HAYLA - The Dark Tour
w/ Ella Rosa
September 3rd, 2026
The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, CA
Shot and Written By Story DeWeese
HAYLA brought The Dark Tour to San Francisco's Regency Ballroom in the penultimate stop of her North American tour, her second time playing the city. The crowd showed up dressed head to toe in black, matching HAYLA's own long, feathered black skirt and sheer black top.
Ella Rosa, a British singer with an opera background who's fallen for DJing, started off the evening. Her set blurred the line between DJ set and live show, and even got the crowd to sing along. At one point she told the audience, βI'm gonna DJ 'til I get bored, then I'm gonna sing again.β She switched between mixing music and showcasing her own songs. She even brought out her opera vocals backed by electronic beats as well as new work. The crowd roared at the uncommon, yet provoking sound.
Then HAYLA took the stage, and the room changed shape. Her voice carries a raw power similar to Adele's with a cathartic, full-hearted quality similar to that of Florence Welsh from Florence + The Machine. Yet one piece that makes HAYLAβs sound unique is that she weaves her incredibly strong vocals with electronic music that inspires movement and dance. Rather than a spotlight, HAYLA let colorful LED lights pulse from the sides of the stage, and between the lighting and the sea of black in the crowd, the whole room felt less like a concert hall and more like one cohesive mood, built together. Her set leaned heavily on her catalog of hits and features, including βWhere You Are,β βWithout You,β and βShiver,β three of her biggest features with Kx5 and John Summit with a few songs from her new album Dark woven in. During βEscape,β she invited fans to lift their βtorchesβ (phone flashlights) and sing the βwhat if I escapeβ hook, and later taught the room a melody and let them carry it themselves.
In conversation before the show, HAYLA discussed exactly what a night like this is supposed to feel like. βThere's somethingβ¦β she said, ββ¦about being in a space with everybody connecting to the one thing, hopefully making people from all different walks of life connect and be together, and be in a space where we're not isolated and alone, and hopefully feel some catharsis.β On stage, she didn't just deliver that: she built it live, in real time, out of the room itself. The crowd sang every lyric back at her, not like fans reciting a setlist but like people who'd made these songs part of their own anthems, and for the length of the set, a room full of strangers stopped being strangers and became part of something bigger than any one person in it, HAYLA included.
The handful of new songs from Dark carried a different weight. The new record came out of a period of profound personal loss, and by her own account, she never set out to write it. βThere was no pressure applied,β she said, βand I think if there had been, it wouldn't have been this.β Nothing about HAYLA on that stage felt performed for effect. She'd said, before walking out to the crowd, that βsometimes it's important to talk about the hard things,β instead of only showing the highlight reel, and that night she made good on it, turning her own grief into something a room full of strangers could sing.
That's the real gift here. Not just the vocal range, the lighting or the production, but the way she moved through it all, jumping, dancing, throwing her hands up, taking up every inch of the stage without apology, and making it feel like permission for everyone watching to do the same. βEverybody's superpower is their own individuality,β she'd said, βand it's so important that it gets shared.β Watching her fill the stage so fully and with so much joy, it was hard not to feel that same permission ripple through the crowd. That night didn't look like a woman performing her past struggles so much as a woman who had figured out how to hand a room full of strangers the exact same freedom she had found for herself.
If this night was any indication, HAYLA isn't slowing down anytime soon. Fans traded heart-hands with her from the floor until the set closed on that same gesture, passed back and forth between her and the room like a promise being renewed. She closed the night with plans to see everyone again soon, and in the interview below, she even mentioned that once this tour wraps, she's ready to start the next one.
Take a closer look at an exclusive conversation between HAYLA and Music Forever Magazineβs Story DeWeese below:
Story: Just to get started here, how's your day going? How are you doing?
HAYLA: Oh, really well. I mean, I'm kind of sad because this is the second-to-last night of my tour. It's funny because I feel like time has kind of slipped away. It feels like I've been out for ages, but also no time at all as well. So I'mβ¦really, really looking forward to tonight, but I'm also kind of sad that it's nearing its endβ¦good though, very good.
Yeah, for sure. So, you've been on the road basically traveling around and touring for a while now. What's that experience like?
It's been amazing! I think it's been about a month that we've been [traveling] around. I'm not sure if you saw my tour bus/house outside.
Oh, yeah. It's awesome.
Yeah, itβs been amazing. On days off and stuff we've been in hotels because obviously when we're in the same place, we don't need to stay on the bus. But it's been nice to just sort of wake up in a city. The bus driver is completely the other way around clockwise, sleeping in the day, driving at night. And we wake up in the next place. I've actually had a chance to see more of America and Canada because of driving, you know, and not just the airport. So apart from, obviously every venue has been incredible every single night. I find it hard to choose a favorite really, but I think the whole experience of being able to really take in the journey along the way has been amazing.
