Just like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake steaming up the dance floor past 4am alongside go-go boys at a legendary Cheetah’s Sunday night party celebrating the release of Inaya Day’s ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’, we’re here once again celebrating her latest release as if there’s no tomorrow. Bringing her iconic top line vocals to the wildly popular UK disco project Golden Gate’s ‘My Name Is Love‘, Inaya Day continues an extraordinary musical journey—one that includes check points such as joining the Toolroom family and working with icons like Michael Jackson, Missy Elliott, Mousse T., and beyond.
Golden Gate’s leading duo, Tee Cooper and Harper Lake, are on a mission to create disco and house music with real instruments and people, an approach that has earned support from tastemakers such as BBC Radio Introducing, Mousse T., François K, Skream, Danny Krivit, and many more. Alongside the powerful release on The Disco Express, we connected with Tee Cooper, Harper Lake and Inaya Day for an exclusive interview to offer a peek into their world and the creative direction behind ‘My Name Is Love’.
‘My Name Is Love’, what a good perspective to keep in mind, we are all love yeah? Do you have any introspection to share about the release?
Golden Gate: Harper’s inspiration for the original lyrics were about a young woman lost in the madness of the city looking for something she can’t find, this song is about a conversation with what she finds on that search, the spirit of love. Inaya has added her own resonance on there too when we have spoken, relating it to how God is love. Whatever way you read it as you say in the question it’s about looking for, and finding universal love and connection with something bigger than yourself, and we all need that.
Inaya Day: Well, we all should be Love. The message of this track to me is that there’s no need to look outside yourself to heal and surge forward. God is Love and Love is God. I believe that the Spirit of God is within us, so we have the innate ability and tools to have our lives be as we make them. That’s what this song means to me.
How did this collaboration with Inaya Day come to light? When did you first get in contact and do you recall when you first discovered her music?
Golden Gate: We have been fans of Inaya’s for years, going back to her work with Mousse T, Strictly Rhythm, all of it. When we had this song up and running with a good studio demo from all the musicians we spent some time putting together a list of our dream vocalists who could deliver emotion and power and Inaya was our top choice. We reached out and connected on music and the rest is history.
What is something you enjoyed about working with Inaya Day on this new release?
Golden Gate: It’s been a pleasure the whole way, we’ve been working remotely but we have lots of communication, video calls etc. Inaya just brings this classic feel and energy to her work, she’s one of a few vocalists that just IS house music. Aside from her vocals and her incredible track record, just the fact she’s a genuine soul and someone who is nice to work with, it goes a long way in this business.
If you could break one world record what would it be?
Inaya Day: It would be the World Record for the person who’s changed the most lives for good and brought the most joy through their music.
Golden Gate: Longest domino run, although someone else would have to set it up I’ll take the glory.
Lol! Inaya, you’ve sung behind icons like Michael Jackson, Al Green, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Big Daddy Kane, and even co-wrote the hook for Missy Elliott’s ‘Gossip Folks’. What’s one surprising studio secret or career-shaping lesson you learned from working in rooms with such giants that still influences your artistry today?
Inaya Day: I learned that it helps to maintain the feel, sound and vibe of the artist when building vocals around what they’ve already done. If they can hear themselves, they usually love the outcome.
Golden Gate, can you make a short introduction to each member of the band please?
Golden Gate: The core of Golden Gate itself is just me, Tee and Harper, we write and produce most of the music from Leeds, UK. Then its a big gang of people who play in the studio and live at different times. First up we have Dubsworth out of LA who writes and plays all the bass, maybe the most important part of any good disco track and he’s killer, classically trained but with great feel too. We have a lot of inside jokes because we have known each other for years.
We have Tom O’Brien on keys, an amazing up and coming jazz player from Leeds. Ali on Percussion. We often work with an amazing guitarist called Rich Jevons who tours with classic acts like Tavares and The Three Degrees. Last, we have a load of amazing singers who kind of rotate, Adeleye Omotayo, Alyssa, Louie McDonald, Katie Ryan have all played with us in the last year. Oh and shout out to Parthenope, an incredible sax player and singer and old friend who plays with us when she can.
Anything currently in the works with The Disco Express? In a nutshell, what is their story and how did you get attached to it?
Golden Gate: Still promoting ‘My Name Is Love’ for right now, working on a plan to finish a lot more music this year. The Disco Express are really taking off around the world and we are grateful to them for seeing the potential in us early on in our journey.
Inaya, along with your releases ‘Give My Love’ on Glitterbox and most recently ‘Hung Up’ on Toolroom’s Amsterdam 2025 compilation. What were some of the inspirations or messages behind these releases? How did these collaborations with the artists and labels develop?
