together. His production on it informed where we took other parts of the song. I think it’s just being open and being open-minded about where the song can go.
It’s been 10 years since “Hide Away”. How do you think you’ve grown as an artist in the past 10 years?
I’ve given myself the time and space to really step back from things. I was still making music, but not at the level of insanity that was happening when I first started. It was really good for me to take a step back and focus on my personal relationships, focus on myself, and really connect with what I wanted as an artist and not just what other people expected of me.
It was all amazing stuff, but I wasn’t as focused on what I wanted to create, what wasn’t being created and what I wanted to see more of. It really took getting in touch with that to get where I am now.
That came out when you were 16. In the past couple of years we’ve been having more conversations about young people breaking out into the industry. What would your advice be for young artists getting started?
It’s really tough because I am so grateful that that happened. I would not be at this place in my career if it hadn’t, but it also, I really wasn’t ready for a lot of that stuff. I was performing in arenas for radio shows, and I didn’t even have a sound person traveling with me. Thankfully, it worked out, but if you are going to do it at that age, have a good team of people around you. My mom was with me nonstop, 24/7. I could not have done any of it without her.
What else can we look forward to during this album rollout?
I’m really excited about the visuals. I was pretty hands-on with the music video for the focus track “Drift Away”. I think it’s my favorite video yet, and I just feel really excited for people to take that in and consume the whole body of work at once.
Daya’s artist journey is an inspiration to all of us who seek to achieve creative success on our own terms. Her journey of growth, both professional and personal, is on full display throughout ‘Til Every Petal Drops, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
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