December 15, 2020 • 47 mins
This week OOD chats with singer, songwriter, and actress Tayla Parx who has written hits for Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae, and Panic At The Disco. Tayla shares her recipe for making hit songs, talks about defying people’s expectations, and about the heartbreak that led to her sophomore album that’s out now, Coping Mechanisms. Join as OOD tries to start a Nickelodeon Disney child star fight and gives some unverified advice on a lovers dilemma.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to You Down, a production of Shonda Land Audio
and partnership with I Heart Radio. I think anytime you
grow up with somebody and they've seen how hard you
work to get there, it makes it all that much
more like dis gratifying when you were all sitting at
the Grammys together, or like, what's up everybody? And Welcome
(00:23):
back to You Down, a podcast where four funny honeys
come together and talk about what's going on in the culture.
I'm Sepe, I'm Mommy ya afore, Oh, I'm Yasmin Money Watkins,
and I'm Ashley Holston. But together we are known as
Obama's Other Daughters. That's Obama's other daughter, Obama's Daughters. I'm
(00:48):
doing both more club. Was it balt I don't really
country country like no I would. I definitely heard that.
I heard Oakland, I heard what I wanted to hear. Uh.
(01:09):
Today we are asking are you down with Taylor Parks.
Taylor Parks is a three time Grammy Award nominated artists, singer, songwriter,
and boundary breaker, creating a space for her listeners to
come as they are. From being showcased on Forbes thirty
(01:30):
Under thirty to her box of a sophomore album, Coping Mechanisms.
We think Taylor is a dope young black artist that
everyone should be listening to, and the way her hits
are set up, you probably already are. But before we
chat with Taylor, y'all know, we gotta check in with
each other. So what are y'all loving? And what do
y'all hating? I'm gonna go first, y'all, you know what
(01:52):
the am? I'm hating the sensitivity of our ear drums?
I am. What happened? I bought a school bus that
I am going to convert into a tiny home and
travel the country hands. Yes, and you've got to break
it apart demolition, right, And it's a lot of angle grinding,
a lot of metal on metal. And I didn't wear
(02:14):
my ear protection and I should have. I thought about it,
but I was being lazy because my ear protection was
in the house, and I was like, I'm already here,
let's just keep this going. And I still hear ringing
in my ears. It's been a full day. I feel
like my ears need to pop or something. Um. Come
a bit of a headache. UM. So if y'all love
her around some loud noise, protect your ears. They are
(02:36):
sensitive because you don't know until after the fact, until
I did not notice at all, until I was like, well,
what I'm loving this week? Self care is so important
And it's been a really tough time for the family,
(02:57):
for those who aren't aware of My other passed away,
and we've been cleaning his place and going through all
of the old memories and all of that really good stuff,
and it can be heavy, and my sister came to
town to bury him and all of that, and in
the midst of it, we literally were like, let's just
(03:17):
go to Palm Springs for the day and like be
in nature for a second and get a massage and
an open space because COVID with our masks on, and
just take some time to pamper ourselves and relax. And
we had the best day. And I feel like, you know,
you can get so go, go go, But it's also
okay to like just take a second and be like,
(03:39):
oh wait, I need to breathe for a moment. So
I really loved the sister trip that my sister and
I took. Time with your sister is so important. It
really is, especially now that Jade has kids. You don't
really get their sister sister time at all, especially sister
sister time with drinks. Sister sister time is a whole
(04:01):
different thing, j'all. As you guys have sisters, I mean
brothers are great too. They Funkira, what's on your mind
this week? I have a bunch of loves, but then
I also have a hate. But I was like, oh,
it's just over share, but I'll just share it. Oh
we love when Kira says, is this an over share
because it's not always good? No, it's not even like juicy,
(04:24):
but it is like I think, y'all, notice I'm dealing
with this I R S stuff and I had to
call the I R S and I sent in. I
just hate them. I hate them so much, like that
he calls me so much stress, Like literally my tax
guy was like, when you call at me on the call.
(04:46):
So I'm on hold. I told this man I'm gonna
call him at nine. I was on hold until eleven.
Oh no, they just be playing games with you, hoping
you hang up right. So I'm messaging him. He's like,
I try to add him to the call. He's doing
something else now. So now I'm on the call with
the man trying to figure out the right words. I'm
reading his emails. Well, well, sir, oh, you like a
(05:07):
lawyer trying to do You're not a lawyer trying to argue. Okay,
So I'm trying to reword what he told me in
the email that he was going to say to the guy.
And then the guy is just like, well, I'm not
the guy who actually did your audience, so let me
just send him. Why did you answer? I'm like, so
y'all kept me on Hope for all this month time,
(05:27):
you know what I mean, Like, that's how you feel.
But then you're also like, I can't control anything in
this situation. I have to be calm. I can't be
stressed about I can't. They know that you need to
talk to the guy, so you're gonna stay on the
phone for two hours? Yep. I imagine they don't be
doing ship even. I imagine they just be like bottom
phone having a coffee or a party, a cake party.
