Sales was born into an incredibly artistic family; her mother being a dancer and writer, her father a musician and sound engineer (Miles Davis, The Grateful Dead and The Ramones), who operated GlassWing Studios out of the basement of their Washington D.C home. “I was surrounded by music at all hours of the day. All types of music. I remember the melodies and beats actually rattling the floorboards. My childhood had a soundtrack filled up with everything from R&B and Jazz to Rock and Americana.” For many recording sessions, Sales would even allowed to sit in and watch the recording process.
The family relocated to Portland, Oregon when Sales was four and within several months, Sales began playing piano and participating in local musical theatre productions. At the age of five, something happened that altered her life indefinitely. “My friend was playing a tape of Judy Garland singing ‘Get Happy.’ I can’t explain it, but I was captivated, I was in love…Maybe obsessed. I couldn’t stop listening. I made my friend play the song over and over and over again till finally she just gave me the cassette. I went home that night and listened ten more times.” Sales learned to sing by studying the voices of all the powerful female vocalists during the 1940's and 50's.
Before reaching sixth grade, she had begun composing and performed in over one hundred plays and productions. By middle school, Sales was accepted into the private performing arts school, The Northwest Academy, where she studied both classical and jazz music, writing, acting, dance and film-making. She continued to study until graduating two years early, with honors at sixteen. To this day, Sales continues to take online university courses.
Following graduation, her family moved again, this time to an organic blueberry farm located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. “I thought my life was over,” Sales laughs. “I went from a cutting edge, urban arts school to a farm on island floating off the coast of Canada.” The dramatic shift, however, proved to be beneficial. “I spent every second of the day learning the technical side of music in the studio or sitting in my bedroom at my piano writing songs. Art was all that I had. Besides solitude.”
Within a half of year of being on the island, Sales landed a lead role in a teen horror film, leading to a move down to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting shortly after turning seventeen. The move ended abruptly when a bout of acid reflux caused her lose her voice. “For over a year, I could barely talk. It was the hardest year of my life. Everything that I had identified with was gone. I was speechless. Literally,” she recalls.
When her voice finally returned, Sales quickly returned into the studio and recorded a full length demo which she released on her own record label Drifter Records. In 2006, Sales signed with Universal Music Canada. Her first album Sunseed, was released in 2007, with singles ‘What You Want’ and ‘Keep Drivin’ landing in the Canadian Top 40 and on the charts in Japan. Sales' mesmerizing, sultry vocals and infectious melodies caught on instantly. In 2008, she won Best Mainstream Artist at The Canadian Radio Music Awards. Her sophomore album, featuring guest appearances by G Love and Donavon Frankenreiter, When the Bird Became A Book, was released in 2012. The music video for ‘Just Pretend, directed by Josh Forbes (Sarah Bareilles, The Fray) generating over five million views in three weeks following its release.
Since the international release of her last record, Sales has been hard at work touring, writing on a new collection of songs, and recently guest starring on the TV show CEDAR COVE (Hallmark USA) in the role of “Shelley.” She splits her time between Vancouver B.C and Los Angeles CA. Recently, Sales teamed up with Pledge Music to fan-fund the recording of her next album which she plans to record early next year. The highly anticipated album is set to be release Fall 2014.
“I am incredibly excited about this next album,” she says. “Over the past couple years, I have become re-enchanted with my earliest musical influences, appreciating what they have to offer even more now than when I first listened – Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, the list goes on. What came out of those women was angelic yet human, joyful but not ignorant of life’s sadness. I want to bring the same authenticity to the next album, mixing together the sounds of vintage soul with contemporary pop.”
Wished You Were Here
Hayley Sales Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I went outside
Lay down in the middle of the road
Closed tight my eyes wondering just how it would feel
To fly when I die and I
Slowly drifted out
Of my body up into the clouds
And I started to wonder what I'd miss
And I
Wished you were here
I wished you were here
I wished you were here
Cause I just don't think I'll ever get over you
Well the night shifted hues as
I counted stars the way you taught me to
Shuffling through all of the faces
And the places in my life and I just
Kept on sinking in
Till I fell out of my skin plop
I tumbled into some kind of altered point of view
Where I could see clearly what I need
And I
Wished you were here
I wished you were here
I wished you were here
Cause I just don't think I'll ever
I could wait for you forever
Cause I just don't think I'll ever get over you
Over you
The song "Wished You Were Here" by Hayley Sales begins with the singer finding herself lying in the middle of a road during a rainstorm. She closes her eyes and wonders how it would feel to fly when she dies. As she slowly drifts out of her body and into the clouds, she looks back on her life and starts to wonder what she would miss. In that moment, she wishes the person she's singing to was there with her. She repeats this wish throughout the chorus, emphasizing her inability to get over this person.
The second verse sees the singer counting stars, something this person taught her how to do. She shuffles through the faces and places in her life, but she keeps sinking in. She falls out of her skin and tumbles into an altered point of view where she can see clearly what she needs. Once again, she wishes this person was there with her because she doesn't think she'll ever get over them.
The song is deeply emotional and speaks to the sense of loss and longing that people can feel after a relationship ends. It captures the idea that sometimes the only way to let go of something is to wish, hope, or dream that it will come back to you. The "flying" motif in the first verse imbues the song with a sense of escapism and the desire to transcend pain.
Line by Line Meaning
It rained
The singer experienced a rainy day
I went outside
The singer left their indoor space
Lay down in the middle of the road
The singer physically laid down in a public space
Closed tight my eyes, wondering just how it would feel
The artist closed their eyes to imagine a scenario
To fly when I die and I
The artist considered the sensation of flying during death
Slowly drifted out
The singer experienced an out-of-body sensation
Of my body up into the clouds
The singer felt as if they ascended into the sky
Where I looked back down on all that I was
The artist reflected on their past self from a new perspective
And I started to wonder what I'd miss
The artist contemplated what they would lose or leave behind
And I wished you were here
The artist desired the presence of someone specific
Cause I just don't think I'll ever get over you
The singer is struggling to move on from an individual
Well the night shifted hues as
The environment around the artist changed
I counted stars the way you taught me to
The singer thought of someone who taught them a specific skill or memory
Shuffling through all of the faces
The singer sifted through various memories of people
And the places in my life and I just kept on sinking in
The singer continued to reflect on their past experiences and emotions
Till I fell out of my skin plop
The artist had a sensation of separation from their physical self
I tumbled into some kind of altered point of view
The artist's perspective drastically shifted
Where I could see clearly what I need
The singer gained clarity on their wants or desires
And I wished you were here
The singer desired the presence of someone specific
Cause I just don't think I'll ever
The artist is struggling to move on from an individual
I could wait for you forever
The artist would be willing to wait indefinitely for this person
Over you
The artist is struggling to move on from this person
Contributed by Maya R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.