At 22, singer Haliday HD has been freestyling music for almost six years, but only recently took his career to another level, becoming a recording artiste. Earlier this year the singer dropped his first original song, then went on to release his second just last month.
Born Omar John Thorne, the singer who grew up in Supply, East Bank Demerara is the youngest of eight siblings. He attended Supply Primary School then Central High School and while he was never the singer back then, he has always been the entertainer, as he shared that he was the class comedian.
His first inspiration in music was his mother, who was always singing in their home. Sadly, she never lived to see what became of his passion, having passed on four years ago.
“Whenever she used to be singing, I would be rapping and sometimes making fun of it to get her to stop singing. It was great times,” reminisced the singer. His other siblings, he said, also like singing from time to time but he is the only one to take up the art.
Haliday HD’s other inspirations in music are Swae Lee & Slim Jxmmi, Juice WRLD, XXXTentacion, Lil Peep, and YNW Melly. These were the singers Haliday HD listened to when he began seriously listening to Rap music. His earlier years. he said, saw him listening to singers like Vybz Kartel.
The singer/songwriter has now taken a shine to Emotional Rap (Emo Rap) genre as he feels he connects better with this genre, being someone who intends to share his experience through his music. If anything, the emotional setting of the song he believes will be relatable to fans.
Haliday HD’s two songs “Raindrops” and “Flex in the Matrix” reflect his life experiences. The songs, which were released on the singer’s birthday October 16, were produced at AJ Records and are available for listening on YouTube, SoundCloud and Audiomack at Haliday HD. He is working towards having his songs released on other musical platforms. Since being released on YouTube some weeks ago, “Flex in the Matrix” has since garnered close to 150 comments, all of which commend the singer on his refreshing style of music and a job well done.
His love for freestyling music began back in 2016 when he was hanging out with a friend, Linden Daniels who called himself ‘3D’. The singer said it was 3D who introduced him to freestyling and he has pursued music since then. However, his friend migrated and has not followed through with a career in music like he did. Nonetheless, the two remain in touch since.
It was this early experience that led to the stage name Haliday HD. The singer shared that HD is the acronym for high definition, which for him defines the quality of music he puts out there. Meanwhile, Haliday is merely his slang spelling for the word holiday. It is his dream to someday become so iconic an artiste, that after he is gone, a holiday is celebrated in honour of the contributions he made to the music industry.
Currently employed full time with another job, Haliday HD usually finds the time for his music at nights and on weekends. At present the singer is in the studio working on two new songs.
Being new on the recording scene, the singer has only done a couple of local live performances, including at an event in South Ruimveldt. He believes this also has to do with the pandemic. However, Haliday HD shared that while the pandemic may have prevented him from performing in an outdoor setting with an audience, he did not let it stop him from getting his music out there. The singer said that after realizing that people depended on their devices for entertainment, he wasted no time in releasing his music.
While he earns nothing from this as yet, he said he is working on making this a reality. However, this is not the singer’s only goal when it comes to music. He hopes to be an inspiration to others by motivating them to do better in life and to realize their dreams like he is realizing his right now.
“Music is my life. I could be listening to music and doing music my whole life but you know, you got to live. Whenever done, you still have to work and get money to maintain yourself. Besides that if I could do music all the time, that would be great,” he shared.
Haliday HD said that growing up, he played football and other sports but it was music that stuck with him. He has tried his hand at several instruments, but is yet to master one and still intends to pursue the guitar.
The songwriter believes that motivating and supporting others play a huge role in people making it in life. It is something he wishes the current administration would do more of when it comes to the local talent. While he gives kudos to those in authority for the recent talent search show, he said he hoped it does not stop there. “People, when they hear that you’re doing music, are always saying that Guyana is the wrong place to do music because the support is not there. It [discourages] your spirit…” he said.
Someday, the singer hopes to share the stage with some of the best in the music business like The Weeknd and US-based Guyanese rapper Saint Jhn.
On a lighter note, he shared that he tries to lead a healthy life by eating right. His diet includes very little meat as he much prefers eating fish. Thorne’s favourite dish to have is baked snapper with steamed vegetables which he enjoys whenever his sister makes it. Whenever he’s not caught up with his full-time job or music, Haliday HD tries to catch up on his sleep.
The singer can be followed on Facebook at Omar Haliday and on Instagram and YouTube at Haliday HD.
