Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Halo before we even start. Doyou want me to wait to congratulate you
on your edma's or do it now? Because seven nominations I saw your post.
I think it's seven nominations. Ohmy god. Okay, there's obviously
Vocalists of the Year and Artists orFemale Artist of the Year, but then
(00:21):
also the ones for each song.I don't know why I didn't take that
in. I think I just sawit. I was like, oh,
that's quite cool, but like,wow, okay, how does that feel.
I mean, that's gotta be incredible. Yeah, it's quite amazing.
Really, it's so nice to besort of recognized as well. You know,
I hate to break it to you, but it's only downhill from here.
No, you might as well tostop now counting down the biggest dance
(01:00):
songs in the country. This isAmerica's Dance thirty. Heyla, Welcome back
to America's Dance thirty. Thank youfor having me, Thank you very much.
Congratulations on another smash with John Summitwith Shiver. It is such an
awesome song. Thank you so much. Like honestly, the reception has been
(01:23):
really nice as well. To seeI'm just so glad that it's finally out
in the world. So we've beenteasing it for some time now, Yeah,
a long time. Now. Ican't wait to talk about this song
and find out how it was born. But first, can we talk about
this journey that you have been on. Yeah, let's rewind a year,
(01:44):
two years. When was it thatwe first met in Vegas for EEDC Vegas?
Was that two years ago? Doyou know what? Yeah? It
was it was twenty Was it twentytwenty two? Yes? I think so.
Wow. First of all, timeneeds to slow down, so I
feel the same way, going soquick. So let's go back to that.
So that was you were there foredec Vegas to perform with Cascade and
(02:07):
Dead Mouse. Now was that yourfirst major festival performance? Yeah? It
was yeah, yeah, first everand that was quite an experience to have
that many people because it's a differentlevel in America compared to the UK as
well, by the way, onthe sort of dance level of festivals.
Yeah, it was incredible. Let'sput that aside, and let's put aside
(02:28):
all the festival performances that you've donesince. How has this journey been for
you personally? Do you know whatit's been amazing. It's been one of
those as well. I think sometimeswhen I don't know, I've had a
few pinch me moments, you know, when you kind of think, oh
my days, you know, youkind of imagine you obviously want to perform
in front of many people and things, and putting that aside, even just
(02:51):
being able to work with the peoplethat I've ended up working with, being
able to write in rooms with peoplelike that as well, and also have
my voice heard when I used tobe so shy. I honestly it used
to take me ages to feel comfortablein, you know, singing in front
of anybody. So the fact now, like if I was to tell myself
probably even maybe yeah, like Idon't know three four years ago that this
(03:14):
is kind of what would have happenedwithin this space of time, I think
I would have found it quite hardto combround. And I think I do
now still, you know, let'sgo back to that moment. So let's
go back to the moment, youknow, before the song was released with
K five. Is there anything thatyou would go back to that Hayley Williams
and warn her about. I thinkI don't know, a part of me
(03:38):
wants to say like probably mentally preparingmyself a bit more for things that I
don't, you know, anticipate,because you never know in life. I
mean it's a winding road, literally, isn't it. We never know what's
going to happen from one day tothe next most of the time. But
I think probably just allowing myself totrust myself a bit more, if that
makes sense, you know. Ithink like it's something that I've always really
(04:00):
wanted to be able to say thatI do in life, you know,
being a performer, being a singer, writer, doing that for like my
main core career. But I thinkaround the time before the KX five track
was written, I think it.I mean, obviously there's still uphill struggles,
but I think just kind of trustingthe process. I think maybe just
making myself believe that a bit more. Gotcha now? Complete side note.
(04:23):
Have you heard from Haley Williams ofParamore yet after our last chat? No?
Honestly, I think that we shoulddo a Shakira Beyonce moment. We
need to make this happen. Everybodyneeds to tag her in the videos,
you know, because it's so funny. It's like one of those things that
(04:45):
I like I think if we actuallymet in I mean, you know,
if you be one of those moments, wouldn't it would everybody be okay if
we actually were. I don't knowwhat was meant to happen. I gotta
tell you. So, there's anotherBrian Fink locally, and I met him
in our building and one of ourguys came to me and he's like,
hey, you need to come tothe performance theater really quick. There's somebody
(05:06):
I want you to meet. AndI met him, and it is the
weirdest thing because we're friends on Facebooknow and every time I see Brian Fink
pop up, it's the I'm like, I didn't post that. What the
heck is this? You kind oflike, did I have a moment now?
