“It’s a mix of serious- there’s a mix of very thoughtful things- and then a mix of ‘that’s just hilarious,’” says Angel Abaya about the kaleidoscopic synth pop she’s concocted under the moniker of Gelli Haha. Switcheroo, her debut album under the Gelli name, is a playful, vibrant journey with conceptual confidence and just the right amount of delightfully weird moments. As Switcheroo is available to curious ears this Friday through Innovative Leisure, Abaya unveils the process of conceptualizing Gelli Haha and how she arrived “somewhere between Studio 54 and Area 51.”

At the beginning of Britney Spears’ concert in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2000, Spears’ rises to the stage at the top of stairs before dramatically moving to the front of the stage to the beat in a sparkly, all-silver outfit as her dancers join her for a flashy performance of “(You Drive Me) Crazy.” It was the height of Spears’ popularity, and she was as mainstream as pop can get. 

Somehow, a few years later that became inspiration for a young Angel Abaya in Idaho, who would go on to feature parachutes, dancing scientists, and bubble guns into her repertoire.

The LA-based Abaya grew up during the tail end of the MTV video era in Boise, Idaho. She was mesmerized by the DVD from Avril Lavigne’s first tour, the visual concept of Gwen Stefani’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby, and Lady Gaga’s dramatic presentation. 

“I didn’t realize it, but [they were] so pivotal to my understanding of what I wanted to do, even though I had no idea what that even meant,” she says about her early pop inspirations. “I’ve always been into interesting, edgy, indeed underground things, but I think that that kind of came later in my artistic development as a human, and I would say deep down inside, I grew up a pop kid.”

Gelli Haha thrives in the middle ground between the familiar and the wacky. One of the biggest goals of the album was to combine catchy pop music with an experimental twist. It’s a little psychedelic disco, 80s synthpop, and maybe a little Britney Spears too. It hooks you, but is never too formulaic or plain. 

“There’s an element of curiosity and experimental nature to the record because we just wanted to marry that catchy, hooky stuff with something that’s a bit more interesting,” she explains. “There’s just something more interesting about it. And then, putting some pop into an experimental song makes it more palatable and makes it more digestible.”

Björk’s Debut and Post were huge inspirations for Gelli Haha- melodic palettes and uncommon production encompassing just the right amount of weird without being too discombobulating. 

Switcheroo was written and recorded with Sean Guerin of De Lux, whose crate digging for records unearthed deep cuts from late 70s and early 80s boogie, funk, and disco They had an immense effect on the disco threaded throughout the album. 

Well, more like a space disco. Warped synths warble their way through tracks like “Spit” and “Tiramisu.”

It’s a complete 180 from The Bubble- a solo record of indie rock released under Abaya’s own name in 2023. A few weeks after The Bubble dropped, the seeds of Switcheroo began to develop. It all started with the galactic, rhythmic synths and soaring vocals of album opener “Funny Music.”

The early materialization of Gelli Haha was a pivotal and transitionary time. Early songs like “Funny Music” and “Bounce House” were more pop and otherworldly than ever before, and vintage synths became a central character. 

“Bounce House-” named by Guerin during a writing session for its bounciness- became her favorite demo early on. It’s fun, inviting, and playful demeanor gave her a running theme of childlike innocence and silliness to work with… and some double entendres too. 

The first thought she had when she started writing this material wasn’t vocals, lyrics, or songwriting, it was “is this fun?” There was no longer the urge to prove herself or be protective over the themes and lyrics. 

“I don’t need to explain anything anymore, I just want people to experience it,” she proclaims. “I don’t want to be up there on a soapbox. I want to share who I am with people, but I think this is a bit more approachable and a bit more fun.”

It’s silly yet conceptually focused. Just look at the cover of Switcheroo: stark primary colors depicting Gelli Haha eerily smiling with red irises. In the same vein, the VHS-style music video for “Spit” portrays kooky (yet very fashionable) scientists experimenting on Gelli Haha with an increasingly bizarre outcome. The props, colors, and general weirdness is all intentional.

“I just don’t think the music tells the whole story. I think we also live in this 3D world and need to enhance all of our senses,” she says. “Obviously there’s a lot of care in the music that I’ve taken into that process of recording it and writing it. But yeah, I definitely think half of the fun is making a spectacle of it.”

Despite its carefree demeanor, it’s a multi-layered and well thought out spectacle. Around six months into the Gelli Haha project, Abaya began to buy more red clothing and cut her hair into a bob as a nod to the Roaring Twenties. She started conceptualizing the dance elements for live performances and music videos with her friend and choreographer Selby Jenkins. 

As a kid who grew up in Boise loving musicals, going to the theater, and then later working for a dance company, she understood how impactful performance could be. In typical Gelli Haha fashion, it’s a mix of thoughtful and hilarious. 

“In order to tell the story, I just kind of saw it like a musical theater production where there’s a performance art quality to it, too. Some of it was methodical, some of it was just like, ‘I think that’s hilarious, and we should do that.’”

Abaya describes the first few songs on the album as “coming back to self.” The dancers are like the different versions of herself- the past, present, and future. Gelli and the dancers grow together, and then set (and album) closer “Pluto is not a planet it’s a restaurant” represents the end of life together. 

It’s as bonkers as it seems, but there’s a personal side to this magical adventure: “I feel it’s like a whole life journey to me is the record. The kind of deeper meaning I see in all of the silliness is me coming back to myself, and my inner child.”

It wasn’t until after creating the songs that she realized the tracks from Switcheroo were about her relation to her inner child. “I made this record very much letting go of certain things and expectations I had for myself, and a lot of release and surrender and trust and also a very intense approach to like, I just can’t take my life so seriously,” she explains.

Switcheroo exudes the joy and a vigor for life that Abaya wanted, while also implementing a clear artistic vision. The world of Gelli Haha wasn’t made for Abaya to live in by herself. The album’s freeness resulted from working with around 20 collaborators to bring her vision to life- from musicians, to dancers, to a producer. 

“I’m the most proud of being able to have a vision that people want to be a part of, and also the trust and we also just love each other. It’s really sweet! Yeah, we just enjoyed making this together. I think, obviously, that shows that there’s a playfulness inside and out of the project.” 

She wants that joyful exuberance and excitement for life to be reciprocated from listeners too. “I think one of the goals of the record and the performance and just everything is, I just wanted to move through shit. I wanted to move through the good and the bad, and just kind of get through,” she says.

“I think the movement of the record is very intentional of like, I want people to not disconnect from their lives, and I don’t want to feel to be disconnected from mine either. I hope that people don’t get that super consciously! Again, I feel like all of that’s a very subconscious part about Gelli, but I just want people to have fun and enjoy their lives essentially.”