Q&A: Dailla’s “Twisted Heart” Finds Beauty in Messy Attraction
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY DANIELLE HOLIAN ☆
BUTTERFLIES, GLITTER AND A GUT-PUNCH - Dailla’s sound lives in the tension between dreamy alt-pop sparkle and raw emotional honesty, a universe where indie edges and pop sensibilities collide under a shimmering spotlight.
There are artists who polish their emotions until they gleam like gemstones, carefully presenting only the radiant facets of experience. Then there are artists like Dailla, who recognize that the stone is most beautiful when you can see both the shine and the cracks. Emerging from the alt-pop underground, Dailla has cultivated a sound that shimmers with fantasy while carrying a deeply human weight beneath its glossy surface. In her universe, butterflies take flight against a backdrop of chaos, stars illuminate insecurities, and glitter glimmers over heartbreak. It is music for those who dance with their shadows, who understand that the most dazzling sparkle often comes from the most complicated truths.
Dailla’s artistic identity is steeped in contrasts. Her music is playful yet unflinchingly raw, dreamy yet incisive, alluring yet vulnerable. She calls it “glitter with a gut-punch”, a phrase that perfectly captures her signature blend of euphoria and ache. That duality is more than an aesthetic choice; it’s a reflection of how she experiences the world. Life, for Dailla, is never just one note. A song can hold defiance and fragility in the same breath, heartbreak wrapped in dance-floor glitter. In that sense, her work is an invitation into the contradictions that define being human.
The roots of this approach trace back to her earliest encounters with music. Growing up, Dailla treated the piano as a confessional booth, a place to translate thoughts too complicated or unspeakable into melody. Music became both a mirror and a sanctuary, a way of making sense of herself, and later, a way of forging connections with others. What began as a private catharsis gradually evolved into an artistic calling: a desire not just to express, but to share, to create songs that would resonate with the rawest parts of others while offering a kind of glittering shelter.
Her latest single, “Twisted Heart,” encapsulates this ethos with striking clarity. Built on a playful, dance-ready production, it tells a story of chaotic attraction, that reckless, magnetic pull toward what you know is bad for you. Its chorus, punctuated by the unforgettable line “Stepping on my twisted heart,” distills the paradox into a single visceral image. It’s catchy enough to chant at the top of your lungs, yet sharp enough to sting as it lands. The song is both fun and brutal, a cathartic admission dressed in sequins. It’s Dailla at her most crystallized: unafraid to confess, unafraid to sparkle.
But to reduce Dailla’s work to just heartbreak anthems with glittery production would be to overlook the subtlety and breadth of her vision. She is a student of psychology and symbolism, weaving references to inner worlds and archetypes into her lyrical fabric. Stars, mirrors, glitter, chaos, these are more than decorative motifs; they’re emotional metaphors, vehicles through which she explores vulnerability, desire, and the messy negotiations of selfhood. Her music lives in the liminal space between diary-entry honesty and cinematic spectacle, balancing the intimate and the universal.
Dailla bridges indie authenticity with pop accessibility, creating songs that can move between underground playlists and mainstream airwaves without losing their edge. Her hooks are immediate, her choruses expansive, yet her lyrics retain an emotional specificity that resists the hollow sheen of formulaic pop. She makes music that is unafraid to be both glamorous and messy. And in doing so, she carves a lane entirely her own.
As she looks ahead, Dailla is unspooling new chapters that promise to expand her storytelling beyond love and heartbreak, toward a broader exploration of human experience. There’s a sense of momentum around her, that point in an artist’s career where sound, visuals, and community begin to click into a larger whole. She is both grounded and ascending, an artist fully aware of her roots while leaning into the limitless sky above her.
We sat down with Dailla to talk about her evolution from piano-born confessions to glittering alt-pop, the inspiration behind “Twisted Heart,” and the exciting new chapters unfolding in her music. Read on for more.
LUNA: For anyone who isn’t familiar yet, what inspires your artistic style and creative persona?
DAILLA: I’ve always been drawn to contrasts. I love taking something raw and emotional and wrapping it in color, sparkle, and a little bit of chaos. My style is inspired by real emotions and psychology — the messy stuff we don’t always want to talk about — but I like to dress it up in symbols, visuals, and sounds that feel dreamy and playful. Butterflies, stars, glitter — but with a gut-punch underneath.
LUNA: What inspired you to get into making music?
DAILLA: Music has always been my safe space. As a kid, I’d sit behind the piano and write songs about things I couldn’t really say out loud. It felt like magic — like I was turning thoughts and feelings into something that finally made sense. And that never really stopped. Writing songs still feels like the best way to process life, and it’s also become the way I connect with people. That’s what inspired me to do it seriously.
LUNA: Your songs often carry this glittery-but-gut-punch quality. What draws you to that mix of shimmer and shadow in your music?
DAILLA: Because that’s what life feels like to me. Nothing is ever just one thing. You can be heartbroken but still want to dance, or you can be having the time of your life while something hurts underneath. I love putting those two sides together — glitter on the surface, but real emotions underneath. It makes the music fun and relatable at the same time.
