After preparing her first album, she refused to release it as she was not satisfied with the result and started working on a new project, but following Universal Müzik's bankruptcy she spent a period searching for a new recording label.
The name of the album Sustuysam, was chosen as a result of Önal's preference to not respond to the criticisms of other people and to remain silent.
Its lead single "Kalbe Ben", ranked ninth on Billboard Türkiye's Türkçe Top 20 and an alien with a head made of disco ball appeared alongside Önal on its music video.
The company wanted to make a second music video, yet Önal refused to cooperate and suddenly disappeared and did not release any new works until 2014, when she returned to the market with the new single "Çak Bir Selam".
After releasing the EP, Önal immediately began preparations for her first studio album, but she did not like many of the initial pieces, so she set them aside and started writing and composing new songs.
[7] In December, at the end of a tour Önal said that "Hayal would be the name of my album, consisting of eight songs.
[12] In March, its lead single "Kalbe Ben" was broadcast on radios[13] and Ayşe Hatun Önal's first studio album Sustuysam was released by Sony BMG Music Turkey and Epic Records on 17 April 2008.
The lead single "Kalbe Ben", which features violin sounds,[15] discusses the disagreements between brain and heart.
[15] Ege Çubukçu is the rapper featured on "Bomba", and in radioman Michael Kuyucu's opinion the song's lyrics resemble to those of Önal's first single "Çeksene Elini".
[20] The album's only slow song was "Aslında",[15] performed in the form of a tribute by Ayşe Hatun Önal.
Billboard Türkiye's Atilla Aydoğdu, discussed Önal's songwriting, about which he said: "She also has a natural innate ability to express herself."
"[16] Naim Dilmener also made a similar comparison, saying "It's boring, but there's more contemporary electronic sound in it than Hande Yener's album.
"[16] DJ Suat Ateşdağlı described the album as a "beautiful combination of dance and electronic music".
"[21] Hikmet Demirkol from the same newspaper, found the album as a "bold step" in Turkey's music market.
[15] Radioman Michael Kuyucu stated that album was of good quality but could not be commercially successful, commenting: "There is not much to say for songs, because this type of music sounds like free vocals on a loop, and unfortunately most of the songs are soulless and emotionally weak, as in Hande Yener's album.
[14] In the video theater actor Umut Keskin,[25] could be seen as an alien with a head made out of disco ball, and this appearance was meant to represent human's heart.
[1] Önal herself portrayed a tall woman exploring the world with the disco ball-headed alien[2] and during the shooting danced in wet clay for 12 hours.
[27] Sony BMG insisted on making a second music video for the album, but the idea was rejected by Ayşe Hatun Önal.
From 2008 until 2014, she did not release any new songs for six years, and eventually returned to the market with the single "Çak Bir Selam".