By Kyle Horne
Photo Credit: Universal Music UK
Haiden Henderson – the internet’s coolest, hottest new rockstar – has been on a steady rise over the last couple of years. He’s been hard at work, releasing three full length EPs since 2024, and has headlined venues across the world, in the USA and Europe, and performed a very special show here in the UK in London.
But now his career is set to skyrocket.
In February, it was announced that Haiden Henderson would be going on tour with one of the biggest boybands in the world: 5 Seconds of Summer, opening for them in Glasgow, Birmingham, London, Manchester, and Cardiff, at major arenas. I sat down with the American rockstar a couple of days before his first show, while he was still back home in LA, eagerly anticipating the tour ahead of him.
Let me set the scene: it is 9.30am in LA, and Haiden is running behind schedule. My guess is that Haiden has a full, packed morning of interviews, before tour rehearsals later on in the day.
The first thing that stood out to me was that Haiden had remembered me from his London gig, which we go on to talk about in detail. “I feel like you shot my show. Did you shoot my set?” he asks, and I immediately smile. It’s so heart-warming that despite his busy schedules and many shows, he remembers everyone at his gigs. I met some of Haiden’s fans in the crowd that night, who posed for some of my photos, and they told me just how excited they were, having watched Haiden’s rise online, and travelled in from Dublin, and some from Spain. I was ashamed to admit that I hadn’t heard Haiden’s music before the show, but you best believe those in the front row ensured I left a clued-up fan.
Haiden’s music, as he describes it, is similar to 5SOS, “except there’s one of me”.
He admits that he makes “flirtier, occasionally hornier” music, where the energy switches between anthemic boyband-style tracks and more introspective songs.
“I consider myself a bit more of the Britney Spears of this line-up (the 5SOS openers), because I just make girly pop music”. I agree. His music is regarded for the “girlies”, but it’s very unique, because he incorporates rock into his sound.
“It’s a little bit more genre-bendy,” Haiden says. “I have electric guitars on it, and when I play it live, it just feels kind of rock and roll.”
I ask about his experience playing live sets. For someone who has only ever played smaller venues, he is full of energy on stage, and harnesses the crowd’s [energy] like a seasoned pro. “This will be my first time [on tour] with the boys. It’ll be my first time going to Cardiff and Birmingham, too. I guess I’ve opened in Manchester, but I haven’t headlined there yet.”
On his first headline, “I think I went into it not really knowing if I had fans, and I came out of it realising that I had fans.”
I added that he may have gained more listeners in Islington (where he performed at The Garage) as the show had to be moved outside towards the end, and fans and onlookers congregated at a nearby park.
“That’s right! That was a crazy night.”
“During every show on the tension tour, we had people passing out unfortunately, because the venues are steamy and hot, and the songs are upbeat, and people are jumping and dancing and having a great time.”
“At the London show, a girl ended up passing out at the end, and had a seizure from the lights, I think, and we had to evacuate the venue during the encore.”
“Once we found out she was okay and everything was alright, we all went across the street and played a few more songs in the local park. It was so memorable”.
“And then the girl that had passed out sent me a DM from the hospital, and she was listening to my music while she was on the stretcher and was still dancing.”
The fan culture in Haiden’s ‘Haider Nation’ is very strong. At the show, fans in the front row looked out for one another, laughing together, watching TikTok’s together while waiting for Haiden and bonded over their love of similar music.
Haiden admits that he was worried at the start: “The UK and Europe leg of the tour sold out in, like, forty-five seconds. It sold out so quickly that we thought that the ticket website had glitched and never put the tickets up. We were so p**sed and were like ‘what the f**k happened?!’.”
But as it turns out, Haiden did officially sell out his tour, resulting in packed venues all round. It will be a similar situation when he supports 5 Seconds of Summer at major arenas, including the biggest in the UK – Manchester’s Co-Op Live.
Haiden reveals he wanted more than anything to support 5SOS: “We had been talking about the 5SOS tour for maybe five months before, and we had known that it was happening. But every single day that passed, it seemed less and less likely that we were going to play any of the shows.”
I asked Haiden where he was when he found out the news, almost like a ‘were you sitting down?’. He reveals that he wasn’t, and was on his daily “hot girl walk”, where he struts about town with his headphones in.
“I got a call from my manager, and she said, ‘you’re not gonna f**king believe this.’ I mean, just when we had given up all hope!”
“I started jumping up and down; freaking out.”
Haiden revealed to me, something he says he has never told anyone before, besides his manager and his agent: “Anytime it hits a certain time on my clock, I make a wish. It’s not 11:11, it’s a different time. And I manifest certain things, because I’m just a little bit neurotic.” He didn’t reveal to me the time he manifests, but I suppose that’s because he doesn’t want to jinx anything. Although, if I’m being completely honest, Haiden’s 5SOS support slot is less likely a manifestation and more a well-deserved accomplishment, as a result of his sheer vocal talent and showmanship.
Having only performed at smaller venues, I asked Haiden whether he feels ready to perform in arenas, once again mentioning the London show, as it only had a capacity of a mere 600. This time around, Haiden will be performing in venues that dwarf The Garage – venues that are almost 40 times its size.
“Honestly, I do feel ready. I’m really excited about it. I don’t know if you felt this way [at the show], but I feel like we, as a band, with the songs and the set, have been bigger than the smaller rooms we’ve been playing… because we’re just starting out, you know?”
“I feel there’s a big stage that’s waiting for us, so I’m really excited to test that theory.”
I smirk and reveal that I wrote in our review of the London gig that Haiden was “arena ready”. The truth is, his live performances deserve much more spotlight as they uplift his songs to new levels.
He’s not nervous as such, but is doing everything he can to prepare: “I’m battling a little bit of sickness right now, so I’m taking a lot of vitamins, and I’m just going to watch a lot of 5SOS performance videos and hype myself up a little bit.”
In terms of what’s next for the rockstar, Haiden reveals that he’s working on his debut album: “My first album, I’m finally graduating past EPs!” he exclaims, sounding relieved. “It’s my first big boy project!”
“On this album I want to make music that doesn’t sound like anybody else, but at the same time, that does sound like me. The goal is to be more myself than I’ve ever been.”
With an extensive discography under his belt, and an upcoming debut album on the horizon, which Haiden reveals will be released after his final US dates for tension, Henderson will be one to watch, and I’m so excited for him for the 5 Seconds of Summer shows.
To catch Haiden before he heads back across the pond, limited tickets remain for 5 Seconds of Summer performing across the UK. Tickets are available here.
Unless otherwise stated, Text & Photography Copyright 2026 © Kyle Horne/ADRENALINE Magazine.
Casey Brockbank 
Kelsey McAndrew