(05:55):
I would love to see that, and the phone is
just blowing up right next year. But also, can you
leave Shakira alone and deal with somebody else? Like what
the heck? You know what I do? Like, let that
ever live? I'm like Trump Hey, what in Texas? Thank
you for me? Hold up, mommy, are you talking to
Big Game? You don't want to get on the radar.
(06:15):
I'm like, the opinions on the podcast are truly Shakira
fumly don't come from us. I love the Some of
my best friends are in the US. Enjoy your cake, mommy,
what about you? Honestly, this is not completely relevant. But
(06:37):
maybe no, it's totally irrelevant. I really am loving the
fact that our vice president Kamela Harris used to date
Montella Williams and she thought that was it to her
at one moment. I'm loving it this week up um
is blasts. I'm just kidding. I mean, they were a
(07:00):
hot little couple in two thousand and she thought, probably,
oh my god, power couple. Look at us. Oh my god,
little did she know. Imagine if monte was the first,
the first, the first, first mate, because they call us
first lady for the first second man, yeah, the second man.
(07:24):
Oh I don't want to be the second man or
even the second lady. You but I'm just trying to
picture him. This is how we do it. We're in
the White House. Wait, not him, him. Montel Jordan didn't
he sing that song Whoa, Whoa. I gotta take it back,
because I did I say mont Yes, we were like
(07:50):
I was like, wait, Montle Jordan from the Fighting Temptations.
This whole time, I thought it was Montal Jordan. Oh no, No,
Williams from the talk show Oh baal ahead black Mr Clean,
one of the most famous black bald heads. I would say,
first one I ever saw. And he's from Baltimore, Maryland.
(08:12):
Just in case anybody wanted to be more stand up. Alright, y'all, alright, y'all.
I'm ready to get into the main topic this week,
which is Grammy winning artists and songwriter Taylor Parks. And
here to chat with us about Taylor Parks is Taylor Parks.
(08:32):
But first we're gonna take a break. Welcome back. Today
we are talking to singer, songwriter, actress, and hit maker
Taylor Parks. Little hip maker Taylor has co written all
(09:01):
your favorite songs, hits like Ariana Grandes, Thank You, Next,
Panic at the Discos, High Hopes, as well as four
tracks on Janelle Monet's Dirty Computer. I can't even I
like that pink, don't judge me, Okay, we carry on.
She reimagines genre gender and what popular music sounds like.
(09:23):
Her sophomore album, Coping Mechanisms, dropped in November, and it's
available for you to listen to write me out, so
get on that after you listen to the podcast. Of course,
her music has really defined different parts of my life experience,
and I'm just so hella grateful that she's here. We
(09:43):
think Taylor is a dope young black artist that everyone
should know. Welcome Taylor. Hey, Hey, we can't wait to
dive into your album, Coping Mechanisms, but can we take
a moment to just acknowledge how damn popping you are.
It's kind of surreal for those of you who are
(10:06):
just starting to follow Taylor's career, or if you have
been following it. The connection that I made in doing
um stalker type research about you was that you played
one of my favorite characters in a movie of all
time in Little Linas in Hairspray Girl. You flipping in,
a dancing and a singing like a little queen. So
(10:27):
a tiny tu you know what I mean? I was
a tiny out here doing my thing, just happy I
could like saying. I was like, look at the thing,
and you were saying it. You weren't singing, you were
saying anything. Um, but I know you started out as
a dancer with Debbie Allen, who is a part of
the Shonda Land family and UM a place in our
(10:50):
hearts of course. So can you talk a little bit
about how you became a dancer and how that transitioned
into the next phase of your career. It was a
very very interesting thing growing up. I had two left feet.
I felt like I did anyway, you know what I mean.
And then I grew up with this girl, Chelsea, who
(11:11):
was going to class at Debbie Allan dance academy. She
I'm from Texas originally, and she had a dance school
out there. The next thing, you know, I'm doing the
summer intensive and she's asking to do people sing because
at the time she was doing dancing in the wings.
And you know, that's when I first started to find
out about the chocolate nutcracker and all of these things
that will following the years. So she introduced me to
(11:33):
the world of dancing and acting actually, and I was
obviously just really blessed to be around a lot of
really incredible people, but also she was one of my
first real mentors. UM and I was lucky, you know,
to have somebody who was so tough. Yeah. I just
finished watching the documentary. I was like, whoa de gonna
get you into? She is indeed? So wait, how did
(11:58):
you go from jumping and being a child actor to
being a hit maker. What drew you to focus on
music songwriting? What was that process like for you? It's
definitely been interesting, I think the more I learned about it,
because growing up I didn't know, Like when I first
met Debbie, I didn't know the songwriters existed. I just
knew that I liked to sing um and I liked music,
and I liked, you know, everything that involved it. And
(12:20):
so then growing up you eventually you just learned and
you become a fan of your craft. So in music,
I'm like, I gotta know everything about it. There's producers,
there's a and rs, there's publishers, there's all of these things.
And I got to a point where I had been
doing all of this on screen stuff like from the
Nickelodeon and UM and did Bones and Gilmore Girls, and
(12:42):
I was like, I just want to be behind the
scenes for a little bit so that I can find
my real voice, you know what I mean? As an actress,
you're always being molded into something. So I couldn't just
be like, I just want to have green hair, which
is eventually what I did, But I couldn't do that
while being on the screen of playing the type of
roles that I played. So eventually I just woke up
(13:03):
when it was like, I want to do voiceover acting
because it really isn't about how you look or anything
like that, and I get to it also gives me
the flexibility to work on my craft as a songwriter.
