“If you gave Elton John a beat pad, you’d get yourself Hayden McHugh”

With joyful tones and happy beats, Hayden McHugh looks to make you smile with their brand of feel-good dance-pop. They are a producer, songwriter, and vocalist from Calgary, Canada, and is ‘a vibrant, exciting, and collected individual, poised to make their presence felt in the ever-evolving Calgary arts community.’

Reminiscent to artists like Robyn, LAUV, and LANY, each song is carefully crafted to both move you emotionally while simultaneously inspiring you to dance and sing along. They have performed pride festivals all over Canada including in Calgary (2022), Fernie (2021), and Yellowknife (2019), opened for artists such as Scenic Route to Alaska at the Gateway in Calgary (2018), and the Monowhales at Folk on the Rocks in Yellowknife (2019). Their music has also been acknowledged by having been nominated for Artist of the Year (2018), and Single of the Year (2021) by the YYC Music Awards. Their most recent release, ‘Forgettin’ Ya’ received significant accolades by both local and international press outlets, and also an amazing response by a variety of creators across platforms, being used by dozens of creators.

Also an avid songwriter, Hayden has also written songs with and for various artists including Nicole Rayy, Mariya Stokes, Tom Lewis, working with songwriters both locally and internationally to write songs for them in genres not limited to EDM, Pop, and Country music. Most recently, ‘Graveyard’, written by Sam Davs, David Madras, and Hayden, was used by almost 1000 creators on Tik Tok, placed on Amazon Music’s “Break Through Country” and “Brand New Music” playlists, and even peaked at #57 on the iTunes Canada Country charts.