It's occasions like this that make me really love my job! I got to sit down with rising country star Haley Mae Campbell and discuss all things music, life and more. Read on for Part 1 of our chat, including her upcoming trip to the UK for C2C Country 2 Country, going TikTok viral, soon-to-be-released music and more - enjoy!
Ciara’s Country (CC): Hi Haley, thank you so much for joining me!
Haley Mae Campbell (HMC): Thank you for having me, I'm so happy to be here!
CC: We’re speaking just ahead of your trip to the UK for the 10th annual C2C Country 2 Country music festival. How are you feeling about it?
HMC: I'm feeling fantastic. It's going to be my very first time in the UK, so I know it's going to be amazing. The 10th anniversary is so huge - I've been growing up in the country music industry and seeing my fellow peers and inspirations going over to C2C every single year, so it's really a dream come true to be joining the lineup myself this year.
CC: Country music continues to grow in the UK and we're always so excited to get artists like yourself coming over! Is there something in particular that you’re most excited about?
HMC: I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited about all the sightseeing, but I've definitely heard tales of UK country fans - I hear they're like nothing else! I'm really excited to get to meet some of my UK fans that I've never gotten a chance to play for before. I think it's going to be really magical.
CC: Of course this will be the first time a lot of UK fans will be seeing you live -what does a Hayley Mae Campbell live set look like?
HMC: For this round at C2C, I'll be coming over with my guitarist so we're going to have a really nice stripped-down, acoustic, heartfelt and intimate show as opposed to my full band thing where it's very fast and furious. I'm going to take advantage of performing some of the more storyteller songs that I don't always get to play in my full band show. I'm really looking forward to that.
CC: Will you be sharing inside scoops on how some of your songs came about?
HMC: Absolutely. I'm also going to be playing songs that no one else has ever heard before too...
CC: Keeping us in suspense, I like it! It's been a massive few years for you with songs like Never Been In Love, Growing Up and Ms Fire really helping to put you on the radar in the States and internationally. What have been some of your highlights over the past few years?
HMC: Well I recently got to put out one of my favourite songs this year already with my friends Presley and Taylor - a duet called Never Not A Good Time. It's a perfect party anthem and a real throwback to 2000s country, honky-tonking and having a good time! I love that song.
The past couple of years have been really crazy too. I managed to get my 15 minutes of TikTok fame with Never Been In Love and that song really seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Every time I share it on a different platform it seems to connect well with people. I learned that a lot of countries don't have TikTok but they have Instagram Reels, so when I posted the video on Instagram it went really wild with something like 40 million views! That's been such a highlight, continually seeing people connect with that song. It's so special.
CC: It’s great to see your songs do well commercially or go viral - is there one song of yours that you yourself really love?
HMC: I think that my favourite song to play live is Champagne Problem. It’s such a fun lighthearted song and it has such a joyful, genuine attitude. That one creeps up on me and it always makes its way onto the setlist, no matter even if we're playing just a couple originals with a few covers. It always sneaks its way in there. I think that one is my underdog favourite.
CC: With this being the 10th anniversary of C2C I think we’re definitely looking forward to those joyful, upbeat songs! Along with your already released songs, you teased that we might also be hearing some unreleased, new music too.
HMC: I'm actually going to be releasing a good bit of music this year, so I’ll be previewing some of that that a lot of other people haven't heard or won't hear until it comes out. You’ll be getting the exclusive sneak previews of those songs!
CC: I can’t wait! I’m also excited about the launch of your new EP 20 Something which comes out next month. What theme or message can we expect across that EP?
HMC: This is another project that I'm just so proud of. It's going to include a lot of the singles that I put out over the past two years including Never Been In Love. I consider it to be the next era after the Growing Up EP. We had Growing Up and now we have 20 Something, so we're just keeping along with this theme of life and growing up in this industry, figuring things out. That's the theme of the EP - there's love, there's heartbreak, a lot of upbeat tempo music, a lot of that good stuff! It’s great that it happened to align so perfectly with C2C, so it's going to be my last weekend performing before the project comes out. I'm really excited to play the songs that people won't have heard yet from me that are going to be on that EP.
CC: Each of these EPS is so representative of a distinct period of your life - is that something you can see yourself doing in the long run? Forty years down the line, the 60 Something EP?
HMC: Haha, everybody knows that Adele did it first! I started out with the Growing Up EP, and that just felt like the right name for that project. I wrote the title track with one of my all-time favourite songwriters, Liz Longley, and I really wanted to immortalise that song so I used that for the project title.
20 Something is the title track of this next EP, and that’s one of the songs on there. I actually wrote that song a couple of years ago and I've been saving it and saving it until the perfect time, and I think that’s now. I think I’m going to keep on going and see what fits. I'd be lying if I said I didn't already have an idea for what the next one is going to be, and I think that next project will probably round out this trilogy of Growing Up, 20 Something and what’s next.
CC: I hope we won’t have to wait too long for that next one!
HMC: Don't worry, it's not going to be too long, I'm not going to keep you waiting forever! It’s a project we’re working on this year so it’ll probably see the light of day next year.
We had so much more to say - stay tuned for Part 2 where we discuss country/pop covers, a Nashville day in the life, country stars to look out for, and her intense writing process. Follow @CiarasCountry to find out more!
No comments:
Post a Comment