Hailing from California (and before that, Kansas), Tiffany Day is a Chinese American independent music artist who has been making waves in the industry since her viral beginnings. Fresh off her first headlining tour, "The Gratitude Tour," Day is now channeling her bold and energetic style into the completion of her highly anticipated DJing project and debut album.
At the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, AZ, Tiffany Day was preparing for the second show of “The Gratitude Tour,” her first headlining tour across North America. After back-and-forth emails, coordinating with the venue and getting our bags checked, security finally escorted us backstage.
As Day had her makeup done, she spoke candidly with us—just two hours before her performance—about grappling with imposter syndrome, managing herself, and her rise to fame via social media.
From Viral Video to Original Music
Day’s first brush with fame came in 2017 when a video of her singing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen went viral on YouTube. Day, who was still living in Kansas and going by her legal name Tiffany Ruan, was immediately contacted by news outlets across the country.
But now she had a new challenge–how can she turn the YouTube views from her covers into an audience for her original music?
“Originally, I was like, ‘Okay, we can translate our YouTube subscribers and bring them over to Spotify,’ but it’s really hard to get people off of YouTube. So what ended up happening is I lowkey just killed my YouTube following and I grew a Spotify following from the ground up.”
Day says she doesn’t want people to think she abandoned her YouTube audience, but she feels a lot more legitimate as an artist knowing she has fans that don’t just know her from that viral clip in 2017.
“I still get a lot of people who come up to me and be like ‘I’ve been watching you since the well video’ or since my YouTube videos but I think I kind of grew something else besides that. I’ve gotten to a point where I feel pretty legitimate in my artist career, knowing that I can go on tour as an artist to be able to sing all of my own original songs and see people singing along like, definitely don’t feel (imposter syndrome) anymore.”
Embracing Identity
Being an Asian American creative can be challenging, especially if you live in a predominantly white area. Day grew up in Kansas, with a 3% Asian population, and opened up about a lot of self-esteem issues she dealt with as a young girl.
“Being the minority–it made me hate my culture. Like very much internalized racism. I would kind of even avoid looking in mirrors sometimes because I didn’t want to be reminded that I was Asian. I used to hate my eyes, like my eye shape. I’d buy eye tape and try and get the crease or whatever because I just wanted to conform to Western beauty standards, because that’s all that was broadcast, right?”
While she was in her senior year of high school, K-Pop groups started making waves in the West, which helped her accept her East Asian features and taught her the importance of representation.
“I still get a lot of people who come up to me and be like ‘I’ve been watching you since the well video’ or since my YouTube videos but I think I kind of grew something else besides that. I’ve gotten to a point where I feel pretty legitimate in my artist career, knowing that I can go on tour as an artist to be able to sing all of my own original songs and see people singing along like, definitely don’t feel (imposter syndrome) anymore.”
“I thought, ‘Oh, my eyes are being celebrated!’ I felt a little less ugly because I’m not conforming to society’s conventional standards. It’s kind of fucked up that that’s what it took, like TV and media or whatever. But at the same time, I realized how important that is, to have someone that you can look up to and feel not only inspired by them but also just look at them and be like, ‘Wow, if they can do that and feel that confident, so can I.’”
Now 23, Day feels a major responsibility to make sure nobody goes through what she did.
“I owe it to myself and my past and just the way that I grew up and how I really don’t want younger girls and boys or even people my age or older to feel those ways about themselves and feel inferior like that, because it’s just not worth it. It’s just wasted energy that only makes you feel more hateful toward yourself. That’s also why I am really happy with the fact that a lot of my fans are Asian and I think it’s cool because I feel like we’re all just kind of supporting each other.”
A New Identity in LA
Following high school in Kansas, Day moved to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University, pursuing music as a full-time student for three years.
“When I had left Kansas and moved out to L.A., it felt like it was a new chance for me to just start a completely new identity. I discovered that I’m pretty feisty and bold and petty at times. And I feel like I used to hide those things because I was afraid of judgment. Because I felt so suppressed when I was younger, it makes me feel like I need to be even more out there.”