Nice Nice. So, as a certified hitmaker, what's the number
one key ingredient for the song? Mmm? The number one
key ingredient would have to be honesty. I think that
(13:27):
people can hear honesty, like in every word that you're saying,
every melody, every breath. That's what the hit record is.
You know something that makes people feel and you can
only make them really feel it if you're being honest
that and we all know honesty takes vulnerability, and I mean,
there's not much more vulnerability than spilling out your words
(13:48):
and saying D like this beat on top of it.
So how do you help other artists access that part
of themselves and open up to you and also how
do you not let that vulnerability consume you? You know, like,
how do you put yourself out there? For me? I
see my sessions as therapy sessions. They know when I'll
step into that room. My job isn't to judge you here.
Whether it's we're talking about getting their heartbroken, or whether
(14:10):
we're talking about the person that they coming on fun
lit or whether they talk whatever we're talking about, my
job in that moment is to make sure that you
have somebody that you know, that you have somebody that
is there to listen and let the world relate. Because
guess what, if you are feeling that as one person,
there's millions and millions and millions and millions and millions
of other people are feeling that exact same thing. And
(14:31):
that's what great music is supposed to do. Is supposed
to bring people together that thought they never had anything
in common, but a someone could do that. That's very true.
So I mean, in listening to your new album and
all of the music that you have worked on, your
understanding of chord progression and just like evoking emotion like
you were just saying, I feel is unmatched. Obviously listening
(14:54):
to some of your music. I felt the same feeling
the same way I heard Stevie Wonder for the first time,
because it was like, Wow, thank you, I'm not I
don't lie, so just I wouldn't say anything if I
didn't believe that, But I just I feel like there's
something very specific that you do, and you probably know
(15:14):
what I'm talking about. I can't put words to it,
but can you talk about how that compares to when
you're writing your own music? And also that thing, well,
I don't know what it's called. Yeah, you know. I
think it's like when it comes to my own music,
I have the freedom to really explore all of the
different genres and errors that I'm a fan of personally.
(15:37):
When I'm going in as a songwriter for another person,
the thing that makes me excited about it is it's
like trying to hit a bulls eye. It has to
be this exact same way and you're fitting into one box.
And that's really really fun because you're shape shifting and
you're trying to get an exact thing. It's like a
fun game almost. It's the complete opposite. When it's not
own stuff, it's let's just have fun and let's have
(16:01):
freedom and literally just kind of make a gumbo all
the things that I enjoy, you know what I mean.
Let's go, you were like that gumbo. I made gumbo this. Look,
I made gumbo this things. Given I was eating it
for like five days after I made so much, I'm like,
where are you at? Let me get it, let me
get a pot. Look. And also I saw you tweet
(16:25):
about macaroni and cheese. What cheddar? Only here we go? No,
you gotta have I think you gotta have on some
five cheese. Now it depends on what kind of cheese
you got. There's lots of Jesus in the world, but
you gotta make sure that they go right. But also,
(16:46):
like my one big thing about sometimes when people make
I know that I'm gonna get a lot about this,
when people make the maconi to peppery and like it's
just like the two peppery and I'm just like no, no, no, no,
it's like for you canceled up. Yeah, I'm like yeah,
but yeah, my mac was fire this year, and you
(17:09):
know what I mean. But I'm always open. I'm always
open to try some different things. But speaking of the
gumbo and this, you know, recipes that you throw into
this sophomore album of yours that we've been waiting so
long for, Like girl, when I tell you, I've had
it on repeat, we have been bumping. You are clearly
a storyteller. What did you want to tackle with this album?
(17:32):
And who hurt you? Who wasn't let us know? It's
so interesting because a lot of the times when I'm
listening back to my album, I'm like, Okay, this is
honestly a mixture of two exes, you know, or it's
a mixture of this and this experience that just I
have different perspectives them, but we need to talk really strong.
(17:54):
The album, my last album showed the story of me
being like, you know what, we don't jump in deep in,
maybe I'll get hurt for the first time. Who knows?
I did? You know what I mean? And that was
a thing where I was like, Okay, you can't be
afraid to fall in love, right because then you never
actually fallen in love, and then you might fall and
it can be what your thought was love, and then
(18:16):
the next person comes along and then it changes. So
I really wanted to show really my coping mechanism for
coming out of heartbreak, you know what I mean? And
in the beginning of the album, in that moment, or
if I was being like petty and I was just
trying to party it all the way and anything. I'm
the type of person that's like, I can say anything
to convince myself like all these are the pros and
(18:38):
cons of loving you. I'm very much so that type
of person. But as analytic as I am, it took
me a minute to get over that one. And it
really happened with the album when you were like, I
hope you're so fucking sad. I was like, let's cod yes,
not holding anything back when you get into that moment
(19:00):
of finally. I think that we all have that that
one person that we're like, oh, I want you to
say sorry, and then by the time you get it,
get like, you know what, Actually that was nice for
my ego, But now we're I don't even want to know,
you know. I mean, we all listened to your album
and loved it. Headmaker, Headmaker. We've said that, um but
(19:21):
justified girl, you took us there with that one. It's
just too good. I know, yeahs you had a sad
you loved too. Oh girl, I was playing all of them.
