Hala will be performing at the Habitat for the Thursday Night Mainstage 88.3FM WXOU Concert Series on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018.

So how would you describe your music?

“Singer-Songwriter. Because it’s all encompassing, It can be anything it wants to be, you know? It can be rock music, it can be R&B music, it can be soft music.”

So you’re just trying to get all the freedom you can in your songwriting?

“I’ve preached this at the beginning, and this is why I do all this stuff by myself, because I want it to be all in my control. I don’t want anybody to be breathing down my neck telling me what kind of music I should make, what kind of trends I should follow, ‘I should make a song like this.’ I don’t want any of that.”

Where’s the farthest you’ve traveled to do a show?

“Um, Brazil. And then the next closest was Miami. We did Miami over the summer, it was part of an east coast tour that was a month long. We were in Florida for basically a week and getting down to Miami, and, you know, Miami is wild. It was a weird show. Like, it felt like a different place than Florida. It was wild.”

That’s probably why Versace moved there. But how long have you been doing shows?

“I’ve been doing shows since I was probably 13, I think. But that was with another band. Under this name and this project, I’ve been doing it since I was 17.” 

What do you want people to get out of your music? Do you want people to enjoy it, or is there more?

“I’d like people to enjoy it, yeah. The one thing I’ve wanted since I was a little kid is I want to play a song that the whole world can sing. It doesn’t matter your political alignment, it doesn’t matter your life experiences. It doesn’t matter who you are. I want a song that everyone can get down to. And I’m still searching for that.” 

And what do you need for that?

“I don’t know. My music right now, I think, is my documentation to find that.”

And what kind of music do you sing to?

“I listen to a lot of music. Somebody told me once that I have an eclectic music taste. And I kinda like that idea. I guess I like a lot of ’60s rock. I like a lot of ’60s country music. I like a lot of ’70s. I like Danny Brown. I like a lot of music. I don’t really discriminate. When I listen to a song and I feel like it’s got the it factor, it’s a combination of things and when those things come together you can describe it in a million different ways but it has it.’”

And for the people who go to your show at OU, is there anything they should look out for?

“My line up right now, we’ve been mostly playing songs with a rock mentality. We just want to play loud and hard. So be on the lookout for that and no doubt it’s going to be a party.”

Playing alongside Hala is Austin Blicker on guitar, John Kick on the drums and Jake Lamont on bass guitar.