Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hayley Stafford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hayley , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful protect I’ve worked on would have to be my Demo album, “Grievances Of A Psych Patient”.
I wrote it over the course of 6 years, and released it in November 2025, because the material means the world to me and is something I’m very passionate about.
I have been abused in psychiatric treatment centers multiple times, from ages 13-23.
Most of my music is about mental health struggles and victories, and this album is about the experiences I’ve faced as someone who has endured psychiatric abuse.
The reason I release my music is to make people feel less alone in their own experiences with mental illness, spread awareness about the mental hospital, and hopefully change the way people react when they hear stories like this.
Hayley , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Hayley Stafford, and I’m a singer-songwriter from upstate, NY.
I’ve been writing songs since I was around 10 years old, and have always used it as an emotional outlet and safe haven from whatever struggles I was facing.
I had a traumatic childhood where I endured multiple forms of abuse, and found that art and music were ways to protect myself and form an identity outside of what was being done to me.
When I was 18, I was kicked out and became suicidal, and then ended up in a psych hospital in Saratoga Springs, NY.
I’d never been to this area before and had no contact with family or friends at this time.
It was a life changing experience that drove me to venture out on my own. I started living at a shelter in that area, and got my first job, bank account, and a whole new identity.
After a few years of this cycle of homelessness and going to the hospital, I decided to move to Saratoga Springs and start a music career.
I started going to open mics and building a community, and I met the love of my life and all of my closest friends this way.
Im 2023, I started booking gigs and branching out and playing my songs for more people.
Writing music has always been my life’s purpose, and it is what has kept me alive during my darkest moments. I want my music to reach into the darkest, loneliest corner of a persons heart, and turn a light on. My music is a survival guide for people who are going through what I’ve been through, and I can’t wait to record and release more of it.
This year I released 3 songs, one demo album, and two music videos. I was recently nominated for “Best Pop Artist” in the “Listen Up Awards”, and I’ve been on multiple radio stations, podcasts, and a four page article in “Metroland Now”newspaper.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission in not only my career, but in my life as a whole- is to spread awareness about mental illness, and comfort those who have been through what I’ve been through.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the alchemy of turning pain, frustration, heartache and loneliness into something tangible that can be used to connect with and relate to the people and world around you.
For example:
I tried to commit suicide when I was 16, I went to the hospital, I got abused there, I wrote songs about it, and 6 years later I performed the song at an open mic where a 16 year old girl rushed over to me, crying, hugged me and thanked me for being a voice for her and her friends who has just gone through the same thing that “no one else understands”.
No one can tell me that THAT isn’t magic. Art is truly the gift that never stops giving.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/hayleystaffordmusic
- Instagram: Hayley.moonbeam
- Youtube: hayleystaffordmusic
