NYC-based singer-songwriter Anna Hay is turning heartbreak into hook-filled catharsis with her latest single 'It’s All Good', a sharp, emotionally honest pop-rock release that balances vulnerability with undeniable energy. Inspired by the complicated experience of being in love with a best friend who falls for someone else, the track captures the disconnect between what we truly feel and the phrases we hide behind.
Sonically, it leans into the guitar-driven spirit of early 2000s pop-rock, drawing influence from artists like Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne and Paramore while still feeling fresh and personal. With meticulous production choices and an instinct for memorable songwriting, Anna Hay continues to carve out her own space in modern pop-rock.
So with the new single out now, we sat down with her to find out more about her origins and what has been inspiring her most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
I started taking piano lessons when I was almost eight years old - I like to say that piano was my first love. We have this beautiful old grand piano from around 1900 at home, so I was super excited to learn how to play it. I eventually got an electric piano because the room with the grand piano did not have heat and it got too cold in the winter to practice in there.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
My favorite genre as a kid was pop-rock. I think that in some ways my music taste has barely changed at all. It has certainly expanded, but I do still love a lot of the music that I grew up on. I discovered Taylor Swift around the age of 10 and she has been my favorite artist ever since. Avril Lavigne’s first album came out on the day of my second birthday and I always joke that it is one of the best birthday gifts I ever received. I do not remember a time when her music was not in the background. I feel so lucky that I grew up during Disney Channel’s prime era. Miley Cyrus while on Hannah Montana was probably one of my first musical role models. I can also clearly recall begging my mom to let me stay up longer so that I could watch the High School Musical free TV premiere. All the 2005-2010 Disney channel songs still do it for me, honestly.
What was the first album you remember owning?
When I was little, I would sell quinces and walnuts from our garden with my friends. The money we made was directly invested into CDs. My collection was pretty nice and it was super fun to share CDs with friends and listen to them together - especially when they had a CD that I loved but did not have myself yet. So many essential albums come to mind with this question, but I remember specifically getting a Barbie compilation CD called “Barbie Girls Vol 2”. It had a lot of 2005 hits on it - anything from Ashlee Simpson to JoJo and Gwen Stefani. I brought this CD to a Kindergarten party because I feared that they would play lame children's music. They did in fact do that and unfortunately I was not allowed to play my Barbie CD.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
I think that Thinking Of You by Katy Perry is a stunningly perfect song. It may just be the most enjoyable sad song of all time and is definitely Katy Perry’s best written song in my humble opinion. I love how raw and in some ways imperfect her performance is. I had a DVD from her MTV unplugged session that I used to watch a lot. This acoustic version of the song is so gorgeous. The fact that Thinking Of You is suddenly trending now has absolutely nothing to do with why I chose this song. This would have been my answer even if you asked me a decade ago. It was always one of my favorite songs on One Of The Boys which is a perfect album if you ask me.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
It happens differently every time. I can recall times when it only took me 20 minutes to write the entire song and other times when I had parts of a song done, but got stuck and left the idea to marinade over months until I finally returned back to the song. I think there is a fine line between sitting down with the intention of finishing an idea and forcing a song to come to life. One thing that tends to be the same for every song I write is that I am pretty set on what the arrangement and production is going to be. Then I make what I call “a shit demo” in my bedroom to sort my ideas out and be entirely prepared when I go to record everything, so I can work more efficiently.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
I have this category of my favorite artists who I call my holy trinity. That would be Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne and Paramore. They are constantly in rotation, no matter what is going on in my life. Lately, I have been listening to a lot of emo and pop-punk music. My favorite emo band at the moment is Hot Mulligan. Their album "You'll Be Fine” is currently going platinum in my AirPods. I have also found myself listening to a ton of All Time Low since I saw them live last Fall. I’ve been on a quest for more UK based artists as of the last few weeks. I’ve been enjoying Frightened Rabbit’s 2008 album a whole lot. Marit Larsen is a Norwegian artist who I have loved since I was ten years old. She just released this really beautiful EP called “Hver gang vi møtes”.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
It would be very fun to be in front of a crowd that has a lot in common with me in terms of music taste. I like to blend genres a lot. When I went to see Avril Lavigne on her Greatest Hits tour, I was amazed by all the different merch T-Shirts from all kinds of genres I saw in the audience. It felt like browsing through my own music library: I saw everything from Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini, to Simple Plan, Paramore and Sum-41. I wore a Limp Bizkit tank top the first time I saw her. If I let myself dream as big as I want to, I would of course want to open for my favorite artists: Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne or Paramore. This is reaching for the stars, but I would be grateful to open for anyone whose music I admire. I think LØLØ would be very fun to open for. Her new album is so catchy and fun!
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
I love that I get to make younger me proud. It is easy to get lost in perfecting everything and trying to fix problems in order to make the music sound as pro as possible on my budget, but then I have moments of clarity where I can hear everything for what it truly is. That is when I know my inner child is kicking her feet, twirling and headbanging. Another thing I love about this journey is that I am not alone in it. Beyond my family who is super supportive of my dreams, I also have fantastic friends, some of which I collaborate with creatively too. I like to think that this is not something I do to reach my personal goals, but rather an opportunity to create a community built on trust and a shared passion for music. Working in music professionally is so rewarding by nature, that I can honestly say that I am already living the dream even if I have not hit the numbers yet that I wish I would one day.
And what is the most frustrating part?
In order to maintain this, I have to complete a lot of side quests to make this career sustainable. I teach private voice, piano and guitar lessons on the side which I really enjoy. It has been rewarding in many ways, but of course the greater goal is to be able to shift my focus entirely to my own music career at some point. Touring, recording and writing non-stop. That would be so amazing if I could one day do this full-time. It occupies my mind like I am already doing it full-time when in reality I am splitting my time halfway between teaching and everything else.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
One of my favorite things that I have incorporated in my daily singing routine is using a straw to blow bubbles in water. I do all kinds of vocal exercises for technique every day, but the straw ones are very efficient and really target a lot of the very basics needed for great vocal stamina. This specific exercise is something I started doing after I was diagnosed with a one sided vocal paresis caused by my second Covid infection. I was terrified that my voice would never be the same again, but I actually came out way stronger than before thanks to my amazing ENT who set me up with a wonderful speech pathologist who gave me this 10 minute straw workout to do three times every day over the course of a few months. I think that there is a greater lesson in this: when you experience a setback, instead of focusing on the damage, you should try to find the opportunity to reconnect with what draws you to your art in the first place and build motivation to recover and improve based on that.
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Anna Hay's new single 'It's All Good' is out now. Check it out in the player below.