I'm telling you, like sad and just you captured the
essence of like the heart in that experience, you know
(19:42):
what I mean of like breaking and falling and lifting
yourself back up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
We've all been there, and if you haven't been there, uh,
you might be there one day and you know what
I mean. So, you know, while we're on the eggs,
I'm wondering, do you want them to hear this? Did you?
Did you write? In the beginning, I was more like okay,
(20:09):
because I was like, when they hear this, it's gonna
be like whoa, whoa. But then eventually, like later on
working through the album, I was like, well, okay, I'm
just happy that I got it out of my system.
And then it became a thing. I was like, well,
I mean, I hope I don't hurt their feelings. More
from being like sad to being like, well, I don't
(20:29):
really care enough to like hurt your feelings or anything
like that. It's just I'm just gonna like get my
emotions out. And this is a nice little diary, Yeah,
a diary for sure. So from a night out party
and described in the song system to struggling to not
call up that X and tell them what you never
said and never mind. This album really paints a picture
(20:52):
of that painful breakup journey. So what is your coping mechanism?
And I know that. I was like, you know, one
of them. One of them, of course, is writing and
singing for me. Another big one is gardening. I'm growing
like thirty different types of plants. It's I'm the type
of person when I like something, I love it, and
(21:13):
so I've been going in like it's a whole another thing.
So I've been following Black Girls with gardens instead, like
trying to be like, oh I just want to give
my garden up so I could be on there you
were and yo, I literally like being the blogs. Like
one time I had my mango trees going through and
I was like, y'all, what's going on? Like it's crazy,
(21:36):
I have an all little thing. Anyways, I'm a nerd
when it comes to that. You got mango trees? Yes,
oh wow, so you have a real garden to avocado trees, broccoli, Yes,
that's exactly what. I'm not really on this like stelf
sustainable tip right now. So I'm just trying to see
in every single way. So I think that that's one
(21:57):
big thing that that I was able to lose. First
of all, finished the album, cope with finding other ways
to cope with it, because then I was stuck in
the house. But then also it brought me closer my
current relationship and all of these other things. It was
just like a nice moment to just reevaluate. So you are,
(22:19):
I would say, genre list, you do it all, you
have a lot in you. And as black female comedians,
we know people can be quick to stereotype and trying
to put you in a box. We rock with MEGANA.
Stallion and nickel Back and Randy Tavin, and so we're
constantly surprising people. Have you ever found yourself battling assumptions
in the music industry, maybe defining some expectations of what
(22:41):
you can do and can't do. Definitely. You know when
I first came into the industry as a professional songwriter,
you know, it's years old. When I first started to
have a little bit of success, people would immediately be like, Okay,
well you're young, so you're gonna run for kids or
you and you're gonna write this particular genre of music,
(23:02):
whether it's R and B, a hip hop or whatever.
They felt was that identity, and then it was oh,
you're only gonna write for a female artist. And it's
all of these things that eventually just made me personally
because it's my personality. I was a kid when you
tell me no and made me want to do it
more so. So little did they know they were actually
(23:24):
inspiring me. They were right, it's not something that happens
often where you have somebody spanning from Gena to Gena
di Gennald. But where they were wrong is that it's
not impossible. I mean, it's not impossible at all. You
don't discourage somebody. But in my particular case, it was like, Okay,
I'm going to make sure that this is a thing
that encourages somebody else and me going through all of
these things like a battle warrior, the next young black
(23:46):
girl will be able to find an easy example to say, look,
Taylor did that, and I can take it even further.
So one thing I wanted to ask you about. I
noticed in a lot of your songs you don't use
like gender specific pronouns for you know, the love interest
or the subject of the song. Can you talk a
little bit about that and the rationale behind it. Yeah,
I used to do it in the beginning because as
(24:09):
a songwriter, I was writing for guys and girls, and
I figured, if the song is truly great, it won't
matter if you're saying him or her. And then in
my case, it just naturally transition for me because sometimes
I'm saying about a girl, sometimes I'm saying about a days.
You know, it's just whatever is that move, honestly and
whatever that experiences. It just gave me the freedom to
(24:32):
first of all, for me to interpret it however, um
and whenever that point was in my life. Also for
the artists that I was runing for some songs hard
guys and the caking songs are originally for girls or
vice versa. For myself, it was just really really natural
because my fans know me is I Want You and
you and YouTube h I've listened to I Want You.
(24:56):
It was you know how Spotify tells you like this
is one of your most played songs girl. When I
heard that song being a by black woman as well,
I'm just like, this is my life experience, Yes, you
know me, and like I just like think about you
being a part of the team behind like Dirty Computer
and the Internet Special Affair, like Okay, I'm gonna stop.