Inaya Day: ‘Give My Love’ is inspired by someone who met a guy at an event through a mutual friend. He’s not in a relationship and she’s letting him know that she’s there for him and ready to give him her love. In the case of this record, Art of Tones contacted my team and asked for a collab and ‘Give My Love’ was born.
‘Hung Up’ is a collaboration between Seb Skalski and Myself. He, like Ewan, contacted me on Instagram and asked if we could “please make a song together.” He sent me the track, I wrote the song to it, recorded it, sent Seb the stems, and there was ‘Hung Up’. He wasn’t too keen on the lyrical content at first. I don’t think he vibed with the telephone-relationship metaphor, but he’s feeling it now. As far as the labels as concerned, some producers already have label deals and others, we shop the track around to labels that we think are a fit for the record.
Iyana, what is your favorite note to sing?
Wow! I’ve never been asked that question. My favorite note to sing is “D.” The musical note, D, is linked to the Sacral Chakra and is related to our Life force creativity, emotions, and ability to feel and express joy.
What are some house music, disco or soulful events you have enjoyed playing or just attending recently?
Golden Gate: Saw Daphni play a banging all night set in London recently, plenty of disco and house inspired stuff in there, along with some darker music too.
Inaya Day: Some of the best Soulful House parties that I’ve been to lately have been in New York City and Baltimore. These days, Sting International, 718 Sessions, and Deep Sugar parties are the ones I rock with. But I have to mention that there are many events and festivals that give me Soulful House joy all over the world.
How would you describe the disco scene? Who is currently on top, who are your all-time favs and are there any other indie artists you enjoy?
Golden Gate: I think it’s a broad church, you have classic acts like Louis Vega and Masters at Work still doing amazing work, and classic UK DJs like Dave Lee. All time faves would definitely include Danny Krivit and Francois K. But then there are loads of great new producers. On the more like tip I love Another Taste, and also we have great people locally like Galaxians.
Are there any songs you like to cover? Maybe even some non-disco songs you like to disco-fy?
Golden Gate: We already have two covers although they are work in progress for now so I’ll keep them a secret. Non disco, hmm, for some reason I’ve been listening to a lot of Hall & Oates recently I think you could disco that.
Haha nice one! A few for Inaya, can you share a little about the making of ‘Our Revival’ with Ewan McVicar on TSZR?
Inaya Day: Oh yeah. Ewan hit me up on Instagram and said he’s a big fan and wondered if I’d like to “make some music together.” He sent me a few tracks and I sent over a song that I’d previously written called ‘Festival of Life’. We decided to use that song. He produced it, changed the name and voila! – out came ‘Our Revival’.
What are 5 tracks you would mix into your set if you were to DJ? Have you ever tried to DJ?
Inaya Day: When I was a kid, people called me DJ Pushbutton because I would make mix tapes from songs that played on the radio and match the beats by counting measures and guessing tempos. That was the extent of my DJing, so far. But, I do know that I would definitely play ‘Elevator’, ‘Deep Inside’, ‘Gypsy Woman’, ‘Found a Cure’, and ‘Feelin’ Feelin”.
How are you connected with Deeplomatik and do you have any insight to share about Seb’s project?
Inaya Day: I actually know him only through cyber communication. Seb and I have never met. I do know that he is very meticulous and a perfectionist about his music, which is a wonderful thing.
What was one of your favorite parts or lessons learned while playing Dorothy in The Wiz?
Inaya: One of my favorite lessons that I learned while playing Dorothy in the WIZ is to always be prepared and take nothing for granted. Long story.
Your breakout hit ‘Keep Pushin’, created with Boris Dlugosch and Mousse T., launched you into house-music royalty, followed by dance-floor anthems like ‘Nasty Girl’, ‘Feel It’, ‘I Am Tha 1’, and ‘Can’t Stop Dancing’. How did you first get introduced to the house music scene?
A friend of mine introduced me to house music by putting her headphones on my ears. I loved it immediately and still do. As for the scene itself, touring for my first project, ‘KEEP PUSHIN”, introduced me to the scene.
Are you still in touch with any of these artists, especially Mousse T? Any good memories to share with these house music artists or some takeaways from any of these collaborations?
Yes indeed, I’m still in touch with a few of these artists and even became friends with some – but they’ve all influenced my life in one way or another.
Your moto of the year?
Golden Gate: To quote Inaya, Keep Pushin’..
Iyana Day: Consistency is key!
Random one, have you ever heard the song ‘Golden Gate’ by Sound Tribe Sector Nine? Its a good one to check it out haha
Golden Gate: Ha I have not, but just checking it out now, sounds wild..
