Daya

But now she's back and she has a lot to say. Now twenty two, she's entering an exciting new chapter of her career. There's a new label, new songs, and a new single, bad Girl. She says the track is among her most personal to date, a direct reflection of her life's experiences. That sense of intimacy permeates her work in progress, an EP that's coming soon. Today, we're gonna hear more about her creative rebirth. I'm so happy to welcome Dya. Of course, I'm so excited to be here. It's so

great to talk to you. First things first, UNI track is called bad Girl. It's a very loaded phrase in our culture. But you're flipping the narrative with your song. Tell me a little bit about Yeah, So, I actually wanted this to kind of play off of personal experiences

I've had with the time. Loosely with the time, but more just kind of like that sort of stereotype which I think is projected onto women who are bold or as sort of or kind of you know, speak confidently and for what they want and don't really care about if it clashes with the what the people around them are saying or whatever. And I think that I, over time have been just when I was younger, I think when I was a teen, but also throughout my budding

adulthood too. I think I've been in situations where I've been more you know, like I don't want to do this, let's go in this direction, or just more as sort of in that way with my writing and with other aspects of my career. And I have been called a

problem child before. I've been called just other like miscellaneous like things that you would say, like about someone who is kind of like embodies that stereotype, I guess, um, who makes other people feel uncomfortable because of their like a sort of nous um and I feel like as a woman, we run into that so much in kind of like a male dominant culture, and the music world is definitely not it is definitely I would say is

would be included in that. And yeah, I think I think it was just about like flipping that on its head and being like, no, a bad girl isn't someone who did something bad. It's about someone who is not afraid to speak up for what they want and even if it means like clashing with what you know the people around them want for them. So yeah, it's kind of a way of reclaiming the termine term I guess. Awesome. Maybe in a lot of ways, it sounds like the

antithesis of your first album titles. It's still look Pretty. It's kind of like which I know obviously was was done in a in a in a sarcastic uh, but playing off that was funny to see the two together. Yeah. Yeah, I think it feels like messaging, like kind of a continuation of that. People pointed that out to me, and I feel like it definitely feels like I was trying to say similar things in both. Yeah, it's cool. I love the track. The song was co produced I believe,

and also co written with Charlie Pooth. What was it like working with him in the studio or was this during COVID or was this pre this was during COVID. Yeah, so this was we we actually wrote all together in the studio for one of the only person sessions I've had this year. And I think because of that, we just felt this like energy, this like this more like you know, we were all so excited to be back,

and it was there such a flow to it. And Charlie wasn't actually there that day, but Jay Cash, who is the owner of my label and my co writer, he wrote it when he was there. He wrote it with us, and just in that moment. The best thing about working in this kind of label structure is that with him being my the owner of my label and also my co writer, is that we can write anything and then a second after be like, okay, we're putting X and yeah, this is the next single. So we

decided in that moment. And then he's just really good friends with Charlie, so he sent it over to him, and Charlie loved it and he wanted to throw some production on it, and yeah, it's really cool. I love him. I love his music. He's so talented, so it's a it's a definitely cool thing that he wanted to do that an incredible track. How have you been feeling just

creatively in the last year. Obviously the last year during lockdown has been tough, But have you been feeling really productive creatively or has it been been sort of struggle to get your head into that space. Every day has been different, and the first few months, I didn't want to look at right. I didn't want to go in my studio. I didn't think about writing, I didn't want

to think about singing. I was just like, no, I need to sit in my bed and watch TV all day and not think about anything else happening in the world. So I did that, and then I feel like I got that out of my system, and I'm someone who just can't sit still really after well not to yeah play on my Yeah, I think I was just going to start crazy, and I wanted to get out and

start creating and writing more. So I built this like little makeshift studio in my house and started teaching myself how to produce, and I started writing on my own, which I haven't done in like four five years before everything kind of started for me professionally, and which is

really cool. And yeah, just just kind of like sitting with my thoughts and and I think that that was a really good thing to happen before this next era of releasing music, because I had just the most clarity and the most time to like, if this isn't the best reflection that I can do with myself right now, I don't know what will be because I have spent so much time on this stuff. So what is your

process for that? Is it something that that you do almost like a meditation practice practice or an exercise practice for you? Every day you're there and some days some days you're good, some days the muse comes and some days not. Or do you do you sort of only sit down when you have an idea already going in

your head. I feel like I definitely I don't try to force it because otherwise it feels like work, It feels like something I don't want to do, And then ultimately like I'll be more critical of myself, I'll be hard on myself, Like I'll just set up these boundaries in my head where I won't go certain places. But I feel like if I have an idea just out of nowhere. I'll tend to follow that and to just

lead me to wherever it goes. And I think that that's just like something that I found is the best way of writing for me personally, is because I just yeah, I feel like if I try to force it, it it just it never works out the way I wanted to. There's a video you shared, I think it was over the summer, captured relearning the guitar, and you were playing Blackbird, which was I think probably the first class Oh my god, I think that was the first song I learned on