(25:19):
How does it feel to be a Biken? What is
it like? What is it like to be part of
such major moments in queer black history. I think it's
just honestly a relief for me to just know that
I'm doing being authentic to myself, you know, and it
happens to be something that other people relate to, and
(25:43):
so I think in a lot of ways that makes
you feel like, Okay, boom, so I'm not crazy and
I'm not alone, you know, and you pull this lie
to this is awesome. I literally it was just like,
I can't believe the soundtrack to my life was there.
I remember you calling me up and being like, there's
an anthem we haven't anthem? Yes, and it was. It
(26:08):
was very great. I actually was watching the music video
where I Want You Today, and it's just so striking.
The colors, the movement, it's all very beautiful. Thank you
so much. We definitely have a lot of really really
fun creators what we're doing, like the videos and the visuals,
whether it's you know, still things or music videos whatever.
(26:30):
So I'm definitely lucky to have my crew, Park Studios
and everybody else that we're collaborating with just to get
it out there. You know, So question for you and
I don't know if this it's too hard, but wish
you prefer more performing or writing? And are you doing
a virtual tour? We can come too soon. That's us
(26:50):
asking you to place make it happen. Yes, I will
definitely be doing a virtual tool which we've been together
right now. I'm exciting about because you know, you have
a lot of a lot of really creative ways to
kind of just interact with your fans, because it's it's
really about approaching it from the outside the box type
of way, you know, like what can we play with
that we couldn't do when we were all in one
(27:12):
room together. Um, just seeing the bright side of things.
And then I think I get two completely different things
out of performing and writing writing. I'm able to be
a chameleon and kind of really really camouflage and be
able to get all all of these expressions, expressions like
I couldn't see myself singing how hopes about panic at
(27:32):
the disco, But it was really really fun to be
a part of it. And then something with like thank
you next and the Dirty Computer songs, those are songs
that I really couldn't hear anybody else like singing besides those,
and then you'd go in even further with the country songs.
And so it's all about what is best for that song,
you know what I mean? And and in order for
me to feel like I always have access to do
(27:55):
whatever is best for that song, I can't see myself
either just performing or just write. Both of them kind
of work hand in hand for me. That makes me
wonder as a songwriter, like when you're collaborating because we
see like a song like thank you next there are
other people's names on it too, but you know, we
know you as the face of it outside of Arianna, Like,
how does that process work? Do you guys all write
(28:17):
your own stuff and then kind of pick what works together?
What's that process? Like? Every song is different. So sometimes
you'll have Ariana in that case will send me an
idea maybe um and it might have a learn or two,
or if she might just send me a thing like
I want a song that has to do with blank
blank blank um. So every song is different, especially in
(28:38):
that case. And then sometimes it's just us going through
beats together in the studio picking it out and then
the song just comes out of a natural conversation. The
thing that's a common thread between all of the different
songs that I've done is just the strength of collaboration.
So nobody's fighting to be like I did all of this,
and nobody's trying to push anybody to the side. Is
just really a matter of being like, look, we want
(29:00):
to make sure that we're working with honest people. Of course,
it always gets complicated when somebody might think that they
maybe did more than they did, or somebody maybe think
they did less when they actually did more. So it's
just about really holding everybody with that same respect. You
know that you would want to be healthy. I saw
mine that you're a virgo. Um, okay, so you already
(29:23):
know we acted up every time a Virgo party, especially
right now, you know, you know Beyonce Virgo. I mean
that's how you want to use our interview times, right. Look, Look, look,
(29:44):
I'm just saying like I feel like every time a
virgo knows the virgo, we like see everything, see each other,
scorpios in the building. Yeah about you actually okay, okay, okay,
(30:04):
what about your mommy, I'm a I'm no one. Do
you said that? No more? Do you said Virgo party
awesome extence, I even like even more. But I like
everybody even Yeah, I like everybody. If you saund like
a mama, I like everybody, No, say every kids. But
(30:27):
I'm also curious, what is it like working in the
K pop world? So that was really fun because naturally,
as a songwriter, I like to jump from John John
and usually you have to jump from artists to artists
to do that. But then within K pops, they like
to use so many different genres in one song, and
the song will be like four minutes long, and so
(30:50):
it was really a different format for me, and I
really enjoyed it as a songwriter because it was I
was able to flex those muscles of just being able
to be like, first of all, they're really really appreciative
of real R and B or like hip hop or
just music in general. The artist that I've worked with anyway,
you know, like they really appreciate that. I don't Knowmber,
(31:12):
probably like my first time ever ever going out there
was like years ago, and now I'm like, wow, I've
been back like four times now at this point. I
learned something new every time. But I'm just I admire
the fact that they are. They were, they've been doing
kind of a US radio and streaming is norm now
and that's not caring about genre, just trying to make
(31:32):
great music. Curious, who's your favorite musician you've worked with?
And if you have a lot of favorite questions, I'm like, Um,
I think probably most recently, my favorite musician to work
(31:54):
with was probably John Legend. And I said that because
trick for you guys, it's a different doing a musician
and a pop star, you know what I'm saying. So
we're only going to count the musicians, um, and that
means that you play an instrument, you know what I mean.
And so as far as as far as the musicians go, um,
definitely John Legend was one of them out of out
(32:15):
of them and King Princess because both just have an
interesting take on their genre and on their instrument. Um.
