Some of you reading this post may have some questions after reading the title. Who is Talya Parx? What has she done musically? Honest questions if you have not heard of her or her music. Those are honest questions any number of weeks, as Weekly Music Commentary has made a habit of featuring new artists from all genres. However, today you will leave this post with good knowledge of Tayla Parx, and you will definitely know about her musical accomplishments. As always, it’s good to start with her early life, and then we can look into her career. It won’t be long before you understand why the title of this post is a question about songwriting.
Taylor Monét Parks, known professionally as Tayla Parx was born in Dallas, Texas September 16, 1993. Her entertainment career began on the large screen. Tayla played the role of Little Inez in the 2007 musical movie Hairspray. Hairspray is a 2007 musical romantic comedy film based on the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John Waters’s 1988 comedy film of the same name. The 2007 film version of Hairspray was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman and has an ensemble cast including John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and Nikki Blonsky in her feature film debut. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the “pleasantly plump” teenager Tracy Turnblad as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV dance show and rallies against racial segregation.
Tayla also appeared in the television series Gilmore Girls, Everybody Hates Chris, Carpoolers, Bones, Victorious, and had a recurring role in the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP starring Keke Palmer. Such a beginning bodes well in order to gain connections that could help in the long run. Her musical talent would follow a good run as a child actor. She was signed as a songwriter by Jon Platt at Warner Chappell Publishing at age 19.
The next phase of her career would deliver a lot of music. In fact, Tayla Parx would not just be a songwriter. She would quickly become a hit songwriter. She has contributed to albums by Ariana Grande, Khalid, Jennifer Lopez, BTS, Jason Derulo, Pentatonix, Mariah Carey, The Internet, Camila Cabello, Fifth Harmony, and Chris Brown (featured on the track “Anyway” from his Royalty album). She has written with various artists/producers including Demi Lovato, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, LeAnn Rimes, DJ Mustard, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Normani, Tyler Hubbard (of Florida Georgia Line), Meghan Trainor, and Marcus & Martinus.
Tayla Parx’ accomplishments as a songwriter were well established a while before she began to work on her own material as a solo artist. Upon reading her songwriting discography it appeared like a list of the best music of the past several years. She’s not the first to make her way into the music industry via songwriting. Believe me she won’t be the last. However, even if you never heard of Tayla Parx before this post, many of the top artists of our day certainly have. They are even singing her songs.
I recently had a conversation with a friend about songwriting in general, and he experienced some regrets about not giving himself a chance to write songs. I understand many people left with “what ifs” in their lives. Especially when reading about a very talented young songwriter like Parx. What many fail to understand is the amount of work and natural talent that go into successful songwriting. Hit songwriting is even more difficult. It requires a knowledge and feel for the times and how the audience of listeners responds. Even though the songwriter might take that knowledge for granted, it’s still a component of their overall talent.
Tayla just released her second studio album Coping Mechanisms and like most new artists, she continues to push and work hard for any success received. She spoke in a recent interview about the barriers in place to impede her successful climb. “When you’re a former child actor, people think you’re pigeonholed into that sector of entertainment for life. When you’re young, people don’t think you’ve lived enough life to make music that appeals to everyone. When you’re a woman, you’re not taken as seriously as the men, who will often speak on your behalf. When you’re black, people will expect your creativity to be confined to hip-hop, even if you, like Parx, are not a hip-hop artist.”
Many might think that because of the successes Tayla Parx has already had, that everything from here should be quite easy. Not so at all. Immediately a few very successful women songwriters come to mind: Carole King and Diane Warren. Both have enjoyed very long, successful careers but each can tell you they have had bumps in the road. Carole King though has enjoyed a career as an artist as well. Nevertheless, I think most think of her as a songwriter first. For King that’s just fine. Will that be the career path for Tayla Parx? Maybe.