VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Singer-Songwriter Hayes Warner Answers Her Fans’ Burning Questions

Pop singer-songwriter Hayes Warner sat down to answer some of her fans’ burning questions in her new uInterview.

Warner, a New York native, is a rising pop star, who was named one of People’s Emerging Artists to Watch in 2023. A graduate of Northwestern University’s musical theatre program, Warner has composed music for Disney, Paramount, and Netflix, and has opened concerts for artists including Flo-Rida, the Neon Trees and Fetty Wap.

Asked by one fan what musical artists inspired her, Warner responded, “I’d say my biggest artistic influences are – I love women who have big energy on stage, so I’d say definitely Haley Williams from Paramore, I love Joan Jett, [Debbie Harry in] Blondie. Obviously, I have been loving everything Charlie XCX is doing right now, and just her whole career. I’d say definitely them.”

Warner reflected on navigating the ups and downs of the music industry and how she has grown through the process, answering another question. “I think really living in the moment has helped me a lot and being very present and just grateful for everything that’s happening, rather than making any comparisons to other people in music, or even planning too far ahead and trying to set like, very very long time goals,” she said. “I feel like as I’ve been present. It’s helped me be really grateful for everything that’s happening.”

She continued, “And you know, every few months, you kind of look at where you are and where you were, and it’s just a really surprising, exciting thing to see. But it’s a lot of steps forward and a lot of steps back, and I like to take it day by day.”

Prompted by a fan, Warner thought back on the easiest and hardest song to write.

“The easiest was ‘Shut Up.’ It was the first song that I wrote with people that I collaborate with all the time, and we wrote it in like, 30 minutes – it was crazy, we didn’t think that hard about it. It’s one of my favorites probably because of that,” she said. “The hardest song to write…I think ‘Predator,’ because I loved that song so much. I loved the hook, but we kept going back and forth with production and changing things, and you know, I kept rewriting the verses, and I just loved it so much, and I was so precious with it that I wanted to make it perfect.”

Finally, asked what album she could listen to for the rest of her life, Warner admitted, “See I’m a very obsessive person, so I’m thinking about what I’m obsessed with right now at the moment that I can’t stop listening to, and currently, I’m just in the Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ obsessive era of just listening to the album front to back over and over and over again. So that’s for right now, but ask me in a few weeks, and I’m sure my answer will have changed.”