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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from Soul music, soul ...

, and bossa nova. Tala released her first studio album, '' Hope Handwritten'', in February 2025.

Early life

Hope Tala was born in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

to a Jamaican-descended Black father and a mother of British and Irish heritage. She learned to play various musical instruments during her childhood. Tala first started to sing at the age of 15 and wrote her first compositions during her study of AS-Level music. At home, she experimented with

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...

, producing demos which she published on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

. Tala describes her favourite instrument as the guitar, with a preference for nylon-string guitars but also enjoying acoustic and electric guitars. Her moniker is derived from her birth name; "Tala" is a diminutive form of her middle name, Natasha.

Career

2018–2019: Studies, ''Starry Ache'', ''Sensitive Soul''

Tala studied

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. graduating with first-class honours in 2019. Tala turned down the chance to pursue a master's degree at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in favor of pursuing a career in music. 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. Tala's first single was "Blue", released in 2018 which was later included on the EP ''Starry Ache''. 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 Stones "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''.

Critical reception

Tala's ''All My Girls Like To Fight'' was listed as one of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's favourite songs of 2020. Her song "Tiptoeing''"'' was chosen by

Clara Amfo Clara Amfo is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1. Early life and education Born to Ghanaian parents. She has five siblings. Her father, w ...

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hi ...

's "Hottest Record in the World" on 19 October 2021.

Personal life

Tala is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and "black or mixed race".

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tala, Hope Living people 1997 births 21st-century Black British women musicians Alumni of the University of Bristol Bisexual singer-songwriters Bisexual women singers Black British LGBTQ people 21st-century Black British people Black British singers British bisexual musicians British bisexual women British LGBTQ singer-songwriters British women singer-songwriters English people of Irish descent English people of Jamaican descent LGBTQ people from London Singers from London