So we're gonna jump back a little bit, back to
the Nickeloneion days where you first met Ariana Grande and
we're just wondering, now y'are both in the music industry
blowing up. How did y'all discuss music back then? Did
(32:37):
you know this was coming? No, not at all. Actually,
when I think we first had our introduction to each
other when she was doing thirteen UM and I was
doing Hairspray, and then after that, years later we would
end up like connecting just from doing different things. My
best friend growing up, Keekie Palmer had she gone is
(33:04):
an incredible, incredible person, so we just knew. Um. We
ran in all the same circles, so you know, Kiki
Newer and Leon Thomas who was also on the on
another Nickelodeon show, I Harley Um who's also a collaborator
UM of Ariana. We just kind of grew up and
evolved with each other. Honestly, it's a very interesting thing
(33:25):
because we saw each other, you know, Dona Thins, everybody
else saw us as just child actors is working with kids,
and we know that there's another kid who shares a
very similar experience because growing up, most kids aren't working
at nine, ten, eleven, twelve years old. So it's really
nice to have those people that understand. And also, I
think anytime you grow up with somebody and they've seen
(33:47):
how hard you work to get there, it makes it
all that much more like just gratifying when you were
all sitting at the Grammys together, or like hey, I
feel like it's going to be so surreal. Yeah, it's
much better versus versus like a stranger who just came
on towards the end and they don't know of the
hard work. Okay, follow up question nickeloneon actors versus Disney
(34:12):
actors win in a fight. It's so hard because let
me tell you that a lot of the Disney kids
or from Texas like me. So I'm like them and
the Jonah's brothers and Selena and they're also we've all
worked together, you know, on the on the artist side,
but then day I've also worked with the nickeloeon gids
(34:35):
And this is all when this was doing me up
right here, I know, Mama answers. Everybody wins a participation trophy,
everybody gets a black guy. All right, let's talk about hair. Girl.
You're doing it all with the hairstyles, and I so
(34:57):
appreciate when I see a black girl changing it up
because it's something I I've always done. But it took
me a while to be able to to step into
changing my hair so much for an array of reasons.
You know, people always got kind of questions, um, but
you know, you know, hair is a big dic right,
it means a lot. What made you decide to start
(35:19):
wearing your hair natural and also just switching it up? Man,
it was tough. I like literally woke up one day
and realized I was like, Okay, I want to do
something new, but I don't want to do too much.
But came out of doing like green and purple and
pink and all of these colored hairs, like these little
bob wigs, you know, And first of all, I was like, oh,
(35:40):
I'm so tired of whigs. I can't do it. I
can't do it. I just need to I just need
a break for a second. Also with the transition of
the music, you see that transition with my hair too,
because it's really me just evolving as a person with
we need to talk phase with the different wigs, I
was going to each extreme to the next and coping mechanisms.
Shays is really me saying Okay, I've tried the extremes,
(36:00):
I tried the streames, and now I'm settling into somewhere
in between. And so it's definitely been a journey. Like
and I was I realized I've never worned my like
just natural hair ever ever in all of these years,
you know what I mean. Because I was very usually
started off as being on sets. Trust me, you don't
want to have your natural hair out there, you know
(36:25):
what I mean, So in order to protect yourself. It
was a protection type of thing at first, but then
it's just like, okay, I started to just kind of
find out, Okay, what kind of worlds do I need
to be using, what kind of like this don't need
to be doing? How do I deal with? You know,
my my sling I pollo I deal with Because I
can be a very um bad at being a girly girl.
(36:47):
Sometimes I'm like, oh, I don't want to wrap my hair.
I don't want to like do things like that. Speak
on and I'm trying to pull it together. I'm trying
to pull it together. But with my natural hair, at
least I'm able to be like, okay, anything where I
can learn to something that happened to and dive deep
to a subject, I'm like, okay, I'm down, curls out
(37:07):
here popping. You're doing it, girl, You're doing it. Thank you,
thank you, thank you. Because you know, sometimes with Naturale,
you wake up and it's like this looks what what
was yesterday? But now everybody's learning a lot more about
hair and I'm happy to be one of the people
to be a part of it because I'm just trying
to be honest about my little adventure that we're just
(37:30):
trying to figure it out together. So, Taylor, thank you
so much for being here today. Before we let you go,
one last question. What do you hope listeners get from
coping mechanism? Besides you know something, just shake it too.
I really hope they're just listeners get something to to
make them feel a little less alone. Honestly, um and
(37:52):
and honestly, just be honest with your emotions and be
thankful for the you know, the good, the bad, ugly,
everything in between, because at the into the journey, he
is always going to come out and coming new and improved. You.