The Social Media Tightrope
Since Day initially gained traction online through social media, she feels the pressure to maintain that momentum.
“In a perfect world I’d love to give my phone or my accounts to someone and just have them post for me and make content but at the same time, like, it makes sense that people want to hear and see from you and like what’s going on in your brain. It’s really tough because I always view it as a fine line between living your life, and then living your life, but also documenting it and that can get annoying sometimes.”
“I owe it to myself and my past and just the way that I grew up and how I really don’t want younger girls and boys or even people my age or older to feel those ways about themselves and feel inferior like that, because it’s just not worth it.”
Tiffany Day, the artist, needed to be separated from Tiffany Ruan, the college student. Especially when she met new people and had to constantly explain why she had a blue checkmark and hundreds of thousands of followers.
Independent Artist On Tour
Now on her first tour, Day has had to dive headfirst into the business side of the music industry. No manager. No record label. A lot of impostor syndrome.
“When my tour went on sale. I look at like, there was an artist who was on my old management label and she was the only other girl and we kind of were on the same sort of come up. But she kind of just hit the ground running and went super far and I saw her tour had sold out in like three or four days–like all the cities. And I guess I was holding myself to, like, similar standards.”
For Day, comparing herself to others can be a mixed bag of emotions.
“I think I just tend to compare myself a lot to people that are higher up because I just want to be like them. But I also don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing. It’s a great motivator, but it’s also awful for our mental health.”
Although she does fall victim to comparison (as we all do), that doesn’t mean she looks down on her fellow artists.
“I don’t think you should treat anyone any type of way just because they have less listeners than you or less experience than you. If anything I feel like a bit of a mentor role or somebody who can help. Because at the end of the day, if someone’s art is good I don’t give a fuck about, you know, anything else. I want to support them because I’m just a firm believer in their art.”
Sales and Silver Linings
Day had to have enough confidence in herself and her following to manage, finance, and promote her tour without the help of a business or label. Being an independent artist, however, can make touring financially complex.
“You spend all the money for the pre-production of the tour and booking the van the Airbnbs, and paying all of your crew, the lights, the set design, the costumes, all ahead of time. And then when the tour is over, you get like check by check on pay.”
Since she didn’t have enough money in her own bank account to finance the tour, she applied for a credit card and got to work.
“I’m like $10,000 in debt from everything that’s been put in this tour. Even the money that I make once all the cuts are taken from my business manager, my lawyer and paying my drummer, the merch, and all that stuff, I will still be in the red.”
“I don’t think you should treat anyone any type of way just because they have less listeners than you or less experience than you. If anything I feel like a bit of a mentor role or somebody who can help.”
There was a silver lining though, and that was merch sales. Day said she was shocked at how much her merch sold out on the opening night of the tour in San Diego.
“Merch is like really important because that’s the way you can dig yourself out of it. And I just was not expecting that at all. I was kind of just going to take the L. But last night was really, really encouraging. I feel a lot better about it now than I did a couple of days ago.”
A Message from Day
All that said, Day was excited to impart some advice to other Asian creatives navigating the industry.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I feel like in Asian culture, it’s very like, focused on our parents and being the absolute best. I feel like it’s a lot harder on us. Whether it’s academics, or even being creative, we just naturally have had this universal experience.”
What’s Next?
After The Gratitude Tour wraps up, Day wants to spend the rest of the year completing her debut album and focusing on her DJ project. She also has a few festival appearances in the summer, like Bubble Pop fest in Barcelona and ASU’s Culture Fest.
Before her opener started and we had to leave her dressing room, Day gave us one more piece of advice for all the creatives out there.
“Comfort yourself the way that you would to your homie, you know? If you can have more empathy for yourself, there’s room there for you to continuously grow in a healthy way. And build that foundation with positive thoughts and not negative ones.”
IN THIS ARTICLE
TIFFANY DAY
words by
rithwik kalale
Rithwik Kalale is a digital + audio reporter and content creator based in Phoenix, AZ and San Jose, CA. His passion lies in community-focused storytelling under topics like: health, entertainment and social justice. When he’s not writing, you can find him constantly either playing Pokémon or dancing.
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