Hope Tala Reveals Paul Epworth-Produced New Single And Video, ‘Mad’
‘Mad’ finds Hope Tala building on the bossa nova-inspired R&B that has seen her cement herself as one of 2021’s artists to watch.
West London-based genre hybrid Hope Tala has released her stunning new single, “MAD.” Her first new music since the release of her hotly-received recent EP, Girl Eats Sun, “MAD” finds Hope Tala building on the bossa nova-inspired R&B that has seen her cement herself as one of 2021’s artists to watch.
Premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, produced by the multi-Grammy award winning Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence + the Machine), and accompanied by a stunning video directed by Millicent Hailes, the song serves as a stellar entry point for those looking to discover Hope Tala.
Speaking on the release, Hope states, “I wrote ‘MAD’ about having feelings of frustration and hysteria in a long-distance relationship. It’s about being unable to communicate properly and feeling lost in loneliness—so it’s ironic that I wrote most of the song a week or two before the first lockdown started in the UK. Foreshadowing, almost.”
At this point in her career, Hope has already earned the endorsement of Barack Obama, fronted the Apple x Gay Times Elevate campaign, been spotlighted as a 2021 Vevo DSCVR Artist, and has had her music streamed over 30 million times, all while garnering acclaim from Billboard, Clash, Dork, GQ, MTV, Notion, Refinery29, The Line Of Best Fit, Vogue, Wonderland, and plenty more.
Tala has been building to this point since she was 14, learning Logic, and at 14-years-old, she taught herself the guitar. Upon gaining proficiency with recording, she uploaded “Peace Freestyle” to SoundCloud in 2016. Following a post by Instagram creative platform Art Hoe Collective, Illegal Civilization founder Mikey Alfred discovered the track and spun it on Pharrell’s Apple Music Beats 1 radio show.
The momentum continued when she released her Starry Ache EP in 2018. Just a year later she released her Sensitive Soul EP . “Jealous,” “Anywhere,” and “D.T.M.” each gained traction on DSPs, as “Lovestained” eclipsed 18.2 million streams. Rolling Stone placed the latter at No.8 on its “50 Best Songs of 2019.” These accolades paved the way for Girl Eats Sun, released in 2020.
