When Daya first broke through in 2015 with “Hide Away,” she was 16, still figuring out who she was while the world decided for her. The song went platinum, the collaborations piled up — including a Grammy win for “Don’t Let Me Down” with The Chainsmokers — and suddenly she was everywhere. Then, just as suddenly, she wasn’t.
“After all that happened when I was super young, I think the most important thing for me was to make sure I was well mentally and personally,” she says. “I wanted to take time to just get to know myself more.”
Call it a soft disappearance or a strategic retreat, but the downtime was less about falling off and more about growing up — the kind of development pop stars rarely get to do privately. “I didn’t want other people to speak for me or write my songs for me,” she explains. “I knew that I didn’t know exactly what it was that I wanted yet, and I had to figure that out before diving back in.”
Now she’s back with “Bad Girl,” a sleek, night-driving electro-pop single that sounds like it was built for the kind of 2 a.m. freeway freedom she’s singing about. It’s also a statement of identity — personal, sexual, artistic — from an artist who’s finally steering her own car. “My first single, ‘First Time,’ was all about rebirth and my reintroduction as an artist,” she says. “‘Bad Girl’ continues that same wavelength, but through my sexuality and the discovery of that.”
That self-exploration comes with a new label home under hitmaker J Kash, who’s given her what she calls “the best possible scenario in terms of creative freedom.” She lights up when describing it: “It’s a smaller team, and that’s what I prefer. Everyone’s excited, everyone’s dedicated, and they’ve been so supportive of me taking risks — visually and sonically. It’s been amazing.”
Those risks are paying off. “Bad Girl” is pure pop with a pulse — a little darker, a little sweatier than her early hits, and unmistakably hers. The accompanying video dips into a surreal dream world inspired by Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. “I love David Lynch,” Daya gushes. “We wanted to capture that mysterious, ambiguous place that kind of exists but doesn’t exist — something that feels like a dream.”
In the clip, Daya drifts through a dusty desert landscape before finding herself in a smoky bar, stepping into new skin by the time she hits the runway in heels. “It explores me recognizing my sexuality and emerging as this fully realized person,” she says. “We wanted to take Lynch’s quirkiness and seductiveness and turn it into something really meaningful to me.”
It’s not just aesthetic play, though — Daya sees the act of performance as both art and therapy. “I think we need a little weird back in pop,” she laughs. “I could definitely be a vessel for weird pop. I volunteer myself.”
If “Bad Girl” signals her new phase, it’s one built on honesty, not reinvention. She’s quick to say she doesn’t overthink the line between vulnerability and visibility. “It didn’t really trip me up,” she says of writing about her sexuality. “I just wanted to be the most honest that I can be through my music. That’s what people connect to.”
Part of that confidence comes from comfort — not just in her own skin but in her collaborators. “Everyone on that song, I’d worked with before,” she says. “It wasn’t a big emotional hurdle. I wanted to write about this because it’s something I wanted out in the world. I’m not filtering myself just because I’m scared of what people might say.”
As for the rest of the record, she promises both light and dark. “It spans everything — self-isolation, depression, love, joy,” she says. “This year’s been crazy for everyone, mentally. I wanted to capture not just my best days, but everything in between my worst days.”
It’s been nearly a decade since Daya’s first hit, but “Bad Girl” makes her sound like a brand-new artist — sharper, freer, and maybe just a little dangerous. “I love pushing boundaries,” she says. “Not in a pretentious way, but in a way that keeps it interesting. I want to see what happens.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the video below.
