Hope Tala
Hope Natasha McDonald (born 18 November 1997), known professionally as Hope Tala, is a British singer-songwriter. Her musical style has been described as pulling from R&B, Latin, neo soul, and bossa nova. Early life. Tala was born on 18 November 1997 in London, England. Her father is British Jamaican and her mother is of British and Irish descent. Tala has described her upbringing as "amazing", with a stable family and encouragement from her family. She has said that there were "equal amounts of discipline and love" when she was growing up. Tala first played music at 8  years old, when she played the clarinet. Tala would go to regular music classes every Saturday, with a "mixture of clarinet, orchestra, and classics". Alongside the clarinet, Tala played the oboe and the double bass, later describing her playing as "rubbish". Tala's favourite musicians as a child were Take That, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Beyoncé, with whom she stated she had a "dangerous [obsession]". Tala first started to sing at the age of 15 at the suggestion of her music teacher, Miss Raven. She wrote her first compositions during her study of music AS-Level, at the age  of 17. At home, she experimented with Logic Pro, producing demos which she published on SoundCloud. Tala describes her favourite instrument as the guitar, with a preference for nylon guitars but also enjoying acoustic and electric guitars. She is a self-taught guitarist. Career. 2018–2019: Studies, "Starry Ache", "Sensitive Soul". During her time at the University of Bristol, she studied English literature, graduating with first-class honours in 2019. Tala turned down the chance to pursue a master's degree at the University of Cambridge in favor of pursuing a career in music. Tala has stated that she intends to  return to her university studies in the future and pursue her master's degree, in addition to her goal of winning a Grammy. Tala finished her first and second EPs, "Starry Ache" and "Sensitive Soul", while she was at university. She finished her single "Lovestained" as she was finishing her dissertation. Her thesis was titled "The presence of white spectatorship in Kendrick Lamar’s "To Pimp a Butterfly"". In it, Tala examines the white gaze, arguing that Lamar sees the white spectator as being both fascinated and fearful of black masculinity. Tala's moniker is derived from her birth name . Tala is a diminutive form of her middle name Natasha. Tala was discovered following the submission of her demos to the Instagram account Arthoecollective. Mikey Alfred, founder of streetwear brand Illegal Civilization, discovered Tala's music through the account. Alfred first played Tala's demo at a Beats 1 show hosted with Pharrell Williams. Tala's first single was "Blue", released in 2018 when she was 20 years old, which was later included on the EP "Starry Ache". The title "Starry Ache" is a quotation from Donna Tartt's novel "The Goldfinch". She would proceed to release her singles "Lovestained  and D.T.M." in 2019. "Lovestained" was written as Tala was working towards her degree in English literature. Tala's "Lovestained" would later be placed on "Rolling Stone"'s "50 Best songs of 2019" list at #8. The two singles would be compiled into her EP "Sensitive Soul". 2020–present: "Girl Eats Sun" and other singles. Tala's "All My Girls Like To Fight" was her first song in 2020. It was around this time that Tala had declined pursuing a master's degree in favour of a career in music. Speaking to "Wonderland", Tala described music as a "one-shot  career" and that she would have "regretted continuing her studies" when there was the opportunity to continue on later in life. Tala described writing "All My Girls Like To Fight" as "constructing an expansive narrative in a song" and she "wanted to portray women having strength and agency in the narrative". The song would be included in her EP "Girl Eats Sun". Artistry and public image. Tala's "All My Girls Like To Fight" was listed as one of Barack Obama's favourite songs of 2020. According to "GQ", Tala found out that she was included on the list from  a second-hand source, stating to "Dork" that it was through an Instagram comment, having switched off her phone at the time to watch "Strictly Come Dancing" with her mother. Her song "Tiptoeing" was chosen by Clara Amfo as BBC Radio One's "Hottest Record in the World" on 19 October 2021. Stating that she abandoned the concept of "genre" within her work, she describes her process as going along with what is natural to her and what she likes. She has described her musical style, speaking to "Gay Times", as "the late 90s, early noughties American R&B music, bossa  nova, pop, indie as well." Speaking to "British Vogue", she stated that she wanted to create "a sound that I'd never heard before but wanted to listen to", and that the resulting product was a synthesis of bossa nova with Latin influences, R&B and soul. Tala states that she has a soft spot for the Neo soul genre, stating that the female-dominated genre was quite rare "particularly in black music", describing it as an intelligent and self-aware genre. Speaking to "TMRW Magazine", Tala stated she was raised on contemporary R&B and soul, and that Latin and bossa  nova had an influence on those genres. Those influences had inspired songs that she listened to as a child, such as "1 Thing" by Amerie, "Beautiful" by Snoop Dogg feat Pharrell Williams and Charlie Wilson, and "Señorita" by Justin Timberlake. Her musical works often draw their inspiration from authors that she admires, such as William Shakespeare, J. D. Salinger, Donna Tartt, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ruth Ozeki, Françoise Sagan, Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou, and Audre Lorde. Tala describes Sylvia Plath as her favourite poet. Speaking to "gal-dem", Tala stated that she cannot remember the names of famous  actors, but that she would "remember authors' names and book names forever". Her EP "Sensitive Soul" was inspired by "Eve's Hollywood" by Eve Babitz and "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. Tala derives inspiration from objects of desire and biblical references, such as the Garden of Eden. Tala's single "Party Sickness" drew from the social experiences faced by youth struggling to acclimatise to social situations following the COVID-19 pandemic. Tala writes about her personal experiences as a queer person of colour, finding it important to write music that "queer people can see themselves in" but not "[forcing] my own  narrative onto anyone". Personal life. Tala is bisexual. She came out at the age of 14 to her parents, who accepted her. Speaking to "Complex Magazine", Tala described her difficulties in finding a sense of identity and the lack of representation that LGBT individuals face in mainstream media, music, and literature. Tala, who was born to a Jamaican father and British-Irish mother, considers herself Black or Mixed Race. Describing her experiences as an individual coming from two different backgrounds, Tala stated she felt caught between two cultures, having to navigate between two differing cultural spaces as a child. She  describes her interactions with her peers and how she felt the need to change the way she spoke navigating between different cultures, being asked, "You're black, why do you speak like you're posh?"