Yeah, that's awesome. Has anything kind of surprised you about tour so far?
I just think the speed at which it all ends up falling into place. I knew this was happening for some time, and I've worked with my incredible agents and also management and TM and people all the way acrossβ¦and there's so many people that come together to make a tour work. You talk about it for ages, how it's gonna go, how it's orchestrated. And I remember the day I was getting my flight from the UK, I was like, βhow is this happening now?β Because you know it's somewhere in the future, you can see it coming, and then suddenly it's like, βoh my gosh, how is it ending?β
But it's been amazing. I think I'd be happy to do another one straight away!
I love to hear that.
Yeah, 'cause I just love it. I think the more that I do performances, and the more places I'm at, some I've been to before, some I haven't, the more connection I realize everybody truly needs. Seeing that live, connecting with people, being in a space with live music, I just still think it's as special as it's ever been, and I just want to do it more, really.
Yeah, I wanted to ask you more about what it actually is like to be a performer. How did you even know you wanted to be a performer in the first place?
I mean, it took me many years. I was always a shy performer. I only sang in my bedroom, that was it, really. I went to uni and studied music and popular music and recording, doing music tech as well, and part of that course was getting into bands. So, I came from that background, I'd done multiple styles and genres of music, and it was never really "my" project. I never knew what my project would look like.
My first single came out in 2020, and I feel like it's landed in a place I feel really comfortable in, in the sense that I've always loved big vocals over tracks, and electronic music has always resonated with me alongside so many other genres. Quietly I always felt like maybe it was something I'd dare to do, and I never really knew when that moment would be. Being a backing vocalist in other people's bands, I was a wedding singer, I was the singer of a house band on a boat for like three years, I did corporate gigs, I've been a singing teacher. It's taken me a long time. I could show you my CV, honestly.
But I always felt calm on stage. After being scared in the first place, it then became like a calming, comfortable place to be. So, I don't know the moment precisely when I decided that's what I'd do, but it's a feeling I've chased, and an audience has kind of given me that. I feel like it found me and I found it.
Yeah, it sounds like you've definitely had a shift from feeling shy, maybe singing or creating music in your own bedroom, to now going on this amazing tour and performing for so many different audiences and cities.
It's kind of funny, because a couple of years ago, if you'd said I'd be doing this, I probably wouldn't have believed it.
Yeah, totally. So, do you think it's something about this togetherness, being in community, having the fans and the audience there and playing off that? What is it about performing and being in front of live audiences that's so special, so meaningful to you?
Music is so important because it brings people together. You can leave the day at the door and do something for yourself, you know? Whatever emotions you have that you want to release on the dance floor. I hope people feel lighter after a show, because personally, whenever I go to a show, I feel like I've let go of something I didn't even know I was holding. I think doing something for yourself, like going to watch live music can be so magical. I love it as a music fan myself. This year, my New Yearβs Resolution was actually to go to more live shows. I go on my own sometimes.
I just think there's something about being in a space with everybody connecting to the one thing, hopefully making people from all different walks of life connect and be together, and be in a space where we're not isolated and alone, and hopefully feel some catharsis.
Yes, definitely. I love that. We're able to share this one thing, whether it's an emotion or a feeling, all together.
Yeah, it's so beautiful. I think being out with people is so important, even though we're so interconnected now, but the way the internet is, I think there's something you can only really get by going to see it live. Getting out of the house, doing something for yourself, listening to music, being with people you don't know, and making friends. I just think it's really magical.
Yeah, it is magical that weβre all able to come together and experience this as one.
Yeah. And whether it's me or somebody else, I just think live music is so important for so many different facets of our life.
Yeah, I definitely agree. It's like such an easy, common language that we have, because it crosses over any actual language we might speak to each other in: it just brings everyone together.
Yeah, 100%. It's so important. Just going for it.
Yeah. So, tell me more about the process of writing your album. I know it's very different from some of your previous releases.
Yeah. So this album, I didn't anticipate writing at all, actually. I'd basically suffered a huge loss. I think it was one of those things where I didn't know if anything was working in my head. I wasn't sure if I had anything to give, you know? I was still going through the process of, okay, this could either be a really therapeutic, cathartic thing to do, or there might not even be anything I'm able to artistically create. But I got into a bunch of sessions, over the space of about eight weeks, with people I hadn't really worked with before, with no real thought about what it might be, literally just getting in to find the joy of writing again and connect. I was with some amazing people who were seriously like moments of light in all the darkness I was feeling. It gave me more than I realized.