When you were dreaming of being asinger, songwriter artist? Was this
(05:30):
everything you dreamed of? I think, to be honest, it's kind of
exceeded my expectations. Really. That'sbecause I'm a classic kind of a sort
I mean, I was always internallydirt to dream, you know, like
I think it's I think it's areally good thing to do. But I
know that, like me personally,I'm always like, oh, maybe that's
(05:50):
like too far out of my remit, you know, I don't know.
I think the one thing I'm reallylooking forward to though, is having like
my own body of work. That'sdefinitely something that I'm I think when I've
managed to kind of get that alltogether, I'll be really yeah, I'll
have tipped the scales of what Ithought was possible in my room. Fully.
(06:13):
Well, we've talked about this.I thought Fall Again should have been
a huge smash. I mean,we were playing it on Evolution. It's
still such an amazing song. Ipersonally think it should have been bigger than
it was. But hey, that'sa side note. So honestly, thank
you so much for your support onthat, you know, because it was
a big moment for me to releasethe track after having the big collaborations just
(06:36):
solely on my own. So yeah, it really means a lot. Now
along these lines, you know,you've accomplished so much in a short amount
of time, the seven DMAs,performing at all the biggest festivals, working
with some of the biggest artists indance music. Is the only accomplishment that
you haven't fully accomplished yet, releasingyour own body of music, I think,
(07:00):
yeah, I mean there's people thatI still want to work with definitely,
you know. But for me personally, I think just having that body
of work, like I've I've alwayswritten for other people's projects, which I
absolutely love, you know, throughoutmy career, even before you know,
my Halo project was fully born,I've never really had like a like a
product, like a body of workof my just my own, you know,
(07:24):
And I think that's something for methat I've always kind of thought that
i'd love to have. I doactually want to press some vinyl. I
definitely want to do that. Yeah, you know, I just think it's
just kind of having that sort oflike physical thing to go, okay,
I've like really kind of put myselfinto this and it feels like it's actually
mine. That would be so incredible. Absolutely. Let's talk about this latest
(07:56):
smash with John Summit. How wasShiver born Shiver? It was when obviously
John came over to London, sowe were all together actually, which was
really nice to write this track.And I think it's also as well now
that you know, me and Johnhave obviously worked together quite a lot and
with friends, you know, it'sreally nice to actually be able to be
in the room and write tracks togetheractually like in physical form. But it
(08:20):
was. It was great and it'sone of those It's one of those tracks
I feel like again, you know, when you're writing something, you have
those moments where you feel like thisfeels really good and I think this is
gonna really kind of like be something, you know, So it was it
was nice to have the moments fromlike the you know, pure creation of
the track into like just the processof obviously when it was getting more produced
(08:43):
up and like then the way thatit is now. But yeah, I
just think it was really special tobe able to kind of be together and
create now. As you mentioned,you guys have been teasing it for a
long time. How long ago didyou guys work on it? Oh?
Oh, my day is I'm tryingto think when do we start using it?
So we started using it in thisDecember. I think, wasn't it
(09:05):
just before the BMO gig? AndI think was it around maybe sort of
May times something like that something likethat. No, was it before June?
It was definitely was summer. Ithink now you know when you kind
of like you've had because it's beenobviously we went forward and backward over it.
A few times to make sure itwas the correct you know, sort
(09:28):
of sound and style and everything likethat. But from the from the dates
when he was there, I thinkit was actually maybe June July. Wow,
A double check that. So yeah, it was around for some time
really now talking about going back andforth, as you know, something I
love finding out is how many differentv's there are of a song from when
you guys start working on it,all the tweaking that you do, to
(09:48):
when you finally put it out.Do you know what the final v was
of Shiver? I know you couldcount it on two hands. Well two
oh, I thought you're gonna sayone. Wow, now were there are
a lot of changes in the writingof it, not the production. In
the writing, I suppose there wasa flip of a verse. So initially
(10:11):
actually, and I'm sure this isall right to say, but initially the
first verse was actually the second verse. Oh wow. So it's sort of
after a while, you know,when you sort of have a story and
you know that the story kind ofmakes it makes sense either way around.
