At the age of 12, Westenra entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album done for friends and family; only about 1000 copies were made. Some time later, after finishing her album, both Hayley and her sister, Sophie, busked in the Christchurch streets. The pair drew a large crowd, and one woman asked the girls if they had ever recorded anything. This woman turned out to be a journalist with CTV, and asked Hayley to appear on air. A concert promotion company watched the show, and signed her to the Universal New Zealand Label.