Wow.
It was kind of like, after the eight weeks, I had two songs that were previously written, a year and a half ago maybe. One of them was quite cinematic, and I remember thinking that was so fun. I thought a lot about space and expanse, and where I'd like to sing these songs from. I thought a lot about nature. That was my leading thought, βI want to sing them on top of a mountain, into the ocean, in the forest.β I was listening to this amazing Imogen Heap song called βWhat Have You Done to Me,β which is a seven-minute epic if you haven't heard it. Itβs so different and undulating, and I just thought, βthere's no rulesβ¦Maybe I can just try to release something myself, emotionally.β
After the eight weeks, I said to my manager, βI think I've got something.β
He said, "What do you mean?"
And I was like, βI think you might have a coherent something, maybe a body of work, but I don't know.β There was no pressure applied, and I think if there [had been] pressure applied, it wouldn't have been this. It was something I didn't realize I needed.
Wow, that's so special and so powerful. You were able to create this beautiful body of work. And you have such a strong, beautiful, lovely voice. So thank you for being willing to share that with the world.
Aw, thank you! Yeah, thank you very much. It's one of those things, the amount of messages I've had from people that these songs have connected with, because sometimes it's important to talk about the hard things.
Yes, and so many people want to sort of push that down, or to only talk about the happy times, or what's posted on social media.
Yeah, the highlight reel of life.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, everybody at some time or another is gonna go through what I've gone through, and like I said, I didn't anticipate writing these songs. I truly think they've been a way of helping me heal too, and I hope anyone who listens to them needs that and finds it.
Yeah, well, thank you. I guess we all go through grief and experience it and express it in different ways. So what's it like for you to bring this together? You've written this beautiful, very emotional album, and then when you're actually performing these songs on stage, is that part of a healing journey for you? Is it difficult?
That's a good question. I think the first time I performed these songs was at St. Pancras Church. I did a performance there. It was with a quartet and my grand piano, and it was the first time I performed these songs live. It was just before the album released. My family, who also suffered the same loss as me, were there. I don't think they'd actually heard the songs before either. I remember looking out into the audience and having moments where you know you feel that lump in your throat. I'm kind of good at feeling the emotion and being authentic with it enough not to tip over the edge, but I was very close that day. Sometimes when I think about what the songs are actually about, and who they're about, I feel it quite a lot. But I've gotten quite good at not compartmentalizing it, just giving myself enough of a window to get through it. It's changing the more I tour it, because I'm seeing other people sing along, which makes me feel like, βhow do you even know this?β So there's something in having it be perceived by others too, it's funny.
Yeah, and it's that shared emotion, that shared experience. You're able to bring up these hard moments and people can actually connect with that. It's not the highlight reel. You're able to be real with us.
Yeah, it's been such an interesting journey. I've got one more song I'm gonna add to tomorrow night's setlist. Iβm afraid I'm not doing it tonight, but that one's gonna be really hard to sing again, I think. I've thoroughly enjoyed singing these songs live.
Well, that's amazing.
Thanks. Thank you so much.
Is there anything you wish other people would ask you: a question or a topic you wish people knew about?
I'm always really bad at knowing what might be interesting about myself. I'm quite an open book. But I don't know, just the amount of jobs I've had in my life, it's taken me a long time to get to a point where I can gratefully say I'm doing this as a career, which I never in a million years really thought would happen. I quietly wished for it, but I've been a gymnastics coach, a toilet cleaner, a waitress, Iβve worked in retail, Iβve been a security guard. I've had nearly every single job you could have. The one thing that always had this spark of joy for me was singing, and I think the scales just tipped somehow, in small increments.
I don't know, somehow I ended up here. So, for anyone aspiring to be an artist or a musician: follow that thread.
That's beautiful.
Yeah.
I guess, going off of that, what advice would you give to a younger version of yourself who's interested in pursuing this kind of career but doesn't know where to get started?
I've always said, βSay yes to the good things. You'll feel it when they're right. Trust your gut, it's massively important. Find your community, too.β Like-minded people who are also looking into doing artistic, amazing things. But the most important thing about everybody is themselves. Everybody's superpower is their own individuality, and it's so important that it gets shared.
That's so beautiful. Yeah, it's true.
I know so many incredible musicians over the years, and I'm like, βjust being yourself, even though it feels scary and exposing.β That is the most magical thing about everybody.
Yeah. Because if we were all the same, then what would be the point, right? It's our differences that make us special.
Massively! Go forward and believe in yourself. Yeah, I love that mentality.
Thank you so much for chatting and answering these questions!
Thank you!