I so appreciate that. I want to thank you for
the space that you create for folks to live their
authentic truth and to just feel what they're going through
(38:13):
and to really like the way that you document this
experience of being human is just so so powerful. So
thank you, thank you, thank you man, thank you guys
for having me. I'm so honored to be a part
of this and just have some good little conversations to
start the day off. Can you tell us what we
can expect. You can expect for Coping Mechanisms to be
(38:37):
doing our virtual chour. You can expect to see a
little bit more mean being involved in TV and film, um,
and just more music. More Taylor may music. It's coming
that Taylor. I'm gonna get you, uh, some of my
mom's mac and cheese. By the way, I'm gonna let
you know, trade trade off. But we gotta do that
(39:01):
in the fair things. So we gotta do blind for
everybody and be like, okay, all right, yeah, this will
be a fun game. Whose mac is it? Intro the
whole little ki all right, y'all, thank you so much
for having bye bye. All right, Oh that was so
(39:29):
fun that y'all. If you aren't listening to Coping Mechanisms,
your best to get to it. But it is time
for us to give some advice. And it looks like
a little family drama took place over the holidays, so
y'all are gonna want to hear this one. We'll be
right back after the break. Welcome back. Y'all got questions
(39:59):
and maybe you have some answers. Is Tom Bros To
give some advice. MAMMYA what you got for us? All right?
Dear o D I'm having family issues and I don't
know what to do or if I should even do
anything at all. I'm thirty two and I think I
finally met the love of my life, but my family
hates him. My family is very old Southern Baptist, and
(40:22):
he's Bluish, Black and Jewish and has no desire to convert.
I love him for who he is, but they always
give me a hard time about it. Over the holiday,
my mom asked me if I was willing to let
my future children burn and for this man is dramatic.
She even told him to his face that she was
(40:44):
praying for his soul, but she didn't think it was
going to end well for him. It sucks because I'm
close to my family, but this is just out of control.
A holiday dinner without my family seems bleak. But it
is also not fair to my man to have to
deal with them. What do you all think I should do?
Signed I don't want my babies to burn. It's always
(41:12):
hard when you love don't get along with your family,
and you shouldn't have to choose. You really shouldn't. I think,
you know, we just got to create some boundaries. Um,
I don't want my babies to burn. I w m
V that's too much. But but no, I feel you
(41:41):
like you are in a good, healthy relationship and his
faith doesn't bother you, So that is what matters. And
I think you know you love your family, but they
got to show some respect because that's you know, your man.
I mean, it's hard to tell your mama what to do.
Let me tell you that right now. She probably won't listen,
but I think she just having a conversation like, hey,
(42:04):
I get that you are on the same page with
what we are doing or what we believe. But this
is where I'm at. And if you want us in
your life and you want to see you a future grandkids,
then you gotta treat us right. And I think this
is like a unique opportunity for you to create new traditions.
You know, if your family doesn't come around, that's so
(42:26):
unfortunate for them, But this is your life that you
get to craft, and so this is an exciting time
for you guys to merge both of your faiths or
if that even is your faith. You know, like there's
room to create new traditions. New traditions can be great,
but it is hard to um to lose your family
(42:46):
if that's what might happen. So I would I would
really just try to journal and figure out is this
something that you really are willing to lose your family over?
And is your family's love something you're willing to lose
the love of your life over. Because it's a possibility
that one of those things happen, and you don't want
to be resentful to nobody. So just make sure you
(43:08):
really know where you're sitting and what decision you're about
to make, because um, new traditions are great, but family
is important. Yeah, I think you need to talk to
your family. I know you've tried, but like I feel
like when you make a situation like all right, we're
sitting down to talk because there's an issue fundamentally and
we need to talk. That lets people know like this
(43:29):
is justin off the cuff conversation about how we feel.
This is like our life and the future of our family,
and like I want you to be a part of
our lives, but you also call yourself a Christian in
our damning somebody else. That point needs to be brought
up to your mother, Um, and I think after a
conversation like that, you will be able to gauge if
(43:52):
they can put their pride down to get past the
religious aspect and realize their daughter loves somebody and they
should support that. This is a thing that many people
go through, right of like, trying to navigate their families,
relationship to religion, and their own life. And at some
point you really do have to figure out what that
(44:13):
balance is for you so that you don't go crazy
trying to, you know, live a life for someone else,
or live two or three lives for multiple different people.
And if we didn't help, I don't want my babies
to burn. It's hard for me to even say if
we didn't help talk to somebody this license. Yes, it
(44:34):
makes you feel any better. I don't think your babies
will burn. They won't burn to Nobody is going to
be on fire here. There's just love. No kids are
going into Oh no, okay, this took a turn. Um,
(44:56):
we hope that helped. Yes, we hope that helps, and
we hope that y'all enjoyed This conversation with Taylor Parks
also dove getting to talk to her about her and
about what it takes to be a hit maker, y'all. Yes,
as always, we appreciate y'all tuning in. Please remember to
subscribe if you want to show us some love. You
(45:17):
can also rate and review the podcast that would be
What's Up? Yes, yes, yes, please rate and review and come.
Keep keep with us on social media at Obama's Other
Daughters on Instagram at O D improv on Twitter, and
on Facebook at Obama's Other Daughters. Also, if y'all want
to because don't forget to do that. And if you
(45:39):
need some advice or you know someone who does, please
send us your letters because we are unlicensed but love
to give advice um, and you can do that at
O D Podcast at gmail dot com. Look, we helped.
I don't want my babies to burn. I think we helped. Yo.
