Tiffany Day is in her "LOVER TOFU FRUIT" era

written by Sylvie Lam

interviewed by Sylvie Lam, Sravya Balasa, and Storm Nguyen

Press photo by Ally Wei courtesy of Tiffany Day’s team

After releasing a collection of EPs sonically documenting each of her college years, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Tiffany Day is gearing up to release her much-anticipated debut album, "LOVER TOFU FRUIT," on September 13. Now out of her teens, Day focuses on an existential quarter-life realization in her album: youth is fleeting.

Even though "lover," "tofu," and "fruit" seem like randomly chosen words strung together because they sound and look nice, Day finds a deeper meaning through the airy phrase.

"Those words are just so light; they don't have any heavy meaning to them, and it felt like they were good words to encapsulate me at 23 and 24 – the fact that nothing is really that deep," Day explains. Although there were doubts about concepts and content, she never doubted the name.

In comparison with her 2020 single "TWFNO" (aka "Time Waits For No One") about pushing aside sadness due to the pressures of productivity culture, Day's current perception of time starkly contrasts with past-Tiffany's grindset. With new experiences under her belt, including thriving in college, the risks and rewards of fully pursuing her music career, and experiencing her first loss in her family, her concerns have veered towards the future and time's limited capacity.

As Day's 25th birthday approaches, her early adulthood ambition to make the most of her time morphed into a "quarter-life crisis.”

"It's not like a 'Let's get shit done today,' it's like, 'Oh, I'm getting older every single day,'" Day reflects. "I come home, and I see my parents, and their hairs are getting gray, and my dog's eyes are getting cloudy, and all of a sudden, I feel like shit because I realize that everything around me is going to disappear."

The album serves as both a realization and a coping mechanism for Day as she resurfaces to reality after being submerged in her fast-paced youth. Day has developed a mature, comfortable relationship with time: "I've come to a peaceful point where I can just coexist with the fact that things keep happening, and it's okay because that's life. Me and time are cool now."

The transition from existential turmoil to blissful acceptance through Day's album is visually encapsulated in bunnies. In collaboration with Ally Wei, Day's creative director, they bonded over their love for bunnies while drawing inspiration from “Alice in Wonderland” when she falls down the rabbit hole.

"There's so much chaos around me [as I fall down the hole]. But then, as soon as you come to realize that chaos and uncertainty [are] beautiful, everything inside the hole becomes less scary; all of a sudden, you're falling gracefully instead of falling to your death," Day expressed.

The album prompts Day to envision herself sitting in a vast, hilly green field "with a shit ton of bunnies around me.”

"When you accept and understand that beautiful things are beautiful because they end – that's when you've arrived at your lover tofu fruit state of mind," she explains.

Although a lush field filled with bunnies hasn't happened for Day (yet), memories of warm green park days with her late grandfather are deeply tied to the album. Despite growing up in Kansas, she holds onto childhood memories of visits to China: "Hot summer day, I'm in the park with my grandpa, and he bought me an ice cream. We couldn't even really speak the same language, but it didn't really matter because we were both having fun." 

Mourning the first loss in her immediate family and figuring out what it means for time to pass uncovered the truth that Day cannot get experiences back. Despite growing pains, she manages to find peace in the temporality of things: "It's so fucking bittersweet. Yes, I'll never be that young again. I'll never be with him again. We'll never be in that park again. But it's so beautiful that I got that memory, and if we were in that park forever, life would suck. It's beautiful because it was a distant memory, and it happened, and it's gone."

Day's growth in perspective has also been accompanied by sonic, lyrical, and career growth since her first days on YouTube. Despite the gradual shift from bedroom pop to electronic-based melodies, Day believes 18-year-old Tiff would love her current songs and be proud of their progress, shouting out Jeff Melvin – executive producer of "LOVER TOFU FRUIT" – for keeping the album cohesive. She believes that respect for her old art as a permanent part of her is necessary for appreciating her new art moving forward.

With "LOVER TOFU FRUIT," Day's main message lies in the project's title's leading word: "Love and cherish the things in your life before they disappear, but do it in a patient, genuine, and calm way."

Conversely, Day notes the importance of realizing that just like how the good things end, the bad things end, too. Noticing this helped her cope with anxiety, or fear of uncertainty, especially after getting officially diagnosed with OCD a few years ago, giving her peace that good and bad things are just a fact of life.

"Nothing is forever, and so I'm just gonna ride the fucking wave and just let it be. The wave ends one day, so all you can do is ride it, not fight it. Bars," Day said.

For listeners just joining the journey, Day wants them to just "come along for the ride" and "feel something, whether it be good or bad… just feel heard."

Empathizing with her audience, in turn, makes Day feel heard, affirming that she's just an ordinary girl with a knack for sharing her stories with the world. "LOVER TOFU FRUIT" marks the start of a sweet new chapter in Day's journey.

Tiffany Day recently officially announced “LOVER TOFU FRUIT” on July 11, and released her next single, “KANSAS” the following day on July 12.

Presave the album here: https://ffm.to/lovertofufruit

Watch the "KANSAS" music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD-Vcrg1_7g

Watch her lead single "HELLA BOY CRAZY" music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOrFDJ2LkFs