Haiden Henderson on bleach and the “Fangirl Perspective”
by Alex Short
Haiden Henderson is entering a new chapter with bleach, his debut full-length album. Bringing together alternative rock, R&B and pop, the album explores self-discovery, sexuality andfiguring out who you are while you're still growing into that person. With theatrical production,vulnerable lyrics and a playful approach to subjects that aren't always easy to talk about, Henderson is bringing together a lot of different sides of himself throughout the project.
When it comes to songwriting, Henderson often starts with a title or a word that he finds
interesting. From there, he sees where the idea takes him. Sometimes, he doesn't fully understand what a song means to him until after he's written it. It's a process that allows him to figure thingsout as he goes, rather than needing to have everything planned before he starts.
The same thing happened with the song bleach. Henderson wrote a few different versions before eventually going back to it with a new perspective. He wanted the song to feel definitive enough to represent the album, and it took rewriting it to get there.
The title itself connects to the idea of changing yourself. Henderson described bleach as a
corrosive chemical, relating it to the willingness to change for other people and leave parts of your past behind. That idea carries throughout the album, as he explores growing up,
experimenting with identity and figuring out who he wants to be.
Another big part of Henderson's music is the community he has built around it. Through Discord, social media and even involving fans in his setlists, he has found ways to make his audience part of the experience.
During a recent press conference, I asked Henderson how that relationship with his fans has influenced the way he approaches his music.
ECHO MAGAZINE: You've built a really interactive community online, from Discord to
involving fans in things like your setlists. Has anything a fan has said or created ever
changed how you think about one of your songs?
HAIDEN HENDERSON: Oh, my gosh, all the time. Yeah, I give them maybe too much of a
say in things sometimes, but I'm constantly learning from them.
I oftentimes try to have almost a representative of them with me at all times, with whatever
I'm creating. I have a lot of girls on my team. I have a very female-dominated team, and
that is important to me because my fanbase is all girls. And if I had a team of dudes
approving things, I think my music would sound very different, and I think my whole thing
would be very different.
And so I try to have a representative of the fan perspective. We call it the ‘fangirl
perspective’ in everything that I do. And it's the same within the studio. I always have a
girl that I'm writing with in the studio, especially for this album.
And then I think what I learn from them is how much I can be myself without them
turning away. And that is, in a way, one of the healthiest relationships I've ever had, is that
no matter how kooky or myself I am, they tend to just give it back to me. Or no matter how
sassy I am, they give it back to me.
Your community really is what you put into it. And in a way, I think you train people to
treat you the way that they treat you, not just with fandom, but in life. And this is really
just a slightly blown-up version of that.
So I often learn that whatever I think is risky. Like, when I was teasing the first single for
this album, ‘Freak for You,’ I was so fucking nervous because it was such a raunchy song.
There's no way to avoid what that song is. And I put it out, and it was received so well that
it blew my mind.
So I'm constantly learning that I can just be myself, I think, from them.
For Henderson, that relationship with his fans goes beyond having people listen to his music or follow him online. He tries to have their perspective involved from the beginning, including having a female-dominated team and bringing women into the studio while writing. He also spoke about how much his fans have helped him become more comfortable being himself, even when he's putting something out that feels a little risky.
That connection also shows up in the way he releases music. Henderson talked about working with a Wattpad writer to create a chapter of a story for each single, with the album acting as the final chapter. Fans have been following along through his social media, picking up on clues and connecting details as each release comes out. It gives them something else to be involved in beyond just listening to the songs.
There is also a lot of humour in the way Henderson approaches his music. He described himself as being something of a comic relief in real life, and that side of his personality comes through in the album. Even when he's writing about more personal subjects, he doesn't feel the need to take everything too seriously. He also spoke about playing with softer and harder sounds, and bringing in influences like Missy Elliott's “Pass That Dutch.”
He also reflected on his experience touring with 5 Seconds of Summer and how much he has
learned while continuing to develop as a songwriter. With his debut album coming together in a relatively short period of time, he was still figuring things out while experiencing new things on the road. He spoke about how sometimes you need to live a little between songs to have something worth writing about, and how he can end up discovering something about himself through the music.
With bleach, Henderson isn't presenting himself as someone who has everything figured out. The album follows the process of changing, trying things and sometimes realizing what you think about yourself through the songs you're writing. Between the humour, more personal moments and the community he has built around his releases, bleach gives him room to explore different sides of himself without having to settle on just one.
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