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 in West London to a Jamaican-descended Black father and a mother of British and Irish heritage.[5] She learned to play various musical instruments during her childhood.[1][5] Tala first started to sing at the age of 15 and wrote her first compositions during her study of music AS-Level.[6] At home, she experimented with
Logic Pro, producing demos which she published on
SoundCloud.[5][7][8] Tala describes her favourite instrument as the guitar, with a preference for nylon guitars but also enjoying acoustic and electric guitars.[9][10] Tala's moniker is derived from her birth name. Tala is a diminutive form of her middle name Natasha.[1]
Career
2018–2019: Studies, Starry Ache, Sensitive Soul
Tala studied
English literature at the
University of Bristol.[3] graduating with first-class honours in 2019.[4][11][12][10] Tala turned down the chance to pursue a master's degree at the
University of Cambridge in favor of pursuing a career in music.[4][5][7][11][10] Tala finished her first and second EPs, Starry Ache and Sensitive Soul, while she was at university.[11] She finished her single Lovestained as she was finishing her dissertation.[11][13]
Tala's first single was "Blue",[14] released in 2018 which was later included on the EP Starry Ache.[15] 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.[16][6] Tala's "Lovestained" would later be placed on Rolling Stone's "50 Best songs of 2019" list at #8.[17] The two singles would be compiled into her EP Sensitive Soul.[18]
2020–present: Girl Eats Sun and other singles
Tala's "All My Girls Like To Fight" was her first song in 2020.[19] It was around this time that Tala had declined pursuing a master's degree in favour of a career in music.[20] Speaking to Wonderland, Tala described music as a "one-shot career"[20] and that she would have "regretted continuing her studies" when there was the opportunity to continue on later in life.[20] Tala described writing "All My Girls Like To Fight" as "constructing an expansive narrative in a song"[20] and she "wanted to portray women having strength and agency in the narrative".[21] The song would be included in her EP Girl Eats Sun.[20]
Although Tala has released a number of EPs and singles, as of June 2022 none of them have entered any mainstream charts.[22]
Critical reception
Tala's All My Girls Like To Fight was listed as one of
Barack Obama's favourite songs of 2020.[4][23] Her song Tiptoeing was chosen by
Clara Amfo as
BBC Radio One's "Hottest Record in the World" on 19 October 2021.[24][25]
Personal life
Tala identifies as gay and as "black or mixed race".[5][11]
Discography
Extended plays
List of extended-plays, with selected details, chart positions
^Fearon-Melville, Sabrina (16 July 2021).
"GETTING MAD WITH HOPE TALA". today was so yesterday | tmrw.
Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.