Dayna Reid is a self-proclaimed “small-town girl.”
The 24-year-old Elmvale native, who grew up in the small village located about 25 minutes north of Barrie, is using her upbringing in a small town to inspire her music, including her latest single The Way You Lie, which is set to be released on Friday, April 28.
Pursuing a career in music has always been her dream, she admitted.
“I always wanted to be a singer, but growing up, especially in a little town like Elmvale, I didn’t really know how I was going to get my foot in the door and actually be able to pursue it as a career,” she told BarrieToday.
And growing up in a small town is what has inspired most of Reid’s songs in the first place.
“Having that small-town experience gave me different ideas to go about with my songs. That’s what She’s Me is all about: being thankful for your experiences, but wanting to see what else the world has to offer you," Reid said. "I was thankful for growing up there. I don’t think you’d ever run out of things to talk about.”
Thinking it was too much of a pipe dream, Reid said she went away to university with plans to pursue a career supporting individuals with special needs.
But after entering competition in Aurora in 2019, Reid had the opportunity to work with multi-Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) award-winning artist Beverley Mahood, and began to realize that she might actually be able to make a real go of a career in the music industry.
“She kind of took me under her wing and here we are now, actually being able to do music as my dream, which is awesome,” she said.
Reid released her debut EP in September 2022, titled Back To The Trailer, followed by the release of her first single, She’s Me, in January.
That single landed Reid her first Top-40 radio hit and ultimately led to her being named iHeart Radio’s Future Star and Stingray Radio’s Trending Track.
“It opened so many doors of opportunity for me. I knew putting it out, I wanted to do a song people could connect to. They could also connect to me through it as well," she said. "To hear the song on the radio, if you were to tell me that was going to happen a couple of years ago I would have said, ‘Yeah, right!' It’s pretty cool."
Reid, who is also a top-eight semi-finalist in the SiriusXM Top of the Country competition, co-wrote many of the songs on her new album.
“I would describe my music as leaning more toward late 1990s, early 2000s country music, solely on the story-telling and melody behind them," she said. "That’s the music I grew up listening to and that’s the music I feel really natural singing and what I enjoy listening to."
Like most country artists, Reid said she has always looked up to Dolly Parton, and would love to one day serve as an inspiration for other young artists the same way Parton did for her.
“If I could one day influence other people the way my role models have influenced me … by singing what is lyrically true to me, but also staying true to who I am in the process — and that’s what I think about Dolly — I would love to be able to do that.”
