Hope Tala

“I struggle with labels and I would rather be someone who just makes good music,” Hope Tala says over Zoom. London born and bred, Hope is a rising star melding anecdotal storytelling and fearless artistry to give way to an intrepid, thoughtful sound. A melting pot of influences, Hope’s creative avenues are hard to pin down as her style swirls together into a collage of genres. “I see it as a big mishmash of things that I’ve been listening to for a really long time,” she explains. “I always gravitate towards the late 90s, early noughties American R&B music, bossa nova, pop, indie as well. It’s all very true to the different parts of genres I like and blending everything together.”

Twenty-three-year-old Hope has long used her eccentric home city as the background to her art, churning out sensitive songs feeding into her daily life. “I love the diversity here. Most of my formative experiences and my favourite memories have happened here, so I primarily write from personal experience and London’s always kind of been the backdrop to that,” she tells me. London bound days drifting through museum galleries aside, the upcoming singer-songwriter has long plucked inspiration from books, pop culture and art