I’m Fine, Thanks by Hayley Marsten – Song of the Day

If HAIM and Shania Twain got together to make a tune, Hayley Marsten’s music would be its sonic sister. Her sharp pen and open heart has allowed her to tap into vulnerability and lace it with undeniable hooks. According to Hayley, the best part about being a songwriter is getting the last word. She sets the record straight with I’m Fine, Thanks - an anthemic retort to those who assumed they knew all the ins and outs of her heartbreaks. It’s our Song of the Day!

The track was written as the last word and snapback at those who implied that Hayley was left more devastated by her breakup than she actually was, and that she owed the talent and hard work behind her album Spectacular Heartbreak to her ex-partner. 

The tune – a co-write with Kieran Stevenson in 2020, who also helped on Drowning Myself and her Spectacular Heartbreak – takes a uniquely pop angle for Hayley. I’m Fine, Thanks was produced by Hayley, Dan Sugars (who also worked on Drowning Myself), Cody McWaters, Kieran Stevenson and Michael Moko. Cody was also mix engineer and he co-recorded with Dan. The tune was mastered by Leon Zervos at Studios 301 and recorded at Hunting Ground Studios in Moorooka and Dan Sugars Audio in North Brisbane.

Hayley says, "I sure was sick of people speaking for me about what my album Spectacular Heartbreak meant for my emotional state. After it came out, there seemed to be this narrative that I was still spectacularly heartbroken and that I was 'lucky' that my ex had 'given' me an album. When actually that was not the truth. Never one to let somebody else have the last word, this chorus just fell out and Kieran and I wrote it a week after we wrote Drowning Myself."

Hayley has racked up some impressive accolades over the past few years, most recently including the crowdfunding of $20,000 for her upcoming second album, which will include I’m Fine, Thanks. Her previous single, Drowning Myself, was a finalist at this year's Queensland Music Awards and in 2020, her album Spectacular Heartbreak was nominated for ‘Alt-Country Album of the Year’ at the Golden Guitar awards, and the title track was played on commercial radio, added to ABC national radio and streamed over 280,000 times.

Hayley’s first EP, Even was released in 2015. That same year, she was announced as one of ten finalists for the 2016 Toyota Star Maker competition. Her 2017 follow-up EP, Lonestar debuted at #8 on the ARIA Country Charts. She later released a four-track EP titled Spectacular in mid-2021, featuring four songs from her debut album, re-imagined on piano.

Writing and performing since age seven, Hayley has since opened and toured with artists like Fanny Lumsden, Troy Cassar-Daley, Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart, Brad Butcher, Clare Bowditch, Deborah Conway, Katie Noonan, Amber Lawrence, 8 Ball Aitken, James Blundell, Rachael Fahim, Casey Barnes, Arna Georgia and Andrew Swift. She was also one half of the brains behind the Write Like A Girl showcase with Sarah Leete, which received record crowds.

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Keep up to date with Hayley Marsten via her Facebook page here.