Singer and songwriter Tiffany Day, best known for her song “If I Don’t Text You First,” performed Saturday night at the Chinese Student Association and SEE’s Chinatown Cafe and delivered a message of fearlessness and self-determination.
We’re all going to die one day, so we should stop limiting ourselves, Day said.
“You can’t hold yourself back from doing things that you want to do in your life because of some fear or if you’re scared of judgment,” the electropop singer told The Diamondback. “If not now, then when?”
Before Day took the stage, students paid $1 for a meal ticket and lined up for a variety of foods from local Chinese restaurants, including beef and crab shumai, scallion pancakes, pineapple buns, milk tea and aloe vera juice, all served by CSA’s executive board members.
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Attendees also entered a raffle boasting prizes such as a new Kodak digital camera, a red panda plush and a panda blind box toy.
CSA president and a junior nursing major Vanessa Ho said Chinatown Cafe was a success and admired the energy of the crowd.
“It’s been great for her, it’s been great for us, so I definitely think that we want to do this in the future,” Ho said.
Day’s performance marked the first time an artist has joined CSA for the Chinatown Cafe event since it started three years ago, but Ho said the group hopes to host more special guests in the future.
CSA cultural chair and junior computer science major Sophia Lin said planning the event began over the summer and was a collaborative process among CSA members. The work was demanding, but was worth the effort, Lin said.
The Grand Ballroom’s lights dimmed and chatter among attendees ceased in anticipation for Day’s arrival. Taking the stage with her drummer, the crowd went wild as the singer began the energetic set, bouncing and dancing along as her voice soared.
Students jumped, cheered and sang along to Day’s hits, a few of which came from the recently released Lover Tofu Fruit album.
After a string of viral EPs and singles, Day released her first studio album, Lover Tofu Fruit in September after a year and a half of work and emotional reflection that she channeled through her songwriting — a process she described as difficult but cathartic.
“When I finish writing about something that is really tough to talk about or feel, it always helps me process the emotions better,” Day said. “It’s nice, because I can listen back to it and be like, ‘Damn, this artist really knows me,’ because it literally is me.”
Halfway through the set, Day paused to play two truths and a lie with the audience. Prizes – such as a Finding Nemo keychain – were thrown out to those who guessed correctly.
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As the performance came to a close, Day thanked everyone in the audience for coming out and supporting her show, which is only a “sneak peek” at what’s to come on the Lover Tofu Fruit tour that begins in February and will be “20 times more intense,” according to Day.
Day encouraged attendees not to limit themselves based on their own or others’ perceptions of their future.
“In a lot of Asian cultures, we’re taught to go the traditional route,” Day said. “If you’re gonna spend your entire life doing that while deep down inside, you wanted to do something else, that’s the worst way to live your life. … Take life by the fucking horns.”