Really it kind of still says thesame sort of thing, but it's how
you set something up. And Ithink that when when we were going backwards
(10:31):
and forwards. That verse became verseone just to try it, you know,
just to sleep, and then inthe end it was kind of like
the it made more sense in theend, you know. So there was
that, and I think I thinkthere was probably more ad libs and things
like that that I added throughout,just to kind of like add a little
bit more texture, But as faras the main body of the actual track
(10:52):
goes, really apart from Apart fromthat, it was more kind of like
production to make sure that it hadlike biggest kind of sound that it could
possibly have, you know. Gotcha. Now, we talked about this when
Escape came out, But have youthought about putting out like piano versions of
all of these songs? Because personally, as a Halo fan, I think
(11:13):
I can speak for all the Halofans. I mean, your voice is
just so incredible. It would beso amazing stripped back just over piano.
I would absolutely love to do that. I mean, at the moment,
there was no sort of like fansin the pipeworks. But it's one of
those things that I just think I'vealways loved singing with like an organic instrument,
(11:35):
you know, be it piano,or guitar. You know, acoustic
sessions. I've always loved watching aswell, so I think if it's hopefully
I did. I did do somesessions for Defected Records last last summer,
I think, and they're only onYouTube at the moment, so they don't
exist anywhere. But I have beenasking questions, so I hope hopefully I'm
(11:58):
like, come, it is somethingi'd quite like to do that. Well,
that might be your body of workis piano versions of all of these
smashes that you have done. Oh, I really good, welcome. I
(12:20):
would love to do that, likean actual acoustic just piano album will be
I really really enjoy doing that becauseI gotta tell you the first I want
to say. One of the firsttimes I heard that being done was are
you familiar with BT with Brian Tranzo. Oh, I don't know if I
am, but I will I'll getmyself familiar on it. So check out
BT. He is an amazing producer. He is a genie, absolute genius.
(12:43):
And for Miami Music Week, Iwant to say, God, it
has to have been almost ten yearsago. He did like this orchestral full
breakdown of his songs and it wasjust incredible. It was in like an
auditorium. It was just amazing.And then of course Above and Beyond has
done it too, and it's sobrilliant when they do it. Yeah,
(13:03):
because I've seen a few of theirthings that they've done, you know,
from like past gigs, I've neverseen them in real life. That's They're
a bucket list gig for me.M Yeah, I know some of the
production looks absolutely amazing, so I'myeah, well I'll have a look at
BT though as well. Yeah,check them out. So congratulations on Shiver,
it is such an amazing song.Congratulations on the seven Edmas. If
(13:28):
you don't walk away with two ofthem, I am contesting the whole war
show. I am protesting down therewith a sign saying what is this crap?
If you don't win at least two? Oh thanks? So what is
next for Hala? So I actuallywe do have little bits of news.
(13:48):
I know that I will be releasingsome more of my own solo stuff this
year. Yeah, there's some stuffcoming, but then there may be a
few more collaborations potentially, and thenhopefully I'm going to get close to potential
release of an album either at theend of the year at the very start
(14:11):
of next year, because I thinkthat most of the work is there.
I'm just I'm basically what I'm it'sgood having a lot of material, right,
but it's kind of hard to figureout which ones are going to be
the ones to make the cut.So I'm kind of currently going through the
process and trying to make that athing. Well, let's hope that happens.
That would be absolutely amazing. Andthen you also have a show coming
(14:31):
up, Is it, Camden Coxthat you've got a show coming up with?
Yes, yes, I do.Yeah, So we've got tomorrow tomorrow.
Yeah, so tomorrow to celebrate partof International Women's Month. We're actually
going to be I think there's aboutseven of us all performing, and it's
also for a charity organization as well, so we're all going to go down
(14:54):
and I'm actually her special guest,So at the end of the night we'll
be performing where you are together.And I also maybe, yeah, maybe
I'll do one more as well,but you gotta wait for the crowd to
go one more song. I alwayslove that everyone's like it's such a fake
(15:18):
thing, like I'm just gonna gooff, well hala. It is always
awesome seeing you and chatting with you. Hopefully I'll be seeing you in Miami
as well for Miami Music Week.Congratulations on everything. Thank you so much
for your time with us on America'sDance thirty. Oh, thank you so
much for having me once again.It's love gread to see you America's Dance
(15:41):
Counting down the biggest dance songs inthe country from America's Dance thirty