From a young age Hailey Benedict fell in love with music and songwriting. She attended her first country music festival at ten years old and fell in love with every aspect of country music.
In 2016, Hailey and her sister went to a Keith Urban concert and ended up on stage! Keith asked Hailey what she wanted to be when she grew up and she answered with “a singer/songwriter,” which inspired Keith to hand Hailey a guitar.
“Next thing I knew I was playing an original song at Rogers Place in Edmonton in front of 20,000 people,” she said.
Hailey started songwriting at nine years old. She chose to sing a song she wrote in social studies class “Clean Slate” when Keith asked her to perform, which ended up being her very first single. The experience Keith gave Hailey inspired her to know that a career in music really is possible.
“I am forever grateful to Keith for the opportunity and it ignited a fire in me that this is what I want to do with the rest of my life,” said Hailey.
As a songwriter Hailey pulls inspiration from books, movies, and personal experiences.
“I have always been inspired by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran as songwriters who have both said that you have to continuously write and sometimes get through 100 bad songs before you get one good one,” she said.
Hailey Benedict already has many awards under her belt with being awarded 2022 CCMA Interactive Artist of the Year, 2022 Country Music Alberta Horizon Female Artist Of The Year, 2022 CCMA Rising Star nominee, and many more.
“I have been a part of the Alberta Country Music Association since I was 11 and everyone in the association have become family to me and I wouldn’t be where I am without their support, which means the world,” she said.
This past summer Hailey released her single “Damn You July,” which is about feelings of resentment after a breakup. The song can be for any loss of a person in your life and dealing with the feelings and memories afterwards.
Hailey recently released her first Christmas track “Freeze.” Although there are so many great Christmas songs out there she could cover, Hailey wanted to take on the challenge of writing her own.
“The whole song is about spending time with the people you love most around the holidays and for me my favourite part of Christmas every year isn’t the gifts but its the people all around me,” she said.
In the new year Hailey plans to continue writing new music and play live shows. Over the summer Hailey will be busy with many festivals including Big Valley Jamboree, Country Thunder, Rivers ‘n’ Roots Music Festival, and more!
Make sure to listen to her new Christmas song “Freeze” and stay tuned for more updates on Hailey’s music and upcoming shows!
Country's Local 