'The Goldbergs' Actress Hayley Orrantia Opens up About Personal Heartbreak on New 'The Way Out' EP

Hayley Orrantia is perhaps best known as the actress portraying Erica Goldberg on the hit TV show The Goldbergs, but she's also a talented singer and songwriter. While Orrantia gets to show off some of her talents on the popular sitcom, she also enjoys making music on her own, which is why she just released her EP, The Way Out, a very intimate and personal look at her own life.

"It's a very emotional EP," Orrantia told PopCulture.com. "It's kind of a long story but I dated someone and it ended up being very traumatic kind of ending. I found out he was stealing a lot of money from me, lying about who he was, all kinds of weird stuff. I ended up kind of packaging all of that feeling into this EP where each song represents a different stage of grief that I felt myself experiencing.

"One of which is called 'Okay,' which is the song that represents depression," she continued. "It was a very emotional thing, and I'm glad that I was able to kind of put it all into one. That way I can put it away and carry on with some hopefully happier, upbeat music, coming out very soon.

Orrantia never directly played any of The Way Out for her ex, but she is pretty confident he has already heard the songs that he unfortunately inspired.

"I did a PEOPLE magazine article where I kind of introduced what had happened, as well as the EP," Orrantia revealed. "So I think he knows now."

The 25-year-old cited one of her musical influences in having the courage to be so honest in her music.

"I was touring last spring, and I had a couple of songs I was writing for this situation," Orrantia recounted. "I said, 'I hope you guys don't mind. I'm gonna Taylor Swift my ex real quick.' That's exactly what I did. But truthfully, it's a long story. A longer story than just this. Not only did I want to tell this story to accompany why the music is a very sad, slow EP for the most part, but I do want this to be kind of a lesson that I can have other people take away from my experience, on trusting new people, who you bring into your life, being aware of who you let in your inner circle, trusting your gut.

"And so there's a lot of lessons to take away that I'm hoping to do college tours soon," she added, "and discuss all those things I've learned and give it to this generation."

The Goldbergs was just renewed for its seventh season. Download The Way Out on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty / Mike Coppola