Briefly giving up ended up marking a new beginning for Tiffany Day. She decided to try on the electronic dance music of her youth and the post-Crystal Castles pop that was finding a footing among Gen Z. “I was journaling about it for months,” she says. “I always wanted to belong to a niche and [electronic music] felt like it was calling to me, but it terrified me what [fans and musicians in this genre] would think of me and my music.”
Anxiety morphed into drive as she decided to take the reins on her production. She worked alongside her producers — Jeff Melvin, Niles Forester, and Jack Hallenbeck — but didn’t hesitate to “do rather than explain” her ideas. “It was a continuous journey of feeling like I didn’t have the skills to [produce],” she says. “One day, I was just like, ‘I don’t need to keep telling myself that narrative.’ I just sent it.”
Whereas her music prior to HALO had a trying-this-out quality, the songs of her current era boast clear pop logic. Tracks like “SAME LA” and “START OVER” combine the adolescent angst of an Olivia Rodrigo ballad with the big-feeling sonics of EDM. Alongside the new sound, she adopted a more clearly defined look, part-skater, part-princess, and very online: slouching low-rise pants, an askew cap, over-ear headphones, and layers of colors and prints. She sparked some online attention via a viral On The Radar interview, where she performed with a big pink plushie backpack. “I just didn’t want to lose myself when I moved into this [darker electronic] niche,” Day says. “I’m naturally a happy, fun person. Performing with my plushie backpack felt so real and so genuinely me. Your artist project should be who you are, times 30.”