We’re happy to be prisoners trapped in Mikalyn’s painted world
Mikalyn Hay, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter, is making waves in the music industry with her compelling voice and storytelling. Defining herself in the category of alt-indie-pop, Mikalyn has developed a substantial following on streaming platforms with over 8,000monthly listeners and averaging half a million streams on her music. However, her current success did not happen overnight.
Mikalyn’s musical journey began at the age of five when her parents first introduced her to piano lessons, setting the stage for a lifelong passion. Her career as a songwriter was inspired by her childhood dreams of becoming both an author and a singer. Songwriting emerged as the perfect avenue for her dual aspirations, allowing her to craft narratives through melodies.
Mikalyn later joined the Guelph Youth Singers for several years, where she developed a profound appreciation for harmonies and vocal expression. Much of her music today includes influences from her choir experiences, producing many harmony-driven melodies.
Hailing from Guelph, Mikalyn emphasizes the supportive nature of the city’s artistic atmosphere. With its proximity to Toronto, Guelph offers a unique blend of small-town charm and access to larger musical platforms, including the renowned Hillside Festival and a vibrant folk community.
From the age of 11, Mikalyn started performing at shows and open mics around Guelph, where she found a supportive musical environment that fostered her love for the stage. She recounts her time spent performing at the Red Brick Cafe and how it became a crucial part of her musical journey in building her confidence in performing. She frequently revisits the cafe to perform, where she now does collaborations with fellow Guelph artist JC Cooper.
Some of her biggest and long-standing supporters are her parents. Since the start, her dad especially has helped her on every step of the way and made sure to be at almost every show.
“I can count on one hand how many shows he’s missed and when you’ve been performing since 11, I’d say that’s pretty good,” she said.
Mikalyn expressed how grateful she feels to have grown up with such supportive parents who have always believed in and pushed her to follow her dreams. Her friends have also been amazing supporters. She recalled many times when she found her songs on their daily playlists.
Mikalyn often finds herself drawing inspiration from many avenues, including books, life experiences, and friends’ stories. Her songwriting process usually involves starting with a broad concept and then delving into the chords on the piano or guitar.
“It always starts with some sort of gibberish – one word I fixate on,” Mikalyn explained.
By focusing on the melodies first, this allows her musical imagination and creativity to flow freely. In her collaborations, the process follows a more structured approach, focusing on what they want their story to be, and then trying to build the track from there.
Much of Mikalyn’s musical influence comes from some of her favourite artists as well, ranging from MARINA to Lana Del Rey to The Japanese House. Her dream collaboration is with MARINA, whose influence played a significant role in shaping her early sound.
Since her time spent at open mics in local cafes, Mikalyn has found herself moving to the big stages as her musical career continues to soar. Some of the coolest gigs she recounts have been opening for artists like Tyler Shaw and Alan Doyle at charity events like The Awesome Music Project.
“Charity gigs are my favourite. They’re always so inspiring and have such a good atmosphere,”she told The Ontarion.
Some of Mikalyn’s biggest accomplishments have been her streaming success and the collaborations she’s done, particularly work she did as part of a project in LA. The experience offered her a taste of how she wanted her life to look, lighting a fire under her and driving her to work even harder on attaining her dream.
Mikalyn recounted the moment the scale of her success started to sink in after seeing videos of people at a rave dancing to her voice.
“It’s hard to grasp that people were actually listening to my music,” she said. “It’s one thing when you see the streaming numbers online but to hear my voice playing at an event so casually was a surreal experience.”
Recently, while being back in school at Western University, Mikalyn has performed at venues such as London Music Hall and Rum Runners. Being a full-time student in her fourth year of university while pursuing this career has been difficult to balance.
“When you’re studying music and doing it for work, it can be hard to make sure you’re still finding time to enjoy it,” she said.
It wasn’t until this last year that Mikalyn really figured out how to make sure she was still finding time to play music for the pure enjoyment of it without the pressures of school or work.
Looking ahead, Mikalyn envisions a future where she can make music full-time, tour internationally, and continue creating with passionate musicians. Her upcoming EP, featuring indie and bedroom pop influences, is set to be released early this year.
In the meantime, Mikalyn’s recent release, titled “Never Mine” is available for listening. The song was inspired after she and her co-writer and producer Chris watched the show Twentysomethings: Austin.
“I originally went over to work but instead we binged the show,” she said.
The show made her reflect on her own relationships throughout university and the difficulty of “situationships” in today’s generation. Since its release, the song has already generated over 13,000 streams on Spotify and continues to grow.
For those eager to follow Mikalyn’s musical journey, her socials can be found @mikalynmusic, and her music is available on all streaming platforms.