Pop Shop Podcast: Daya Talks ‘Emotional’ New Single & Working ‘Twice as Hard’ for Respect as a Songwriter

Keith Caulfield
·3 min read
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Welcome to the new episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, your one-stop-shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. In addition, you can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop.

Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield and Billboard editorial director Jason Lipshutz every week on the Pop Shop Podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in iTunes (click here to listen to the previous Tuesday’s edition of the show on Billboard.com).

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On the latest show, we welcome our special guest, Daya. The singer-songwriter is back with a new song, appropriately titled “New,” and a new record label, Interscope Records. The track comes after a busy two years for the artist, who has notched a trio of top 40-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award. In our chat, we discuss her new single and video, moving from a small indie label to Interscope, collaborating with the production team Stargate on the new single and how she works “twice as hard” for respect as a songwriter.

Now that “New” is out, Daya tells Billboard she’s “overwhelmed with the amount of positivity that’s come from it.” She says she feels like “everyone’s just embracing this new sound and kind of a new me.”

Considering that Daya likely has a large batch of new songs waiting in the wings, why was “New” the first track she wanted people to hear?

“I think it was the most strikingly emotional, from the start,” Daya says, “and I think that is just a very big contrast from the stuff that I’ve put out in the past….. It was just a good record to put out to show that I have grown emotionally in the past couple months.”

Daya co-wrote “New” (with Stargate, Sir Nolan, James Newman and Leland) and says that her writing contributions on the track “represents a lot of self-growth for me.”

“I’ve always been a songwriter,” the 18-year-old says, “but I think I’ve grown a lot of confidence in myself the past couple months.”

Speaking of confidence, Daya — who co-wrote her first Hot 100 hit, “Hideaway” — says that she’s experienced situations where she’s had to prove herself as a writer to more established collaborators who perhaps doubt her skills. She says that she’s gone into sessions with other writers and producers who “just assume I’m just this young girl who just doesn’t … have any ideas. Which is really dumb. It’s not how I would like to be treated.”

“So, I’ve put more pressure on myself to just force myself in these situations and just work even twice as hard as someone who maybe would be respected right off the bat. Just to be like, ‘Hey, I am a writer. I have these ideas. I should be respected as anyone else who’s in this session right now.’”

In addition to the chat with Daya, the Pop Shop team also dives into chart news about Post Malone reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100, rapper NF topping the Billboard 200 and how P!nk is heading for her second No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Plus, the Pop Shoppers discuss the American Music Award nominations, Ed Sheeran’s arm injury and Eminem’s gone-viral cypher on the BET Hip-Hop Awards.

Listen above and click here to subscribe/rate the Pop Shop Podcast on iTunes.

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