Being such an in-demand guest vocalist, Haley Reinhart doesn’t get to release new music as frequently as she would like. However, when you are a self-proclaimed “old soul” who grew up on classic rock, are you going to say no when the likes of The Doors’ Robby Krieger, Jeff Goldblum, and Red Clay Strays invite you to jam with them or go on the road with them?
For Reinhart, the answer is, of course, not. She has way too much fun playing with her heroes turned friends and admirers of hers. Because she is always in such high demand, it is a big deal for her fans when she finds the time to step fully into the spotlight and put her own music first, as she is doing now with the release of her new single, the gorgeous love song, “Promise.”
A beautiful straight-ahead ballad she co-wrote with her fiancé, Drew Dolan, the song is a promise of love, not just romantically, but to all living things, including pets, as Reinhart shows in the fun video co-starring her dog, Pepper. Hit Parader spoke at length with Reinhart about the song and much more.
Hit Parader: What did you sing at your sister’s wedding?
Haley Reinhart: I got to do “Moon River” with my dad for her hubby’s first dance with his mom. I also did “Can’t Help Falling in Love” naturally with my fiancé on piano. So, it was very family-oriented. I was also going to do a Beatles song, but I’m glad we’re saving it since “If I Fell” I want to use for me and my dad’s song since we’ve always played it together. So, I’m excited for that in the future.
HP: You didn’t do “Promise” though?
HR: No, we almost did, but she asked us, and I was like, “Oh, I might save it for mine.” At the end of the day, it would have been sweet, but truly, I just wanted to be everything I could for her, so I was maid of honor, and I just had a lot of tasks, and it was beautiful. I was so honored to have that role for her, so she kind of wanted it, but I was like, “Let’s just have this night, and like we’ll make it about me and my ‘Promise’ down the line at my wedding, that’s fine.”
HP: When you’re in your 20s, I’m sure you’ve had this experience as well. You have all these amazing moments that you think are just going to happen again and again because you have no perspective. Do you feel like you appreciate something like your sister’s wedding so much more, being there, singing at it, and doing all this? Because again, when you’re 22, you just don’t really have the perspective to understand that these kinds of special nights don’t happen all the time.
HR: Yeah, I totally hear what you’re saying. And I felt I’m just a super sensitive, empathic, very nostalgic girl. So even in my past, let’s say in my 20s or for one example performing with Slash and Miles Kennedy at Muhammad Ali’s 70th birthday at the MGM like there was that was the most one of the most star-studded nights where I just turned over my shoulder and there’s Chris Cornell and there’s Lenny Kravitz and Snoop standing next to me putting their arms over me, it was one of those nights. I’ve not really ever been the type to let it just roll past me. I get emotional, man. In those kinds of moments, I’ve always been the type of person who sees the future in the moment. I think that’s called “pre-nostalgia.” I’m not quite positive, but I feel already emotional knowing how monumental this moment is to me and that I need to be hyper vigilant, aware, present in the moment because it won’t be like this again. I’ve always been weird like that and missed things before they were gone. That’s just my weirdness.
HP: For your sister’s wedding, then, were you able to be in the moment and enjoy the experience?
HR: Yeah, I cried my ass off, but I was certainly present. Yeah, I think I found the balance at this stage of my life. So, I was able to fully enjoy it. And I think I’m going to remember it so vividly. It was such a classic wedding anyway, a day that we had waited for so long. There were so many Beatles in the lineup for us because we’re such Beatles freaks. It’s just so many precious moments.
HP: Obvious question, how much is “Promise” indicative of the rest of the album?
HR: Yeah, I think it’ll stick out on the record. But I’m already in the works of having some sister songs, as I like to call them. So that it has a pairing at least with another tune that is in the same vein. I always try to do that if it feels natural and right for me. I think there will definitely be something similar, but “Promise” will still probably stick out as truly the follow-up to “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” but an original take this time. I’m really excited to hopefully have it be another hit that’s a part of people’s love stories and their weddings, and their pets. Everybody loves their animals, so I just wanted this song to really speak to the full capacity of love and every angle of it.
HP: I love that your dog is in the video as well.
HR: Yes, she’s the starlet. We were up on that mountain somewhere in Woodland Hills freezing our tails off together, and we’re just like shivering trying to look normal, but she’s a little model girl. I love Pepper, and we love the red healer that we used to have; she passed away, and now we have our blue healer. The cattle dogs are just the best, so I’m so happy that she gets to be a part of the single and I get to showcase my love and devotion for her.
HP: You said she’s the starlet. But I also like your little Marilyn homage as well.
HR: Oh, thanks. You’re so good, Steve. Yeah, I just wanted to have another element of the studio. I’m so happy I got to do it there because I was really recording. So, what you’re seeing in the video is actually the takes that I’m doing for the most part at Larrabee Studios. That’s Manny Marroquin’s amazing studio attached to his awesome restaurant, Verse, where they do so many amazing live performances all the time. It felt very special. I wanted to add that classic feel, a la Marilyn Monroe, and just give a little bit of a nod with that dress.
HP: You have always been an old soul?
HR: Yeah, it just resonates with my soul so much. I’ve lived vicariously through my parents and their music my whole life. I obviously really do attribute that to growing up watching their bands perform all this music and just being hooked. My mom’s doing Grace Slick and Janis [Joplin] since I was just a baby going to these clubs, so I was just completely hooked from day one on this music. There’s so much feeling and emotion that just blasts through and crackles through those speakers; you cannot replicate that. I would hope and imagine it’s going to be put up on an even higher pedestal for artists and young people alike to just want to dive into even further and just be inspired by it. I’m inspired by it. I’ve taken as many tips as I can through those artists to remain as authentic as possible and as raw as possible, and to just put the paintbrush down after so long and not perfect every little thing. I’m a Virgo, I’d love to perfect every little thing, but it’s just not the way that rock and roll or soul music or jazz, any of it, should be at its core. It should just be true and real with feeling.
HP: Talk about the writing of “Promise” with Drew.
HR: Drew and I honestly did feel like we were channeling something that was just completely coming through us because we were also writing from afar. We’ve tried to write together in the same room, and we have so many fragments of material, but it took us to have more of a deadline in a way, and him being five hours north and me being on the road and then here back in L.A. to write it over the phone together and send each other bits of information. So, it’s this complete morphed duet of a writing experience, but we did it remotely, and I think it’s so cool. I think that we have found that we unlock something within our own partnership of writing now, where it’s just taught us an even cooler way to communicate, even though we’re not in the same room. So, if we could do that, I’m like, “Okay, I think we’ve got something here because it just came flowing out from both sides.” I hope we can just continue to do that over and over again.
Haley’s new song “Promise” is out now, via Reinhart Records
