Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hayley Lewis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Hayley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I started writing songs at 15, but didn’t start performing any of it until I was 21. I was singing and performing, but it wasn’t until my parents urged me to record one of my songs from high school, “Summer Fling,” that I started to consider music as more than just a hobby or “side gig.”

One of our family friends knew some folks on the east coast from his time performing in his band Bad Sneakers back in the 70s, and when he heard my writing, he encouraged me relentlessly to record my songs with his buddies at their home studio in Phoenixville, PA.

I’m so glad I let him and my parents convince me to go for it. Bringing those songs to life brought with it even more healing than in writing the songs themselves. I still remember the magic of the studio experience – letting the imposter syndrome slip away while we carefully crafted each song on my first EP, “And There It Is.”

I look back on those moments now, and know that that version of me had no idea what we would come to be today, or what we are capable of next.

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?

I am a theater kid, choir dork, and a cappella nerd turned singer songwriter, performer, and recording artist.

My mom is a professional cellist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, so I was exposed to music quite literally from the get-go. I was always a creative kid, but it took a while for me to find my place in music. I’ve never really liked practicing, so I toggled through many instruments before I pursued singing.

Singing came the easiest to me — I could practice by singing along to my favorite songs, rather than feeling stifled by the technical classical music I was learning in my piano studies at the time. I had also found a home in the choir and musical theater programs at my school, and had started to get comfortable onstage. It was at this time in high school that I began writing songs on piano and ukulele.

My experiences in choir and theater gave me the confidence to keep singing and performing a part of my life when I moved out of state for college. Though I went to study Psychology (probably as a desperate attempt to understand myself and others) I auditioned as a freshman for one of the a cappella groups at my college and would go on to lead the group as music director and arranged most of our repertoire.

After recording my first EP during my last semester of college, with loving encouragement from friends and family, my post-grad plans became centered around establishing myself in the Minneapolis music scene. I started out singing covers and some of my originals with backing tracks at farmer’s markets (shout-out Keg & Case!), and I came to meet so many incredibly kind and talented musicians who are still dear friends and collaborators to this day.

I like to joke that writing music for me is a selfish endeavor, and to a certain point it is – I use writing to process my own life experiences. On the other hand, though, the reason I continue to write, record, and perform has far more to do with creating and living in community. If I can do one thing in this life, it would be to create a space for people to be heard and understood, and sharing my music has been a natural expression of that desire. Sitting in our shared experiences together is meditative and the key to true healing – if I can do that for even one person, I know I’m doing something right.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My debut album was set to release in April of 2020, with a release show on the books. Obviously this became very inopportune timing for reasons we’re unfortunately all very aware of. The release show was canceled, the album came out anyway, and I couldn’t help but feel defeated. Other projects of mine had opportunities that fell through, and I know I wasn’t the only one at that time questioning what I was going to do. It felt like the universe was begging me to quit.

All this time I had spent establishing my early performance career felt moot – the venues I loved were closing, and I had focused much of my endeavors on the live performance aspect of things. I moved back to my college town with my partner, got a job in my field screening people for psychological evaluations, and did a fair amount of wallowing in self-pity before I came back around to writing and collaborating again. If it hadn’t been for my friends and family’s support, I may have stopped performing altogether.

I can remember the shift in my mindset at that time. I had to reframe my catastrophic thinking, and get creative with how I could still engage with this important musical part of me – just not through the lens of live venue performing. I remember everyone having to get a little creative, and I spent many a night watching the live streams of my fellow local musicians as they did the only thing they could think to do during that time.

I also spent a fair amount of time on the internet during pandemic times, as many of us did, and found myself engaging more and more with the online music communities that were beginning to grow. Though physical distance proved to be a barrier to entry in terms of collaborating, I remember sending demos back and forth with my bandmates in the Violet Nines, and flying back to Minnesota to record vocals for the Cinematic Saints debut album – another project close to my heart. I am lucky to know so many incredible musicians in this space, and their passion, drive, and support fuels and inspires me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Since I started this journey, what stuck out the most to me was learning just how many people it takes to put a show or an album together. From far away, it can seem like it’s just one person behind a creative project, but I have found that collaborating with and uplifting other talented artists to build something from the ground up has been the most valuable. We all have so much to learn from each other, and need each other’s feedback to keep improving and making beautiful art.

Meeting all kinds of new people, building relationships with folks from the Twin Cities music community, and uplifting their stories and their art is when I feel like I’m filling my cup. I am grateful to call many of these folks my dear, close friends, and really value showing up for them at their events, or collaborating in the form of co-writing. I find it so important to include them in my discussions of my own successes, as well, since they have had such a direct hand in bringing my ideas to life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.corzinemusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corzinemusic
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/corzinemusic
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/corzinemusic6107
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hayley-r-lewis

Image Credits

Photos by Eric Melzer, Katy Kelly, and Lauren Hernandez