Singer Haley Holgate- 2019 Will Be A Big Year

Haley Holgate is an aspiring musician based in Sydney. After featuring on Kendall King’s popular track Firebreather, Haley’s talent keeps going from strength to strength. Fresh from an overseas holiday, Haley discusses her life as a musician and what’s in the future for her music.

Bitten By The Performance Bug

The performing arts bug bit Haley from a young age. She started dancing when she was in preschool, which gave Haley her first taste of what it’s like to perform on stage. “I loved being on stage so much that in primary school, in year three or four, I did a performance of Don’t Rain On My Parade by Barbra Streisand in front of the entire school,” Haley says. She adds that people were surprised by her performance, which saw her strut down the aisle and co-ordinate her moves to her singing.

In high school, Haley found herself becoming interested in poetry, leading to songwriting. “It wasn’t very good at first. I drew a lot of inspiration from Mumford and Sons. They have really poetic lyrics which I loved”.

Nowadays, Haley draws inspiration from experiences.“Something might happen to me. In order to let up my emotions and process everything, it really helps to write about it,” Haley says. She also puts the same emotion into anything she sings, regardless of whether or not she wrote it.

Firebreather

Having recently featured on Kendall King’s Firebreather, Haley felt like it was an opportunity to test her drama skills through music. “It was cool to put myself in someone else’s shoes and create a character that’s going through something that I’ve never been through.”

The story of how the two met is one of chance. She was shooting photos for her new album. “Don, the photographer taking the photos, knows Kendall’s dad. Kendall found out about me from his dad and then looked up some of my music. He really liked my voice and my style,” Haley says.

Kendall visited her at the end of her photo shoot and they got to meet each other in person. “He played me the first demo of the song which is really different to how the final track sounds,” she says. Haley instantly fell in love with the both the beat and the lyrics. She knew that she could add what Kendall wanted to bring the song to life. Firebreather was a song that Kendall had written about a toxic relationship he had been in. Haley really encapsulated this in her vocals and telling of the story which created a catchy but honest song.

The One

Haley has recently recorded and filmed a video for a song called The One, which will be released shortly. The pop song is about finding that special person to spend the rest of your days with. It came about when a producer from South Africa came across Haley’s cover of Rihanna’s Diamonds.“He reached out to me with the backing track for that song. He had the track for awhile but hadn’t found anyone to do the song. I wrote lyrics to go with it,” Haley says. The One is just a small project and won’t be released on Spotify or Apply Music but will be great exposure for Haley when the film clip releases.

For the film clip, Haley was the director and her friend Will Hunt was the filmographer and editor. Not wanting to give too much away, the film clip has an artistic approach in terms of lighting and telling the story. It follows Haley as she meets up with a man who she thinks could be The One. It follows her through all the excitement and emotions as a result of this. The video is cleverly crafted, interesting and matches the song perfectly. You have to watch it though when it’s released to see how it ends.

Haley on Future EP and Gigs

Another project in the works for Haley is an EP which The One won’t appear on. At the moment, she is focusing on creating a single to be released early next year. She will then look to working on the bigger project. “I have songs written but I also have to save up to pay for studio time and make it all happen. I’m really looking forward to releasing it though,” she says.

Like most musicians, Haley performs gigs around Sydney to expose her talent and her music to the community. “At the moment, I mostly play covers but I do want to bring my own songs into them as well,” she says. “When you start out, it’s a lot easier to do songs people will know so you have to understand and be prepared for that. Once you get more gigs and experience, people get to know you more, so you can slip in your own songs.” Sydney is a cut-throat environment when it comes to gigs, so she is grateful to just be performing because there are so many musicians out there who struggle to have their music heard. This weekend she will be competing in the Busking Competition Finals in Narrabeen, a perfect way to finish the year. 

Sam Smith is one musician that has inspired Haley with her music and own performances. She loves his acoustic sound and the powerful meaning in his songs. “I’ve seen him perform live twice and he’s amazing. He is so good at connecting with an audience and I would love to connect with them like he does,” she says.

In the future, Haley wishes to be touring Australia and topping the charts. She is well on the way and the upcoming release of her music is something to look forward to. 2019 will be Haley's biggest year yet.

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