Gelli Haha

Angel Abaya was born in Boise, Idaho,^[1] on September 23, 1996.^[2] She is of Filipino descent through her father, and English and Irish descent through her mother.^[3] Her maternal grandmother is a music professor in Great Falls, Montana, and plays the pipe organ at her church.^[4] During her pre-adolescent years, Abaya began listening to jazz music which she credits with helping her find "more self expression" in her "voice". She began playing the violin at the age of six and later, the piano at the age of eight, and also partook in choir and orchestra during her childhood.

During her adolescence, she began playing the guitar but did not do so seriously until she became an adult. Abaya joined Boise's music scene at the age of eighteen and was a member in several bands, one of which led her to receive an invitation from a performing arts group named LED.^[5]

She eventually became the group's program director. Abaya worked in the Treefort Music Fest's communications department and as a teacher at the music education non-profit organization Boise Rock School. Her job consisted of creating blogs, communicating with media journalists, project managers and graphic designers.^[6] She also performed at the festival.^[7]

In 2020, after signing with Earth Libraries, Abaya released her debut extended play, Quaranmood alongside an accompanying short film. The short film was created using funds from the COVID Cultural Commissioning Fund, a grant for Boise based artists during the COVID-19 lockdowns.^[8] Following the EP's release, Abaya began working on her debut studio album, The Bubble.^[9] While she developed the album, Abaya released two standalone singles, a cover of Joni Mitchell's song "River"^[10] and "Sleepy Shine".^[11] She moved to Los Angeles in 2021 and worked as a freelance journalist.^[12]

The Bubble was released on May 5, 2023, and was preceded by the singles "Over/On/Under",^[13] "Through The Glass",^[14] "Better",^[15] and its title track.^[16] She embarked on a tour with her backing band to promote the album.^[7]

Following the album's release, Abaya began feeling "unwelcome" in her life. As a result, she developed Gelli Haha, a fictional character living in "the Gelliverse" who serves as a representation of her inner child. Abaya has described Haha as being a solo project and a project with collaborators, as well as a band consisting of her, her collaborator Sean Guerin of De Lux and her backup dancers she dubbed the "Gelli Company". She replaced her entire wardrobe with red outfits and began fleshing out her vision for Haha with Guerin's help.

Over the next two years, the two worked together on her second studio album and first as Haha, Switcheroo.^[17] Switcheroo was released on June 27, 2025 via Innovative Leisure and was preceded by the singles "Bounce House",^[18] "Funny Music",^[19] "Spit",^[20] and "Normalize".^[21]

Abaya's music released under her birth name has been labeled as psychedelic punk^[13] and indie rock^[22] by music journalists while she self-described it as singer-songwriter music.^[23] Each song in Quaranmood was written about a specific emotion Abaya would have on a daily basis during the COVID-19 lockdown.^[8] The Bubble explores the concept of people putting themselves in various bubble such as interpersonal relationships, identities and the resulting psychological effects.^[24] Abaya said the album stemmed from a time in her life when she felt like an anxious people pleaser.^[25] It primarily featured guitar driven pop, rock and folk music.^[26]

Abaya's debut as Gelli Haha marked a shift in her music towards synthesizer-based experimental pop^[19] and electroclash releases.^[27][22] She attributed making music in the former genre to wanting to "meet in the middle" of pop music and experimental music as the former was "too boring" while the latter was "too unpalatable". Abaya began writing the album with an interest in making music sounding like a combination of the band Animal Collective and the singer-songwriter Kate Bush.^[28]

Songs in Switcheroo received comparisons to pop art,^[29] Sid and Marty Krofft, Giorgio Moroder, Devo,^[28] Caroline Polachek,^[30] She revisited her childhood musical memories and took inspiration from her favorite artists of the period including Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne. Abaya describes Haha as existing "somewhere between Studio 54 and Area 51".^[31] Haha's aesthetic notably centers around the use of red,^[32] and children's television series.^[22] Further inspirations for Haha's style and music included the philosopher Osho and his belief that seriousness was a "disease", vaudeville, the record label DFA Records and New York City's Club Kids.^[17]