Authentically Hayley Orrantia
To know Hayley Orrantia is to know that she is kind-hearted, passionate, and down to earth. Her original lyrics as a singer make you feel as though you have been best friends for years. Her character Erica from the ABC hit show The Goldbergs has had a successful run for seven seasons so you feel like you have grown up with her too. The 26-year old singer, songwriter, and actress pride herself on her ability to be authentic and genuine, and those pillars of her personality are very apparent in her music and approach to life. Orrantia shares with us how she is beating the COVID-19 blues by focusing on longtime passions and new endeavors.
Hayley Orrantia. Photography: The Riker Brothers; Hair: Gui Schoedler; Make-Up: Anton Khachaturian; Styling: Lo VonRumpf.
Orrantia’s authenticity shines through her lyrical talents as she creates music that connects with you and pulls you in — and that is intentional. “I believe that if you write a song stemming from the rawest form of truth to a circumstance the writer has experienced, it will resonate more with the audience. If you write with truth in mind, someone — somewhere will feel it,” heartens Orrantia. Her genre of choice is country-pop, which makes sense given that the history of country music has its roots in storytelling. She, like the great country songwriters of the past, draws on her own experiences to connect with others. While the brunette beauty’s childhood likely looks very different from the average person's, her ability to stay grounded makes her feel like the girl next door.
Orrantia has been preparing for a career in performing music since she was nine years old. “Music was always my first love,” reminisces Orrantia. “From the age of nine, I’ve been focused on performing, writing, and singing, and realized it was something I could pursue professionally at age 14.” After putting her stamp on local festivals and events, she had a successful stint as a country-pop singer on the first season of The X Factor. That exposure was the catalyst for her current career. After four years of acting lessons and auditions, Orrantia landed her role on The Goldbergs and quickly became a household name. “Getting to go into work every day and act alongside some of the funniest people in the business is an absolute dream come true,” says Orrantia. From the second she read the script, the actress felt a connection to the show and her character. Playing Erica feels very natural to her in a way that other characters she has auditioned for have not.
While balancing her two loves can be difficult, Orrantia deems she needs to find time for both. “I love singing and acting both equally so it’s incredibly difficult to have to choose between the two. For the most part, I don’t. I schedule out time each year to dedicate to one or the other, and it has worked for me so far,” says the multitalented starlet. “[Acting and singing] have been ingrained in who I am since I was very young that I’m not sure I’m supposed to be doing anything else. Even if I wasn’t in front of the camera or behind the mic, I think I’ll always have my hand in the industry.” Despite her meteoric rise to fame, Orrantia has remained the humble, fun-loving girl that charmed the world on The X Factor. “There is pressure via social media to portray the most polished sides of you,” shares the performer, “but I find people crave authenticity more. I choose to surround myself with people who allow me to be my true self and who support me and encourage me which makes it easier to stay grounded.” Orrantia exudes pure realness in a world that makes it so easy to access the fake and filtered with a little help from her friends and family.
The songstress strives to share her most authentic self with her fans through channels like Instagram and TikTok. “I feel like I can show more of my personality on Tiktok than I can on Instagram. I think people, in general, feel it’s a comfortable platform to be yourself and feel accepted,” says Orrantia. The goofy Goldberg’s page also shares funny videos of her music, professional life, and personal life with her fans on the platform. It is difficult to not find her endearing. However, even someone as self-confident and talented as Hayley Orrantia cannot dodge the trolls plaguing social media. Forthcoming on her fair share of blows from the bowels of the comments sections, over time she has learned to brush off the unwarranted criticism. “It’s taken some time and practice to let harmful words I receive roll off my back, but I just stopped believing them all together. [I] know who I am and I am proud of who I am becoming, ” says Orrantia.
The southern singing songbird is currently hunkering down in Los Angeles and waiting out the pandemic like most of us. “Staying busy has been relatively easy for me in quarantine because I have given myself work, like starting an Instagram Live show, where I do everything from interviewing my friends to promoting new music I’ve been releasing,” shares Orrantia. She has also fearlessly and unapologetically thrown herself into new projects and trying new endeavors. “Sometimes I’ll just take out a piece of paper and some markers and draw and most times it’s awful,” laughs the singer, “but it allows me to be creative even in a small way, which I believe can spark ideas.”
Although she has been a part of the entertainment industry for over a decade, the performer can find it challenging to stay creative during COVID-19. “Being creative has been difficult because it is so hard to be influenced or inspired by the same environment for two months. I try to challenge myself creatively where I can,” says Orrantia. Creating new music. Developing new projects. Connecting with family. Orrantia is trying it all. “I’ve set a goal to create and produce my show(s) and to direct one day. I do love interior design, and I am working hard at learning more about the art. I’ve also started a business venture flipping and building houses with my dad who has experience doing that himself already,” reveals Orrantia on her future endeavors.
Most importantly, Orrantia makes self-care a daily goal during the quarantine. “Sometimes you just need to be good to yourself first,” encourages the actress. With no structured daily routine, she takes each day as it comes and lets her body guide her to what she needs. Sometimes it is a spa day trying new beauty products and other days it is getting dressed up to combat feelings of sluggishness or maybe it is binge-watching one of her favorite shows CBS’s hit series, How I Met Your Mother.
Post-COVID, Orrantia has plans to continue to nurture the seeds she has planted. “Once the stay at home orders have been lifted and there isn’t another wave of cases, I plan to go back to Nashville and start working on an album. I am finishing up some flips/builds with my dad this summer, which I’m hoping to film a bit. I’ve also been working on developing a show concept my dad has — alongside my mom and boyfriend. It’s been a fun family project, and I think it has [real] potential.” Needless to say, we cannot wait to see what Hayley Orrantia does next.
