Tallia Storm grew up in Glasgow but moved to Jersey with her family when she was 16. After a couple of years on the island, she moved to London on her own where she now concentrates on her music full time. Unlike some artists though, Tallia writes and produces all her own music.
“I’ve written my own music for as long as I can remember. Song writing is storytelling, when I was in school I was big into poetry, English and creative writing. Ever since I was a little girl I used to sing everything, right down to what’s for dinner! I started making little shows in my bedroom and filming them and I felt like I was writing really great content that was just mine! I didn’t wake up one day and decide to write songs, it’s always been organic and authentic to me.
"I record stuff on my phone and write notes as I’m going and then I record everything in Jersey. It’s a really creative place for me, I thrive off the people, the energy, the scenery, I love it. I start my morning off with a 5k walk to the sea and back and spend the day recording.”
When it comes to inspiration, Tallia says she is inspired by everything (she even threatens to sing about our kale salad at one point), “people, bad moods, good moods, stress, anxiety – anything I’m feeling I write about. I’m always pushing for the next thing, always moving the goal post, it’s a curse and a blessing, it keeps me motivated and driven but sometimes it’s just too much and I crash and burn.”
Girls are changing the world
Tallia’s latest single, ‘Girls are Changing the World’, is very important to her. “This has really been the year for change, the year of the girl and girls striving towards making a difference and taking a stand. It’s always something I’ve spoken about in my friendship groups about girls supporting girls and being there for each other, so I thought, why not just write a song about it?
"The lyrics are ‘we are the movement making change, we are the future…’ and it’s all about this Gen Z – my age group. We’re not the stereotypical 19 year olds who sit at home, go out drinking or partying. I feel like we’re over that, there’s such a preconception of what we’re like, but all of my friends are in the creative industry whether they’re photographers or bloggers and we’re all about making change and empowering each other."
The video for the song has just been released. "I filmed and directed it myself – the whole point of the song is about girls doing it for themselves, so it made sense for me to do it on my own.
Tallia is strong and independent but says she would love to collaborate with somebody like Big Sean or Drake. “For Drake to rap on one of my tracks would be a dream come true! I’d also love to do a girl power song with somebody like Ariana Grande, she does pop but her roots are R&B.”
Tallia shares an emotional story when I ask about her favourite song on her album. “My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and it was such an emotional time for me. All my songs are written and then recorded, but ‘Everyday’ was literally recorded in the moment – it just came to me, it was quite odd it was coming out as if I had planned it, the emotions were just so raw. It was a blessing that we were in Jersey when it happened as the hospital was so close and the staff were all amazing, we were very lucky.”
Getting social
With over 500,000 followers across her social media platforms, Tallia says she finds it hard to post regularly and admits Instagram can be quite damaging.
“Last year I wrote ‘The Good Lie’ and the best way to sum that up is Instagram is a very good lie! We filmed the video on a private jet because so many people pretend they’re flying private when they’re actually flying Easyjet – not even speedy boarding! We had the big billionaire house, the reality is we don’t live there, we were on a luxury yacht pretending to drink vodka when it was actually water – it was basically to shine a light on how fake Instagram can be. Although, we had all these influencers come to Jersey to shoot the video and low and behold what did they all do? Took pictures on the private jet and posted them like 3 weeks later – literally living the good lie!
"I find it quite hard to keep posting regularly, but at the same time it’s how I pay for all my music. I make my money through my social media collaborations and my posts and that’s how I pay for studio time and mixing. Although I’m unsigned, I work with the best of the best and I pay for it myself.”
Why is she unsigned if she’s so talented? "I was signed when I was 15 to a well-known agency but the guy who signed me left, so the head of the agency wanted to make me all pop and turn me into the next Katy Perry – it just wasn’t me. After months of back and forth I finally got out of my contract and realised to get a deal nowadays they want to sign you up for very little money and turn you into a clone of other stars – there’s no creative control. My goal is to build my fanbase so I’m in a stronger position to negotiate the right deal for me. I’ve had friends that have been signed and then shelved – if they have one song that doesn’t do well, that’s it for them."
Spare time
"I receive a lot of negative comments, so I wanted to go on ‘Celebs go Dating’ to show people that I’m not a stuck-up bitch, I do have a personality. I wanted people to see that I don’t care about the negativity, it just makes me more ambitious, it’s not going to stop me. It was great for building my fans too, it helped boost my profile, I would do it again in heartbeat."
What about other TV shows? “I would never do a reality show, but I would love to do something like Celebrity Masterchef as I really enjoy cooking. I’m famous for my ratatouille and I make a banging Bolognese with homemade sauce too! I like making healthy alternatives - when I make a Bolognese my brothers will have spaghetti, but I’ll have mine with courgetti. My dad’s favourite meal is a mashed potato fishcake and dill, I make that for him when I’m back in Jersey.”
When she isn’t singing or cooking, Tallia enjoys working out and practices yoga and Pilates as well as running. “Well if you can call it running, I walk half a kilometre and run half a kilometre - I get out of breath and have to stop!” (She then asks my advice, but I disappointedly let her know that I’m not that much better myself.)
“I spend a lot of weekends in Jersey with my family and playing with my little brothers too. I’ve just bought a giant duck float, I can’t wait to just chill in the sea. It’s not always fun though, I do help with the cleaning and chores when I’m back - it’s basically sucking up to my parents for allowing me to live in London!”
Setting goals
“My goal is to build a fanbase, tour around the world, have a number one song, a number one album – I don’t want this to be overnight, it’s why I need to keep reminding myself when I get annoyed, that if this happened tomorrow it might not happen again, I want to take my time and really enjoy the journey.”
