HALIENE on ‘Eclipsed’: “I Just Let Myself PLAY”

Four years after ‘Heavenly’, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter HALIENE opens a new chapter with ‘Eclipsed’, a 15-track album that stands as her most personal and expansive work yet. Reconnecting with her trance roots while opening the door to melodic bass, cinematic electronica, pop, drum & bass, and dubstep, the album explores a deeply personal theme: the relationship between light and darkness, and how surrendering to things beyond our control can ultimately change us.

Shaped by love, loss, identity, recovery, faith, and unexpected turns, ‘Eclipsed’ lets each song follow its own path. From “Eclipsed By You” with Ilan Bluestone, to the intimate “Solar Waves”, the cathartic “Right Love”, and genre-bending “The Other Side” and “Dark Side of My Heart”, the album refuses to stay in one lane. HALIENE also pushes beyond familiar electronic formulas, experimenting with unusual time signatures, harmonic ideas, and sounds she had never explored before.

In our conversation, HALIENE talks about finding creative space while touring, discovering new sides of her voice, the unexpected evolution of “The Hymn”, and why she hopes these songs will eventually become part of the listener’s own story.

Q: Your debut album ‘Heavenly’ came out in 2022. Four years later, what feels most different about the HALIENE who made ‘Eclipsed’?

A: My debut album was truly a collection of all the songs, thoughts and ideas that I had accumulated over the years as an artist, coming together to form my initial mission statement. ‘Heavenly’ showed the world who HALIENE is musically and lyrically, what I believe in and stand for, and what I have come from. I have grown so much since that album, both as an artist and human being, and in ‘Eclipsed’ I have deepened my expression, found new revelation in what I’ve been through and widened my genres as an artist. While ‘Heavenly’ was primarily a singer-songwriter album, framed in the world of dance music, ‘Eclipsed’ encompasses not only some of my best songwriting I’ve done yet, but also goes deeper into the sounds of EDM, from heavier dubstep moments to euphoric trance, even to a bit of drum and bass. ‘Eclipsed’ is more mature, musically and emotionally and I can’t wait for people to experience the growth.

Q: The title ‘Eclipsed’ immediately brings to mind light and shadow, and the album explores some pretty different emotional spaces. What does ‘Eclipsed’ mean to you?

A: I found that the theme of this album, and the theme of my life of late, has been surrender. Every song explores some aspect of surrender in some way, and especially the title track, “Eclipsed By You”. There is so much peace in the realization that there is no light without darkness; it is the duality of both together that brings meaning to our world. ‘Eclipsed’ explores how one gives form and meaning to the other, and how sorrow so often enhances our capacity to experience joy.

To be eclipsed is to surrender ourselves to something greater: a person, a dream, love, faith. It is terrifying to release the illusion of control, yet profoundly freeing to trust what overtakes us. In surrender, we do not disappear. We become more fully ourselves. For sometimes, it is only when we lay down our own light and embrace the greater light above us that we truly begin to shine.

Q: You've moved through trance, dance-pop, drum & bass and even dubstep over the past few years. Did you set out to bring all those sides together on ‘Eclipsed’, or did they just naturally find their way onto the album?

A: I wanted this album to reflect my musical journey over the past few years, and be free in its expression of genre. One thing that is unique about me as an artist in dance music is that as a singer, I can explore many genres without sacrificing my sound, as my voice is my sound! We let the songs lead us without judgement, though, and allowed the freedom to just write without constraints of what genre it should or should not be.

Q: Every album has at least one moment where things don't quite go according to plan. What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this album, and what did it teach you?

A: When I started making my first album, I wasn’t touring as much yet, and there was less time for pressure. In making ‘Eclipsed’, the biggest challenge initially was time. The first year I was hardly able to get any songwriting done as I was constantly playing shows every weekend. It’s hard to get into the rhythm of creating something new when you’re pouring out energy every weekend. However, once shows slowed down a bit for a short while, and I went through surgery last summer in 2025, I was able to dive in. As a creative, I need that time to settle in and ask myself, “What do I want to say here?” ‘Heavenly’ was a mission statement that took years to distill, but ‘Eclipsed’ was unknown. What was next? It was in just having fun creating and writing and allowing those songs to lead me that I found it.

Q: Your voice is instantly recognizable in electronic music, but did this project give you a chance to use it or approach your songwriting in a way you hadn't tried before?

