All of my experiences in love over the last few years have been short lived, sort of like sparks. They were intense, electric and full of potential but very brief. I titled this album ‘A Spark’, it’s a collection of stories about those intense experiences. A glimpse into the turbulence of my inner world – the overthinking, the romanticising, the sweet and sour moments.

This album is reflective of how my sound has morphed and evolved over the last few years since I began producing music in 2022. There are many different iterations of Tayla on this record.

The second half of the album was the most challenging to complete because I was writing about a heartbreak that was super fresh at the time. Recording those songs, listening to them constantly and then shooting/editing music videos felt like I was reliving those experiences over and over again. Like poking an open wound!

What kept me going was the fact that the songs, though painful, were really healing to write. I believe that it made them extra magical coming from such a raw place. They’re my favourite songs I’ve written to date.

I find I can never stick to just one sound, my taste/mood is ever changing and so the sounds on this record are quite different to anything you’ve heard from me before. It’s much like who I am as a person, at times I can be bright and light and at other moments I’m dark and sombre.

The emotional arc of the album is reflective of how it feels to experience an intense spark with someone. It begins with a flicker, it’s bright, loud and electric and as the album progresses it fades into a more sombre mood, each song becoming more stripped back, just like a spark fading.

I initially thought this album would be purely pop/electronic. Last April, I went on a road trip to my hometown and stumbled across the album ‘The Beauty of Survival’ by Foreign Fields. I fell in love with it (16 hours on the road gives you ample time to hit repeat!).

In combination with returning home, connecting with my past & obsessing over that record I realised I wanted the second half of A Spark to be more stripped back. When I first began writing music as a teen it was always just me and guitar so it feels like a full-circle moment to have finished the album on an acoustic note.

I’ve played music throughout my whole life but never quite knew what it meant to me. It was in 2020, I’d just emerged from the rock bottom of my life. I’d stopped playing music for two years prior and it was a very dark time. In that period without music I felt so lost and disconnected. It made me realise it is my life force like it’s something I need to do to feel happy and whole. I began writing again and from that moment onward I decided I’m doing this thing for real.

It can be tough at times, I feel like there is so much noise around us these days especially with social media so it can be hard not to be influenced by others. I have learnt over the last few years the power of working in silence. I’m typically a very excitable person so when I have an idea I naturally want to share it with the whole world. I’ve realised that with creative ideas especially they can easily become coloured by others opinions. These days I tend to keep my ideas to myself and share my projects once they’re somewhat/fully formed, I’ve found this keeps them most authentic to me.

One thing I’ve always struggled with is feeling like I didn’t have a story worth telling or a strong vision aesthetically. Creating this album has shown me that is not at all the case. I did not shy away from feeling every feeling deeply in the writing process. I’ve spent many sleepless nights dreaming of how I want all the songs to look on film – the visions I thought I wasn’t capable of having just came to me. I think being so emotionally close to this record is what has allowed me to hone in on a strong vision.

It’s hard to pinpoint one track, all of the songs are pretty personal. Even though they are about my life, they are not solely about me – they’re about feelings that we universally experience. It’s important to me that I’m vulnerable when I write. The artists who wrote songs that have carried me through hard times didn’t write those without leaving a piece of their heart in the music. If I can leave a piece of me in a song and that helps someone in any way, my job is done.