guitar that I was ever really proud of. That was like, yeah, yeah, that was I thought it was a lot more advanced than I was. And then a lot of people were like, no, we all learned that as our first risk. So yeah, I I tried picking up the guitar. I used to play actually a lot when I was younger, just core, like more like UM chords, the same like four five six chords or something UM just when I would play shows like uptown from my house and like a little

coffee shop or whatever when I was younger. But yeah, I never I never really got into like finger picking or anything like that. So it's been fun. I've been trying to learn from YouTube. There's so many there's like such a world of tutorials and literally any any that you can never imagine is on there. So trying to pick it up again. Um, I tried to learn going

to California, but that's really that's a lot harder. So I'm trying to but who knows what It's just gonna be super Yeah, I'm never going to release anything that I've ever doing on the guitar. It's just more for me. I know. No one wants to hear that. Not at this point. Oh, I loved your version of Blackbird. I mean the Beatles, my you know, my everything, My responsible for every creative impulse I've ever had. Are there any

people like that in your life? Are there any musicians out there that made you want to want to be a musician? The Heroes? Yeah. When I was younger, my parents listened to a lot Atlanta's more Set. Actually the first cover that I did live. I was nine and I was in this like rock band that it was like a summer camp type thing, and we played at this bar right next right near my house, and um, ironic was like one of the first songs that I ever learned how to play. Um, I put on the

piano and I loved her. I loved Died Oh a lot. I really loved her tone and her her like grittiness.

I guess, I guess there's more like soulful, and then and Atlantis just kind of had that more like raw like gritty feel, and then Amy Winehouse was like, my my god, probably ultimately got into music more than anyone cannot ever anything like I still to this day, like constantly watching her perform, watching her like, yeah, listening to her early albums, I feel like she's someone who just you can always learn something like pick up something on.

Her music has been fun as an adult because as a kid, I feel like I loved just listening for fun of it obviously, but now it's like every little like riff and scat choice and everything is just it's so cool to listen to you now. So much is made of her her voice, which is just, you know, obviously one of a kind, and her phrasing is amazing. But I feel like I've been I've been discovering more recently. Her lyrics are just incredible. They're just raw and fearless,

and she just she really goes there. I mean, that's what I really love about her. I think that her lyrics were really what drew me in. I mean, yeah, her voice too. I feel like the combo of the two is just like it feels like you're in wherever she was making this, making the album with her. It's just so personal and so like prete flowing and just

flow of thought. Yeah, and it's it's really really cool because I feel like there's really not a lot of that out there that feels that that personal, so are vulnerable, so it's cool. This is probably a weird question, but would you consider yourself an old soul? I've heard that a lot before. Maybe I don't know, who knows. I haven't gotten into the phase where I'm like into like looking into a bunch of different religions and like reincarnation.

You're not getting your chart done, you're not getting your estrological get that up. But I feel like I feel like it's coming soon for me. But I feel like I definitely could believe in reincarnations if someone gave me a good explanation for it. But I don't know. Maybe I was an old lady in my past life, I lived to be like a hundreds something. I think that's one of the things I love about Amy As. I feel like I I pick up on that in her music,

and I also in yours too. I feel like that there's a lot of experience in the lyrics and it comes through in every every line that you say. And I sensed that in both of you. That's fine. Well, I ask thank you so much, thank you. I appreciate that's a huge honor. Thank you. Such a bizarre, transformative year, I suppose, is the most positive way I could put it. How did it change you as an artist or as a person? I think in so many ways. I think I would not be released in the type of music

that I am without it. I think, not in like not writing my songs about it, but just yeah, I think I've grown a lot as a person, and I have probably just like put things into perspective that I hadn't before, and also just realized the power of song and music and how it can touch people in times like this um and how it can be kind of

that like through line to connect people's experiences. Because I feel like I really had, like heavily relied on music to get me through quarantine, and I'm sure so many other people did, so Yeah, I just definitely realized like the weight and power that it holds and just made me more excited to get back into it and keep putting stuff out. And you took some time off from your music career before dropping first time last fall. What made you decide to take a bit of a breather.

I think this it was like a few years in the making. I feel like I, like two or three years ago, I like had this gut feeling of just wanting to just take more time to myself and live with myself and get to know myself and um get to know the artists that I want to be a little bit more clearly, and also just like live regular human experiences that I felt like all my friends were living in college and you know, going in and out

of relationships and friendships and everything. And I feel like I just definitely knew that for my development and for my music too, for my writing, it was crucial for me to have those years um too kind of just like funk up and do the wrong thing and explore and experiment, and um, I just I definitely like knew that that was something that I needed, um for development and for clarity as a songwriter too, um and for my artistry. So UM yeah, I was still I was

still like touring and releasing music and stuff. It was just kind of more. I definitely took more time for myself too. I tried to fit that in as much as possible. So I'm really happy that I did that. You said the first time is sort of more like a musical rebirth or reintroduction. These sort of hit the re restart button in a way. How How so for you? I think it was just the first song that I've released that I felt really really like a kind of

