Xyla

**Xyla Alaina Kruk** (born 13 March 1996), better known as simply **Xyla**, is a Hawaiian singer, songwriter, and model. Born to legendary Hawaiian singer Betty Woo and Hawaiian-Californian guitarist Alex Kruk, Xyla has been cited as one of the most prevalent Hawaiian pop singers of the 2010s.

Xyla first began her career in 2013 at the age of 16, when she signed with Big Island Records and released her debut single "The Edge". The song became widely successful in Hawaii, and Xyla was awarded the Hawaiian Music Award for Best New Artist at the 2014 Hawaiian Music Awards. She released her debut studio album *The Daughter* in September 2013, which went on to receive a platinum certification in Hawaii. Following her success, she went on to release the albums *Moonshadow* in 2015, *In the Limelight* in 2017, and *Cat Eye* in 2018, all of which peaked at number-one in Hawaii and received a multi-platinum certification. In 2015, she received widespread attention for performing guest vocals on the international chart topping single "Night Time" by French DJ Restlessness.

Throughout her career, Xyla has sold over 400 thousand records, making her one of the most-successful musicians in Hawaii music history. She has been awarded seven Hawaiian Music Awards, including the award for Artist of the Year in 2018. She also is the half-sister of Queenie Ng; who is a former singer, the wife of Prince Daniel, and a member of the Hawaiian Royal Family.

## Early life and education

Xyla was born on 13 March 1996 in Honolulu to parents Betty Woo, a legendary Hawaiian singer, and Alex Kruk, a Californian-Hawaiian guitarist who was in Woo's backing band. Her mother was born in Hawaii to immigrant parents from South Korea, while her father was born in Huntington Beach, California to parents of Polish, German, and Greek descent. She has an elder maternal half-sister Queenie Ng, who was born ten years prior through Woo's first marriage to Hawaiian musician Bobby Ng. Xyla was raised in the affluent Kāhala neighborhood of Honolulu, and also spent summers in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California after her parents divorced in 2003.

Xyla began her schooling in 2001 at La Pietra, an all-girls private school. Originally, Xyla had no interest in pursuing a career in music, and instead wished to become a doctor or nurse due to her interest in science. She has stated that her mother did not influence her career path at all, and instead she first became interested in pursuing a career in music at age 10, after seeing her sister perform a sold-out show at Aloha Stadium in Halawa. She began high school at La Pietra in 2010, where she was an active member of the school's music department. After beginning her music career in 2013, she began online schooling due to her commitments as a musician, and graduated with a high school diploma in 2014.

## Music career

### 2013–2014: Breakthrough and *The Daughter*

Although Xyla's family did not wish for her to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, they agreed to help her obtain a recording contract after she graduated from high school. After growing impatient with schooling, Xyla sought out a contract on her own, and was signed to Big Island Records in January 2013, during her junior year of high school. Xyla has stated that her mother was furious with her for this, and almost forced her out of the contract when she discovered she went behind her back.

After signing with Big Island, Xyla began work on her debut studio album, but struggled with finding her sound. She did not want to pursue R&B or pop ballads like the music of her mother or teen pop like the music of her sister, and instead found inspiration from Los Angeles indie pop bands while visiting her father in California, a genre largely unknown in Hawaiian pop music. After releasing her debut single "The Edge" in May 2013, the song became a top-ten hit in Hawaii and was certified multi-platinum. Her debut studio album *The Daughter* was later released in September 2013, which went on to become certified platinum and debut at number-one in Hawaii.

Xyla supported the album with her *Xyla. The Daughter. Hawaiian Tour.* which performed shows throughout Hawaii in October 2013. At the 2014 Hawaiian Music Awards, she won the Hawaiian Music Award for Best New Artist, and additionally received five other nominations for Song of the Year, Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Pop Song, and Best Pop Album.

### 2015–2016: *Moonshadow*

After the success of *The Daughter*, Xyla revealed in summer 2014 that she was working on her sophomore studio album, and that the album would be recorded primarily in California. In November 2014, she revealed that the album was sounding "darker" than her previous release, which had a more lighthearted and poppy sound.

In February 2015, Xyla released the lead single to her upcoming second studio album, titled "Static". The song was described by critics as "retro" and "electronica", and received critical acclaim for the new direction Xyla was taking her music in. The song debuted at number-one in Hawaii, where it sat in the peak position for eight consecutive weeks, becoming the longest-running number-one single of 2015 in Hawaii. Xyla went on to receive international attention after releasing the song "Night Time", a collaboration with French DJ Restlessness. The song reached number-one in a number of countries, including Atlantica, California, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, becoming her first single to chart outside of Hawaii.

Following the success of "Static" and "Night Time", Xyla released her second studio album *Moonshadow* in June 2015. The album's style echoed the style expressed in her previous two singles, and saw a heavy influence from 1980s electronic music, being identified as "retrowave" by music critics and fans. The album debuted at number-one in Hawaii and was certified multi-platinum, becoming the best-selling album of 2015 in the country. She supported the album with her *In the Moonshadow International Tour*, which performed shows in Hawaii, Australia, California, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea from July 2015 to September 2015.

### 2017–present: *Life in the Limelight* and *Cat Eye*

Xyla began writing songs for her third studio album while on tour promoting *Moonshadow*. She later confirmed during the summer of 2016 that she had begun recording her upcoming studio album, and that it'd be "more lighthearted" than her previous release, having more in common with her debut.

Xyla later released her third studio album's lead single "Tigerlily" in April 2017. The song saw a heavy influence from electronic dance music and electropop, also having a noticeably lower tempo than some of her previous songs. Nevertheless, the song was still a massive success in Hawaii, becoming Xyla's fourth number-one single in the nation. The single was followed up by her third studio album *Life in the Limelight*, which was released in July 2017. The album echoed the success of her previous releases, debuting at number-one in Hawaii and being certified multi-platinum. She supported the album with the *Life in the Limelight Tour* which performed shows in Hawaii and California from August to September 2017.

After *Life in the Limelight*, Xyla revealed that she was planning on releasing a new album within the next year. She began writing songs for her fourth studio album while on tour promoting *Life in the Limelight*, and later began recording in Hawaii and California immediately following the tour's conclusion. In April 2018, she released the single "Foam" as the lead single to her upcoming fourth studio album. The song became widely successful, becoming her sixth number-one single in Hawaii, and her first solo single to chart in California, peaking within the top forty. She released her fourth studio album *Cat Eye* in July 2018, which was certified multi-platinum in Hawaii and gold in California. She embarked on the *Cat Eye World Tour*, which performed shows in Hawaii, Atlantica, Australia, California, Canada, Cascadia, Dixie, Florida, France, Indonesia, Japan, Laurentia, New Zealand, South Korea, Texas, and the United Kingdom from August 2018 to February 2019.

## Personal life

Xyla has frequently used the label "double bi" to describe herself, as she identifies as both biracial and bisexual. She primarily resides in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu, but also has a home in West Hollywood, California and an apartment in Seoul, South Korea. Xyla has voiced her support for the Nā Mea Āpau political party, and participated in several campaigns for the party.

In 2015, Xyla was the maid of honor at her half-sister's wedding to Prince Daniel. She has held citizenship to Hawaii and California since birth, but became a South Korean citizen as well in 2010 after restrictions on dual citizenship were lowered.

## Discography

*Main article: Xyla discography.*

* *The Daughter* (2013)
* *Moonshadow* (2015)
* *In the Limelight* (2017)
* *Cat Eye* (2018)

## Awards and nominations

*Main article: Awards and nominations received by Xyla.*