BY PANKHURI BHUTANI
PHOTO BY JOSHUA BURCH
She was only 12 when she decided to move to Nashville in order to build up a music career. Coming from a small town of Moville, Iowa, HAVEN was successful in proving her talent and passion for music to others. HAVEN began touring the nation by the age of 15 with talented country acts such as Thomas Rhett, Lady Antebellum, Toby Keith, and Hunter Hayes.
In November 2019, the talented HAVEN released her debut pop single titled “Swimming In Your Feelings,” which turned out to be a global success. The song instantly hit #6 on the Radio Disney Top Songs chart. The song also went viral on TikTok as the #SwimmingInYourFeelings challenge and led to her gaining 3.7 million views on the video sharing platform.
Following the success of her debut pop single, HAVEN released her new song in February 2020 titled, “Be With You”. Upon release, the song was listed on both the Radio Disney Top 10 Songs chart and Apple Music x Shazam’s “Recommended New Music” playlist.
Her latest single “Sad & Successful,” has already been a huge success. HAVEN will also be touring and opening for former Fifth Harmony member Dinah Jane and the talented Agnez Mo. Haven took out some time to talk to Unclear Magazine about her music roots and future plans in music!
Hello! Thank you for joining us at Unclear magazine. Kindly tell us something about yourself!
HAVEN: “Hey! I’m HAVEN! I write songs, love hugs, and eat ice cream for breakfast regularly.”
When was the moment you decided to start your journey as a music artist?
H: “Music was always something I loved, ever since I can remember. My mom took me to my first concert to see Shania Twain when I was four years old and I looked up at her and said, ‘I want to do that’. I’ve always had the dream of selling out stadiums. I bought a guitar with my birthday money when I was nine and started writing, but I didn’t start really pursuing music seriously until I was 12. I started fronting a band doing around 100 dates a year and traveling to Nashville to be in writing sessions every day. Then, I home-schooled all of high school so that I would be available to travel and pursue music as well. I lived in my band trailer at 15 with my mom, so I could have the ability to tour and write in Nashville. At around the age of 19, I started traveling to Los Angeles to write for this pop project. I feel like naturally I’ve always had the passion and dream to write and be an artist. It’s just been somethings that’s always been in me.”
Who do you consider to be the biggest source of inspiration?
H: “My biggest inspiration growing up was Shania Twain!”
If you could choose one emotion to describe your music, what might it be and why?
H: “Moody, I feel like most of my songs have a lil’ sass. I write whatever my mood is and that varies day by day [laughs].”
What was the idea behind your new single “Sad & Successful”? What message are you trying to convey through it?
H: “My latest single ‘Sad & Successful’ is probably the most personal song I’ve written and released. I was in a writing session in LA and my family was celebrating my dad’s birthday in Nashville, without me. They were sending me videos and I was feeling super homesick and just creatively drained. I remember just thinking is me being here in this studio worth being away from the people I love, like at the end of the day when I’m successful will all of this be worth it? The song just poured out of me. My producer was actually recording me watching the videos from my family, so at the end of the song you can hear my mom say, ‘We love you Kelsey,’ (which is my real name) and it’s just so special to me. Obviously, I love what I do, I love my team and LA so much, but sometimes you just have those moments of being homesick and I think we definitely captured that. It took a few hours to complete but months to finally release it. So, I’m so excited that it is finally out!!”
You’ll be joining the talented Dinah Jane for an upcoming tour. What are the things that you are looking forward to from that experience?
H: “I CANNOT WAIT to go on tour when it is safe!! I’m most looking forward to meeting everyone and getting to play all of this new music! I love performing and traveling!”
Lastly, what can the fans expect from your music in the future?
H: “LOTS OF IT! I’ll be releasing new music every six weeks this year, so there will be lots more on the way!”