LUNA: Your sound balances confidence, vulnerability, and allure. How intentional is that mix, or does it just naturally come out in your writing?
DAILLA: Honestly, it just comes out that way. I don’t sit down and think, “okay, this one needs to sound confident but also vulnerable.” It’s more than those sides all live in me, and when I write honestly, they naturally slip into the songs. Sometimes I feel strong and fearless, other times I feel messy and insecure, and sometimes it’s all in one verse. I think that’s just what being human feels like.
LUNA: When you’re building a song, do you start with melody, a lyric, or a vibe you want to capture?
DAILLA: It’s different every time. With Twisted Heart, the melody came first — Marcell played something on the guitar, and I instantly knew where it was going. Other times it’s a lyric that hits me, like one phrase that I can’t get out of my head, or just a mood I want to capture. I like that it’s never the same process, because it keeps things exciting and unpredictable.
LUNA: Coming from the alt-pop underground, how do you hold onto your edge while stepping further into the pop spotlight?
DAILLA: For me, it’s about keeping the honesty. Pop can be really shiny, and I love that, but I think what makes people connect is when there’s some rawness underneath. I always want my lyrics to feel real, even if the production is glittery. That balance lets me hold onto my edge — keeping the emotion and the storytelling while also embracing the big, fun pop energy.
LUNA: Pop is always evolving. Where do you feel your music fits in right now, and how do you hope to bend it in your own direction?
DAILLA: I think my music lives somewhere in between indie and pop. I love catchy hooks and danceable beats, but I also want my songs to carry stories that hit you in the chest. Pop is always evolving, and I think that’s what makes it exciting — you can hear something new all the time. Right now, I feel like that in-between space gives me room to bring my own twist to it, making it shiny and fun but also vulnerable and human. That’s the direction I hope to keep bending it toward.
LUNA: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest single, “Twisted Heart”? What message do you hope fans take away from it?
DAILLA: Twisted Heart came from real life — that feeling of running toward something even though you know it’s not good for you. It’s chaotic, it’s addictive, and it’s painful, but it’s also fun in a weird way. I wanted the song to capture that push and pull. My hope is that people feel like it’s okay to admit to those moments — we’ve all been there. And instead of hiding it, you can dance it out, scream it in your car, or sing it with your friends.
LUNA: The track feels playful but also brutally honest. Was it more fun or more cathartic to make?
DAILLA: Honestly, both. The production side was so much fun — glittery, shiny, and really danceable. But the lyrics were definitely cathartic, because I had to admit something about myself: that sometimes I choose chaos even when I know it’s a bad idea. Putting that into a song was both scary and freeing at the same time, and making it sound playful made it even more powerful.
LUNA: That chorus, “Stepping on my twisted heart”, is such a gut-punch. Do you remember where you were when that lyric first came to you?
DAILLA: Yes — it came super early. We were working on the chorus, and even though the melody came first, I immediately heard that phrase in my head with the rhythm. It just clicked perfectly, like it had been waiting there the whole time. I remember getting really excited because it felt so visual, like you could picture it right away, and it summed up the whole story of the song.
LUNA: “Twisted Heart” has such a magnetic push-and-pull energy. What was the very first spark that made you want to write it?
DAILLA: It actually started in the studio with Marcell. He was jamming on the guitar and played what became the pre-chorus. The moment I heard it, I felt like, “That’s it, that’s the vibe.” The energy was just there, and the story almost wrote itself after that. Sometimes songs fight you, but this one just flowed.
LUNA: Toxic attraction is a theme a lot of listeners can relate to. What did you want to capture about that experience that maybe isn’t usually said out loud?
DAILLA: I wanted to capture the honesty of admitting that sometimes we choose it. People often pretend it just “happens” to them, but a lot of us knowingly run into messy situations. That reckless part of love — where you go headfirst even when you know it’s wrong — is what I wanted to write about. It’s messy, but it’s real.
LUNA: Has there been a moment in the studio recently where you thought: Yes, this is exactly what Dailla sounds like?
DAILLA: With Twisted Heart, for sure — I felt like it had all the parts of me: glittery and fun, but also emotional and a little messy. But honestly, I’ve felt that again in the studio recently while working on the new projects I’m preparing. There were moments where I thought, yes, this is exactly what Dailla sounds like, and that’s such an exciting feeling to carry into what’s coming next.
LUNA: How has your approach to songwriting evolved from your earliest singles to now?
DAILLA: At the start, my songs were basically like diary entries — Middle Stone was me putting raw feelings straight into music. I still write from that same honest place, but with the new music I’m working on, I want to open the door to more themes alongside love and relationships. There are so many different sides of me and stories I want to share, and it feels exciting to let the songs grow in that direction.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career, and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
DAILLA: I feel really excited. It finally feels like the songs, the visuals, and the community are starting to connect into something bigger. I’m working on new projects that show different sides of me — some more vulnerable, some a little rougher, and some that explore themes I haven’t touched yet, alongside love. It feels like I’m opening new doors as an artist, and I’m really proud of what’s coming next. I can’t wait for people to hear it and make it part of their own stories!
