Tiffany Ruan was 17 when she decided to follow her dreams of becoming a performer.
But she almost didn’t.
“A week before I posted that video, I had made up my mind. I told myself that I’m going to go for the more realistic, more stable route and just pursue, like, engineering,” she told Global News.
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She changed her mind after a trip to Italy with the Wichita Collegiate School’s choir, The Madrigals, during her junior year.
The choir stopped at a wishing well in Spoleto.
A video of Ruan singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” into the well, much like Snow White, ended up changing her life.
“Hallelujah” was written by Cohen in 1984 on his “Various Positions” album. The song grew more popular when it was covered by John Cale in 1991.
It was repopularized by Jeff Buckley in 1994 and again in 2001 when it was featured in the movie “Shrek.”
The song reappeared in international singles charts, including the American Billboard Hot 100, in 2016 after Cohen’s passing.
It has since become a world-renowned song covered by many artists and featured in a variety of mediums.
Cohen is said to have written between 80 to 190 draft verses for the song.
It is believed he actually wrote 150. He recalled sitting on the floor of his room-filling his notebook.
The song took about five years to write, and it was reconfigured multiple times for different audiences.
The lyrics to the song were drastically changed and varied in live and recorded performances from 1984 and 1993 .
The album the song was on was actually rejected by Columbia records and ignored after an independent label released it.
found a well in italy with a nice echo 😊❤️ missing this trip already pic.twitter.com/tTkJeFo97k
— Tiffany Day (@tiffdidwhat) March 28, 2017
There are actually 300 known versions of the song that have been recorded.
The video of Ruan singing in public quickly went viral after it was posted online.
Matt Webber, Ruan’s high school vocal music teacher, said the moment was a “special” one.
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“So angelic and lovely, keep following your dreams,” said one Twitter user.
“You have an amazing voice keep singing!” said another.
“Girl you can sing … no need for a well!” and another.
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The encouragement from people online helped Ruan, a classically trained pianist and violinist, decide to become a professional musician rather than an engineer.
“Now that this video has kind of gotten big and I’ve been presented with all these opportunities, I think my mindset has changed and I’d really love to pursue music professionally,” she said.
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And that’s exactly what she did.
Ruan now goes by her stage name Tiffany Day.
“I want to produce music that has that effect on people and help people have a better day,” Ruan said.
“Especially songs that are more strong in the message they give. I feel like that’s something that’s really important to me.”
She has more than 997,000 followers and millions of views on YouTube and went on tour with Blu DeTigher in 2022.
“I make house music now, but y’all ain’t ready for that yet,” she wrote on Instagram.
Check out the performance in the video below.
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