A: I have explored not only new genres with this album but also new vocal sounds that I have hardly used. For example, on “Solar Waves”, I was recovering from surgery and unable to use my diaphragm as I normally do. So when I wrote that song, I whisper-sang it. I have only tried that style on a couple of collabs previously (like Kaleidoscope and Twilight vs Breathe), and never on a solo track. This time it was not a choice but a necessity! As far as songwriting goes, this was one of the first times I just let myself PLAY. What would a picardy-third dubstep and drum & bass song sound like? What would it say? My answer for the songs on this album was always, “well why not, let’s go for it”. It’s an interesting time in the music industry to do this as well, as we are all more genre-fluid than ever before. Trance is being called techno these days (haha) and huge dubstep artists are releasing house songs, and fans want to feel they’re being led on a journey, not just staying in one lane.

Q: “Eclipsed By You” with Ilan Bluestone feels like such a natural title track. You actually wrote the song before finding the right producer for it, right? When a song is that personal, what do you need from the person helping bring it to life?

A: Yes, I wrote this one before I had a collaborator for it, and we finished out the full strings and breakdown production to be mostly what you hear on the intro track on the album. I knew this one was meant to be a trance anthem, but I wanted afellow artist to help take it there. My list of potential collaborators was short, but it wasn’t until Ilan and I played a show together in Hawaii last August that I knew he might be the right person for it. We were just chatting at soundcheck, having not connected in years, and I was telling him about the album and this song in particular. He had just come out of his long label deal and was excited about freely creating, and he was really excited to hear it. We had always wanted to work together, but the right things had never aligned. The instant I heard his first mix, we knew it was exactly right, and exactly what the song needed.

Q: Looking at songs like “Eclipsed By You”, “Solar Waves”, “Right Love” and “Don't Give Up On Me”, they each show a different side of HALIENE. Did you consciously want the album to have that kind of range?

A: The songs I write naturally have quite a lot of range in theme and melody! I really let the songs lead me on this album and I knew I wanted it to be a musical journey with lots of unexpected twists and turns, but I did not map out what that would look like at the start.

Q: You've spent years being the voice people recognize on someone else's record. Does making an album change how you see yourself, from being “the vocalist” to being the artist responsible for the whole story?

A: Since this is my second album as HALIENE, that’s something I have already embraced and learned how to do. ‘Heavenly’ was the moment I became responsible for the whole story. With my EP, ‘Water’, I explored more of the bass side of my music, but with ‘Eclipsed', this is the full second chapter of that story - the sequel, embracing all that I am as an artist and how it has deepened and matured over the years.

Q: Is there a song on ‘Eclipsed’ that surprised you along the way? Maybe one that started out completely differently from where it ended up?

A: Oh yes! Actually, several of them. “The Hymn” was not expected to end up on the album, and we actually had an entirely different drop and even verses for that song. In the last few weeks before submitting the album, Matt and I sat down in the studio and completely reimagined all of it, cutting the verses and redoing the drop entirely. We knew then we had to get it to the finish line and put it on the album, as it's a color and tone we were missing in this body of work.

Q: Your songs can start with something deeply personal and end up being sung back to you by thousands of people. Is there a moment when you realize, “Okay, this isn't just my story anymore”?

A: That is one thing I adore about songwriting. The second these songs are released, they cease to be mine. They become yours. My greatest hope for my songs is that they become part of your own story and bring some meaning to your life’s troubles and joys. Sometimes we cannot find words to express our hearts, and that’s where music speaks for us. I strive to write songs that do that for people. That’s what music does for me.

Q: Now that ‘Eclipsed’ is almost out in the world, what are you most excited for people to discover?

A: I am so excited for people to step into the world we’ve created, to experience the full spectrum of colors and sounds. To hear the most beautiful emotional songs that can both heal and break your heart, wrapped in a wide breadth of genres. From trance to dubstep to drum & bass, to full orchestral piano ballads to pounding techno trance with a touch of acid. To embark on the journey that weaves all of these aspects together through song and lyrics, embracing new time signatures, interesting progressions and modes that feel unique, and yet still remain seamless and singable and true to what makes me HALIENE. I’m excited to share this piece of my heart so they may understand a little bit more of what surrender means, for these songs to tell their stories, and give meaning to their lives.

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