reflects where I was at the time. And I guess my whole journey of like taking time to myself and everything has been to get to a point where I feel like I am not holding anything back. I'm super honest with my music and it feels like me and I feel like with the early stuff it was, you know, it was just it was all rushed. It was all just kind of like made in this like whirlwind of

things happening. Hideaway started charting super early on, and I had this same team of writers that just got together and and helped write the rest of the album, and I'm really grateful for that, and I you know, I still have such like personal connections to a lot of

the songs released then. UM, but I also feel like I my gut feeling of me needing to take time was definitely be like partially because I felt like I wanted to, um, just be more in control of my writing and what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say and what I wanted to sound like and everything. So for me, the first time was really UM was really like the first time that I that I thought that UM so many puns in this interview, whow it. I saw the water in the in the

visuals for a very like you know, rebirth. What's the what's the word for like like baptismal? Yeah, yeah, it

was UM. Yeah. We we definitely wanted to to symbolize rebirth and kind of me falling into it in the beginning of music video and then me going throughout this journey, my subconscious kind of in the back of this truck, UM pretty much just like having no control over where it was going, and then UM gaining that control as I want, and then emerging at the ends out of the water as like a new person, a new really realized person, and Bad Girl kind of continues off of

that too with the visual UM because it's also kind of this like subconscious journey at the bar exists in this like dreamlike place that we really wanted to come across as UM like reflective of my subconscious at the time, UM just going through the process of discovering my sexuality, and UM, you know, I saw that girl and then I just like all these feelings and emotions started coming through me, and I, um, you see me in this like very kind of um the lights are crazy and

there's like five and it's just like this very like weird, mystical kind of dreamlike place where I'm trying to come to terms with my sexuality. And then at the end of it, I emerged its like fully realized, confident UM person and I'm like, I have like my dress on and my heels and I do this like runway performance because we really wanted to get that across of that like arc. So yeah, I think a lot of my

visuals I've tried. I've tried to carry the sort of like rebirth theme into UM for the past two releases. I guess, and well, I don't know, I don't I don't want to say anything about the other So that's coming up. But yeah, oh that was what I was going to ask him. What are you working on now? I know a lot of fans are wondering about what's next for your next album or I'm working on an

EP and I'm very excited it. It's gonna be bad Girl is gonna be on it, First Time is going to be on it, and a few other songs, and it just feels like the most confident and proudest I've been releasing music, and I just I want to release it tomorrow. I just I don't want to wait. I want everyone to hear it right now. I'm so excited. Are you able to say roughly when or soon? Yeah?

I feel like that's been a key word the past like two years, where it just like it really has no meaning anymore, just soon, But I'm telling you it has meaning. I'm telling you it does. It actually is coming very soon. Any surprises on it, any any new collaborations, any any surprising music choices or anything you're able to share.

I will say it's kind of a mixed bag of things that it's it does live in that dance the dance space with First Time and Bad Girl, and then it kind of carries over into this more intimate um stripped down. We have a stripped down kind of acoustic song, I'll give that away. We have some more kind of like alternative leaning, more rock leaning. It kind of plays with a bunch of different genres that I've been listening to myself. So yeah, I'm really excited and I think

hopefully we'll have something for everyone. Can't wait to check it out there. I was reading some inter of you gave recently. I'm trying to remember who it was with, but you were talking about how at some point in your in your career you want to experiment with scales outside of like Western modes, at Western modalities, how in like Eastern scales. It's it's so someday that would be a really interesting experiment with Yeah, yeah, I think. Well.

I So I have family in India and I've been once, and I grew up going to Indian brunch every Sunday in Pittsburgh, and I just loved watching Bollywood on because they would always play like these like full like future films on their screens while you're eating brunch, and I just loved like I was always just so mesmerized. I loved watching it, I loved listening to it. The scales are just something like they have notes that don't exist

in our scale um that they regularly use. And I think that that's just so cool and something that I would definitely definitely don't know the most about right now at this point in my life, but I want to and I want to hopefully implement that in their music at some point. Kind of dovetails into into my last question. We've been asking everybody if you could snap your fingers and have everything go back to whatever your definition of normal is, say, you know, pre COVID, pre everything. What

would be the first thing that you would do? Places you would go, people you'd hug, restaurants you'd eat at. Well, I guess a lot of those are opening now. I will be the first thing that that you would do. UM. I would probably travel, I would probably just get out. I feel like I would just go to like, I

don't know, I've been thinking. I've been thinking a lot about Tokyo recently, just randomly, and it's been one of it's always been one of my favorite cities, but I would love to travel and to maybe go to Tokyo also to hug my grandparents. I think that that that's something that I definitely haven't done in so long, and I want to do as soon as we all get vaccinated. Thank you so much for your Tom Davis. This is such a pleasure. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you

so much. It was great talking to you. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.