Pop Singer Halston Dare drops first song in two years “Replace You” and shares inside scoop on the empowering and inspiring message behind “Replace You”.
So this is going to be your first release, video and song, in two years?
Yeah! It’s honestly a huge debut, and literally it’s so horrible. I’ve been promising my fan base music for literally an entire year; I’d be like “Yes I’m coming out with music next month!” “Yes I’m coming out with music next month!” and now I’m ACTUALLY coming out with music and everybody’s like “Finally! Holy Crap!”. When I released that “Replace You” was going to come out April 24th, that was like a month ago and they were like “Are you serious? Or are you playing with us again?” I’m like “No! I promise”.
You explained a bit about what inspired and motivated you to write the song, and the message you want to come across, is there anything you want to add to the inspiration and message behind it?
The message behind “Replace You” is basically just to remind you how much of a badass you are, how independent you are, and to know your self worth. I was going through a really hard time when I wrote “Replace You”. I was at a part in my relationship with my boyfriend and I just didn’t feel appreciated, heard, or wanted. There was one night where I felt I was begging for his attention and I literally stepped back and was like “What the hell are you doing?” and my best friend Laila “Halston, never chase a guy” and I was like “I know! What am I doing?”. Next day I go to the studio, I’m with Michelle, and I’m like “This kid needs to know that he is replaceable, and I can walk out at any second. If he thinks for two seconds that I’m going to chase after him when I literally give unconditional love, and unconditional effort, I do not deserve this.” And that’s where “Replace You” came from, and I’m really proud of it, and I just wanted it to be a badass song that makes somebody feel like they’re worth it.
You couldn’t live life and appreciate the beauty if you didn’t have hard times, so I’m very grateful for times like that, because if I wouldn’t have gone through that I wouldn’t have been able to write “Replace You”.
Did that experience or the process of writing Replace You motivate or inspire other music that you’re working on?
Everything is inspired by each other. My whole music that I’m coming out with is all story timelines; everything that I have written is something that I went through at that moment, within those days. I have not written anything that I didn’t feel, or didn’t experience, or didn’t want to talk about. “Replace You” was written the day after I felt like, what I blurbed about. I’ve got another song called “Is That So Wrong?” and it talks about “Is it so wrong to want to feel wanted?” and I wrote it a couple days after getting into an argument going “is that so wrong wanting to have attention? And wanting to be wanted and loved by somebody?”. So, I’m really proud of the story I have been able to create for all of my music, and “Replace You” is one of the strongest stories that I’ve been wanting to tell and I’m just really proud of everything.
I knew that when I started this whole process, almost a year ago, started in September, literally a week after I turned 20. I was like “I want to tell a story. I don’t want to be fake, I want to be transparent, and I literally want to tell a story, so that people can be a part of my life and my journey in this career and in my brand, and I feel like I executed it very well.
What was your favourite band or musician growing up and what was is about them or their music that spoke to you?
It went from Katy Perry literally being my idol, no offense to her I love her, she’s incredible, but it switched over as I got older to Julia Michaels. Julia Michaels just became literally my favourite thing in this entire world, and she’s incredible. I love her writing style, I love how transparent she is, I love how she talks about her issues with her mental illness, her depression and anxiety, and all of her relationship problems, and I really applaud her for that. When I saw her music coming out in high school and I saw how transparent she was and I was like “okay, I want to be that transparent.” Katy Perry, I just loved how weird she was, she was just so open and fun. I’ll never forget going to her concert, I think 2014 Prismatic Tour, was one of the most incredible experiences. That concert is what made me realize I want to be a performer. It was incredible, she was singing her birthday song and she was in a birthday suit, a weird cupcake weird outfit, she flew over the audience, and I’ll never forget being in the back of the arena with my mom and my godmother. Katy flew over the audience, she was probably 50 ft. away from me and I felt like I was inches away from touching her, I was crying my head off. I’ll never forget that, and I remember looking at that stage and being like “this is my future office, and nothings going to change that.”
Is there anything you’ve learned throughout your career that you’ve found to be particularly valuable in helping get you where you are now?
Sometimes, I don’t even think I give myself the best advice, but what I can say is that the one thing my first vocal coach ever told me. “Halston, do you want this? Do you want to be a singer? Do you want to be a performer? Do you want the world to hear you?” and I was like “Yes”, and he was like “ You want to know the one person that’s going to stop you from getting there?” And I remember being so shocked like “Who the hell could that be?” and he was like “You.” “Why me?” and he explained “ Nobody can tell you what you want to be, who you can be, where you’re going to be, but you. Never give up.” I’ll never forget that, because of that I’m taking control in my life, taking control over my career, who I want to be, what I want to sing, what I want to write, and look like, and live by that. And I hope that can inspire someone else having trouble with their career, and wondering if its worth it.
What is your Mantra?
I’ve got 3. About hard work, and about questioning – I’m a hard worker and I also overthink and I have anxiety that I struggle with. I have the mind of a racehorse and it bites me in the ass all the time.
The one that I live by, an old writers wife told me – I was really questionable about life, if I had made the right decision in my career, and she looked at me and told me “Halston, you did what you did the way you did it, at the time you did it for the reason you did it. Never question it.” I had a blown moment; I was like “ WHAT OMG that’s so cool!” so form now on, I’ve literally lived by that. I never questioned myself after decisions, choices that I’ve made, feelings that I’ve felt.
My dad grew up telling me that I’ve always had a positive mindset my whole life, and when I get negative I try to go back to being positive. My dad told me all the time “Halston, your attitude determine your altitude.” So I choose to look at life positively, and happily, not in a negative way.
He also got me this sign, it’s hung on my wall I’m literally looking at it as we speak, and it says, “opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” I will never, ever let that slip my mind because that relates to my career so much. When my career gets hard, I will never give up on it because that’s when it’s just about to get good.
You know the Devil Wears Prada? When Anne Hathaway’s character Andrea is like “ my personal life is falling apart” and Nigel: That’s what happens when you start doing well at work. Let me know when your entire life goes up in smoke, then it’s time for a promotion.” I’ll never forget that. When life is getting really hard for me, I know that something good is about to come out of it.
Check out “Replace You” Friday April 24th on all Streaming Platforms.