Hope Tala

9th March 2022

A sold out show at Village Underground with the capacity of 700 people was the warm welcome Hope Tala deserved. Having spent a lot of time in the States, this was her first show back in her home city since August 2019. She was supported by Ruti, who was phenomenal and I’m pleased to say she’ll be supporting another artist I’m seeing later this year so rest assured, a full review of her support set is coming. A cartoon drawing of Hope is displayed on the screen and the same graphic is available on a limited run t-shirt.

Hope Tala waved with both hands as she ran out on stage to the sweet Spanish guitar of All My Girls Like To Fight. She looked incredibly nervous and it definitely reflected in her voice. She made gestures that echoed the lyrics, like a punch on the word fight and signalling shush on “don’t make a sound.” She was wearing an oversized maroon bowling shirt, a white tie crop top, black jeans and green Axel Arigato Catfish trainers. Barefaced and beaming, star-shaped balloons on either side of the stage. She definitely had fun with the rap section of the song, her voice felt a more grounded. However, the “mm-mm” felt more rigid than the studio version. When the song was over she screamed “London!” As the bossanova melody of Cherries played in the background she exclaimed, “I’m trying so hard not to cry right now.” She danced a little as she did a 360. The nerves were easing but not all the way there, but her voice definitely improved, the runs ran a lot smoother. She looked a lot more comfortable on stage too, she bounced from each side of the stage to the other. At times she looked sad, doe-eyed. She later would mention that she’s a huge crier, so it wasn’t unjustifiable at all.

Jealous was accompanied by lime green spotlights dancing all over the stage. The pace became a little more melancholic than the rest of the show, but her voice never faltered. The nerves seemed to settle as Hope settled in on stage. She took us all the way back to her first single, Blue. Spiralling spotlights met by smoke lit purple from the colour changing lights hugged Hope Tala in warmth the way the reassurance of the audience singing a long made her feel more comfortable. And that’s all you can ask for really, as a member of the audience. That the artist and the audience have a no pressure rapport to allow for the best performance possible.

Mulholland greeted us with subtle bossanova and Hope’s head voice runs which are some of the most addicting vocalisations to ever greet my ears. Hope also sighs into the microphone from time to time which really adds a sense of relatability to her music, because it’s often situations such as the ones she writes about that would make anyone sigh. She takes a break here to say that it’s nice to meet us and that “the problem is, my family and friends in the audience will know I’m such a crier and this is very emotional for me, so I’m really trying to keep it together.” She thanked us for coming, wherever we came from. She got us to say hi to her friend Stasi in LA who called off sick from work so that she could FaceTime in. She asked us to give it up for Ruti, who we all cheered as it was definitely a shared opinion among the audience that she did amazingly.

She performed a new unreleased song called Worst Fear. The strobelights looked like rainbows spiralling across her skin. This song is heavier on acoustic guitar than most of her discography, but still remnant of her bossanova essence. It’s a song about being unsure of whether the feelings you're catching are genuine or just pure lust. It’s incredibly relatable and whenever it gets released it’s sure to resonate with her fans. Drugstore’s crept in as the lights started to flash again, the stage purple as before. Hope Tala’s lyricism is so detailed and always paints the picture, sets the scene for us. Her voice in the chorus really emulates driving with the windows down. Her music feels like falling in love and the production of serotonin, no matter the tempo. Her guitarist Tyler is having the time of his life with his guitar solo. The facial expressions and movements really translated how much he loves his craft. Then went Crazy, especially when Hope sang “And in LA people don't dance at parties, baby / But in London we turn it up so maybe…” You could really hear everyone in the room going crazy for the song. Hope and her band all put on cone party hats for Party Sickness, she began with the chorus. With just as catchy of a chorus as the last song, the crowd never stopped singing or moving. She introduced her band after this, Korey on keys, Vicky on bass and Tyler on guitar as mentioned before. They were all smashing it, really giving her songs extended life. And what I mean by that is her songs are always pretty lively, they just took it that one step further.

Tiptoeing was the crowd participation event of the evening. We would always chime in on “tip-toeing” as per Hope’s request. It felt like she and we were in sync. Her personality really shows through her performance, Hope just likes to have fun. She never stops being herself, her dancing never feels forced. It’s how you’d dance at parties and it fits well with her charisma. Easy To Love Me feels stripped down, it’s majorly just her voice and sultry guitar. She performs another unreleased song, Fall Too Hard. Definitely something we’re all guilty of. The lime green lights make a return, creating stripes in motion while the stage lights remaining red. Her photographer, Talula takes a couple of film photos of us while wearing a t-shirt that says “HOPE TALA’S NO1 FAN” in orange.

Sadly the show was coming to an end. She talked about how last time she played in London it was to 150 people and that there were around 700 of us at the show. What a huge jump. She deserves an O2 venue next, that’s for sure. D.T.M. was her last song before the encore. Emotional lyrics partnered with soft Latin fused guitar was a perfect way for Hope to begin to say goodbye. She left the stage and returned after a couple minutes for Lovestained, “since you guys asked for it.” The vibrancy of steel drums and cheery vocals from Hope, partnered with her gestures and movements really provided us with a send off full of good energy. Hope really knows how to embody lyrics with stage presence and so “slipping back into feeling blessed” was met with her running backwards in a cute fashion.

Overall, Hope gave us a wonderful presentation of what it means to be down to earth and talented simultaneously. While nerves may have hit at first, she came into her own not long after. With infectious runs and incredible Latin guitar, this homecoming show proved radiant and true. Hope Tala can only go on to sell out bigger venues and while she is often a support act favourite, a headline show with a larger capacity is something she definitely earnt that night at Village Underground.