Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Morrissey.
Hi Haley, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Music has been attached to almost everything in my life.
In elementary school, I would come up with random songs about doing chores and I’d sing my math equations out loud while doing homework. I grew up in San Diego, California with keyboards and guitars always around, but I never thought much about playing music until I asked my dad to teach me Landslide by Fleetwood Mac on guitar when I was twelve.
The writing was also a passion of mine from a young age. In fourth grade, I wrote a forty-five-page book about a girl who turned into a mermaid. I know – I definitely peaked then. When I learned guitar, I began to combine my love for writing and music with songwriting: my go-to method of trying to make sense of everything that takes up space in my brain.
Writing original songs evolved into learning GarageBand on my iPad and producing those original songs with the satisfaction of knowing that no one would ever hear them. I’ve written and produced songs consistently since I was twelve years old, but it wasn’t until I was eighteen that I actually talked about or showed anyone my music.
I recently graduated from SCAD in June of 2022, and my time in Savannah has changed my entire life. I was surrounded by creative people driven by unique passions, an environment that inspired me to truly show what drives me the most: music.
I originally came to SCAD to pursue animation and compete on the tennis team (shoutout to SCAD tennis fam). Animation has always struck me as a medium with limitless potential to convey stories and emotions. However, when COVID hit during my sophomore year, it made me realize there is no time to waste when it comes to pursuing what you love.
Since then, I’ve released eighteen songs on major streaming platforms, scored live-action and animated films for talented directors, and collaborated with incredible musicians, songwriters, and engineers to produce all kinds of music. All in all, gratitude is an understatement for everything that has happened to lead me here – good and bad.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle I’ve faced is being vulnerable and sharing my music with other people. I never wanted to show anyone songs I’d written, produced, and performed until I was eighteen. I was terrified of people hearing me sing because I never thought I was a very good singer.
I didn’t think anyone would ever want to hear my music anyway because I was convinced it was only meaningful to me. On top of that, I thought I’d drop dead if anyone I’d ever written a song about actually listened to that song.
Over the past four years that I’ve been showing others my music, I’ve learned that my voice is unique because it comes from me, contributing to my own style of music. I’ve found that the thoughts and emotions that inspire my songs have also been experienced by other people, leading me to believe I have something worth sharing.
Lastly, I’ve decided that if someone figures out one of my songs are about them, they should be happy about it because their role in my life made an impact big enough to change the way I see the world and made me grow.
Learning to be vulnerable has been my greatest challenge, but it has opened up so many experiences, relationships, and conversations that have been fully worth the initial discomfort of letting people in.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a music producer, songwriter, and film composer, but not always in that order. I currently have a job at Bang Energy as a music producer which I am incredibly grateful for! At SCAD, I was known mainly for being a film composer because I had many opportunities to score student films.
Although, over the course of my senior year, I began seeking out more collaboration in music production and I got to work with other musicians on their original music, which turned me into more of a music producer at SCAD. To me, I believe I’ll always be a songwriter first because it’s my built-in method of dealing with the world.
I’m also a very visual person, so one thing that sets me apart is that sounds and colors are the same things in my mind. It’s funny because I absorbed a lot of music theory from my color theory and design classes, as well as learning timing, rhythm, consistency, and variation from my animation classes which I also applied to my music production and songwriting.
I’m most proud of the album I just released, titled “Call Me When You Wake Up,” because it consists of twelve songs that wrap up my entire college experience, creating some happy closure for that period of my life. It was my first project I pushed to be extremely collaborative with other students, friends, and professors.
I’m also proud of the album because I told a lot of people about it before I even began producing the songs, and I actually ended up following through with the entire thing just as I said I would.
Having my friends know about the project and always checking in with genuine excitement (which made me literally the happiest person in the world) really pushed me to keep grinding away at it despite my classwork, job, and other collaborative projects throughout senior year.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Covid ended up being a very pivotal period of time for me because I decided fully to change my path from animation to music.
With so many feelings of uncertainty, fear, and loss of control, the pandemic made me realize life is much more delicate than I gave it credit for, and I was forced to become a little more honest with myself about how I really wanted to spend the rest of it.
I found that I could achieve my desire of connecting with people more naturally through music than I could through animation, so I began shifting everything in my life to align with that. Covid definitely shook everything up, but I’m not sure I would have made the jump from animation to music so soon or at all if it hadn’t occurred.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.haleymorrissey.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleymariemusic/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTsHuWJHC4xyp4TFOzdp2og
- SoundCloud: https://www.flowcode.com/page/haleymariemusic
- Other: https://www.haleymariemusic.com/
Image Credits
Britain Botsford
