Artist Spotlight: will hyde and tiffi on “L.A.” and Collaborating Across Continents

This past summer, Australian pop artist will hyde released his latest track “L.A. (‭+1 .818.643.6885‬)” in collaboration with Taiwanese Australian musician tiffi and Korean producer dress, who worked on NCT Mark’s “Golden Hour” and Baekhyun’s “UN Village.” The song is actually a reimagination of the song “los angeles.” which was originally released on his third EP “as the world is passing by” in 2022. As summer draws to a close, this song remains a great transition to short days and a farewell to warm weather.

L.A. transplant will hyde had early success with SŸDE, a house music project he formed with his best friend. A few years later with three projects and 50 million streams under his belt as a solo artist, will is continuing to find himself as an artist. This song is evidence of his journey into new horizons, thanks to dress’s production. To add another dimension to this project, he also tapped tiffi’s talents, who is a musical prodigy in her own right. tiffi has been making and sharing her music since she was 13 years old, and her first 2017 single “peppermint smiles” went viral with more than 12 million global streams. 

EnVi had an exclusive email interview with will and tiffi to learn more about the song, their artistic process and plans, and how the song came together across continents. 

A Reimagination of Los Angeles

What makes the song even more special is how will, himself, recently relocated from Australia to L.A. for his career. “LA has always been a place that I have wanted to come to. Ever since I was young, I felt so inspired by the city, it’s actually crazy to be writing this from LA!” will shared.

will has slowly been making L.A. his home, and some of his favorite neighborhoods are Silver Lake, Brentwood, Echo Park, Glendale, and Westwood.

“It felt right to do a re-imagined version for ‘L.A.,’ since it was less of a focus track on the last project. I still felt it could help more people!” will said.

At the same time, “L.A. (‭+1 .818.643.6885‬)” represents an expansion of will’s artistry. After Bang Chan from Stray Kids shared his song “misfit.” on one of the group’s live streams, will had an opportunity to go to Korea, tour labels, and create new music with artists there. He first knew of the producer dress through a friend he made in Korea. The rest is history. 

The Secret to Collaboration? Sliding into DMs 

Both will and tiffi are no strangers to collaboration. For will, he had elijah woods, Keenan Te, and Jess Benko on his 2022 EP “as the world is passing by.” As a musician himself, will is dedicated to listening to new records or finding other artists through friends. Starting the connection is easier than one might expect, and will vouches for just being straightforward, and taking a chance by DMing.

“I feel as though my approach is that I’d rather ask and know the answer than be left wondering if they’d be down to be a part of the song, so I tend to just reach out and let them know straight up that I’d love to work on something!” will said.

Case in point, much of the communication with dress was over Instagram DMs. “Dress and I were DMing over Instagram and saying how much we liked what each other was doing. I was speaking to him through someone at my label. From there, I actually mentioned that I’d like him to try something on ‘los angeles’ for a remix. He sent the production back the next day and we went from there,” will said.

will and dress had actually had the first verse and chorus laid down before tiffi joined. He fell in love with dress’s production, and wanted to add a female counterpoint to make the song super dynamic and immediately thought of tiffi, who he worked with previously. All of their correspondence with each other had also been virtual. 

“I actually haven’t met her, I’ve only spoken to her over DM as well! It’s so awesome that you can literally do anything on the internet these days when it comes to collaborating. I feel like there’s no excuse to not be working with other talented humans around the world,” will said. 

As for tiffi, she often works with the producer City Girl, who is known for her lo-fi study mixes. tiffi shared that City Girl found her on Soundcloud when she was 12 or 13, and they continue to work together now even if her style has strayed from the lo-fi bedroom pop sound.

In this song tiffi worked with Australian producer Swindali to track her vocals. “He’s also a little music nerd so I knew he’d have great musical ideas for harmonies and delivery,” tiffi said.

For new listeners to tiffi, she also has her own ode to the West Coast and recommends putting on her song “California.” “It’s angry, it’s sassy, it’s fun and silly. Like me!” she said. Its music video dropped in July, shortly after her collaboration with will was released.

Where to Next?

“L.A. (‭+1 .818.643.6885‬)” is not will’s first song about a place either; he has sung about Amsterdam and wants to write a song about Paris. But, as he has shown, he’s not bound by location for his next release.

“I think my next song will be about a person, rather than a place. That said, I would say it could be about Chicago or London. I really want to visit Paris soon!” will said. 

For these artists, no matter where they go, it seems that they’ll always find the right people to put the musical pieces into place. 

Listen to the song  “L.A. (‭+1 .818.643.6885‬)” on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music. 

Follow will hyde on Instagram, Youtube, and Spotify.

Follow tiffi on Instagram, Youtube, and Spotify.

Follow dress on Instagram and Spotify.

If you want more new musicians to listen to, read about Saleka here.