We can't wait to see you guys next week, well too,
(46:00):
in the six days till the next episode. Bye Bye
You Down is a production of Shawnda Land Audio and
partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcast from Shawnda
(46:20):
land Audio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Y'all know,
(46:46):
technically we aren't seeing them next week. We just let
them hear us so who he's say instead of see
feel speak too well. We'll enter your ear drums next week.
Leave it at
Welcome to You Down, a production of Shonda Land Audio
and partnership with I Heart Radio. I think anytime you
grow up with somebody and they've seen how hard you
work to get there, it makes it all that much
more like dis gratifying when you were all sitting at
the Grammys together, or like, what's up everybody? And Welcome
(00:23):
back to You Down, a podcast where four funny honeys
come together and talk about what's going on in the culture.
I'm Sepe, I'm Mommy ya afore, Oh, I'm Yasmin Money Watkins,
and I'm Ashley Holston. But together we are known as
Obama's Other Daughters. That's Obama's other daughter, Obama's Daughters. I'm
(00:48):
doing both more club. Was it balt I don't really
country country like no I would. I definitely heard that.
I heard Oakland, I heard what I wanted to hear. Uh.
(01:09):
Today we are asking are you down with Taylor Parks.
Taylor Parks is a three time Grammy Award nominated artists, singer, songwriter,
and boundary breaker, creating a space for her listeners to
come as they are. From being showcased on Forbes thirty
(01:30):
Under thirty to her box of a sophomore album, Coping Mechanisms.
We think Taylor is a dope young black artist that
everyone should be listening to, and the way her hits
are set up, you probably already are. But before we
chat with Taylor, y'all know, we gotta check in with
each other. So what are y'all loving? And what do
y'all hating? I'm gonna go first, y'all, you know what
(01:52):
the am? I'm hating the sensitivity of our ear drums?
I am. What happened? I bought a school bus that
I am going to convert into a tiny home and
travel the country hands. Yes, and you've got to break
it apart demolition, right, And it's a lot of angle grinding,
a lot of metal on metal. And I didn't wear
(02:14):
my ear protection and I should have. I thought about it,
but I was being lazy because my ear protection was
in the house, and I was like, I'm already here,
let's just keep this going. And I still hear ringing
in my ears. It's been a full day. I feel
like my ears need to pop or something. Um. Come
a bit of a headache. UM. So if y'all love
her around some loud noise, protect your ears. They are
(02:36):
sensitive because you don't know until after the fact, until
I did not notice at all, until I was like, well,
what I'm loving this week? Self care is so important
And it's been a really tough time for the family,
(02:57):
for those who aren't aware of My other passed away,
and we've been cleaning his place and going through all
of the old memories and all of that really good stuff,
and it can be heavy, and my sister came to
town to bury him and all of that, and in
the midst of it, we literally were like, let's just
(03:17):
go to Palm Springs for the day and like be
in nature for a second and get a massage and
an open space because COVID with our masks on, and
just take some time to pamper ourselves and relax. And
we had the best day. And I feel like, you know,
you can get so go, go go, But it's also
okay to like just take a second and be like,
(03:39):
oh wait, I need to breathe for a moment. So
I really loved the sister trip that my sister and
I took. Time with your sister is so important. It
really is, especially now that Jade has kids. You don't
really get their sister sister time at all, especially sister
sister time with drinks. Sister sister time is a whole
(04:01):
different thing, j'all. As you guys have sisters, I mean
brothers are great too. They Funkira, what's on your mind
this week? I have a bunch of loves, but then
I also have a hate. But I was like, oh,
it's just over share, but I'll just share it. Oh
we love when Kira says, is this an over share
because it's not always good? No, it's not even like juicy,
(04:24):
but it is like I think, y'all, notice I'm dealing
with this I R S stuff and I had to
call the I R S and I sent in. I
just hate them. I hate them so much, like that
he calls me so much stress, Like literally my tax
guy was like, when you call at me on the call.
(04:46):
So I'm on hold. I told this man I'm gonna
call him at nine. I was on hold until eleven.
Oh no, they just be playing games with you, hoping
you hang up right. So I'm messaging him. He's like,
I try to add him to the call. He's doing
something else now. So now I'm on the call with
the man trying to figure out the right words. I'm
reading his emails. Well, well, sir, oh, you like a
(05:07):
lawyer trying to do You're not a lawyer trying to argue. Okay,
So I'm trying to reword what he told me in
the email that he was going to say to the guy.
And then the guy is just like, well, I'm not
the guy who actually did your audience, so let me
just send him. Why did you answer? I'm like, so
y'all kept me on Hope for all this month time,
(05:27):
you know what I mean, Like, that's how you feel.
But then you're also like, I can't control anything in
this situation. I have to be calm. I can't be
stressed about I can't. They know that you need to
talk to the guy, so you're gonna stay on the
phone for two hours? Yep. I imagine they don't be
doing ship even. I imagine they just be like bottom
phone having a coffee or a party, a cake party.
(05:55):
I would love to see that, and the phone is
just blowing up right next year. But also, can you
leave Shakira alone and deal with somebody else? Like what
the heck? You know what I do? Like, let that
ever live? I'm like Trump Hey, what in Texas? Thank
you for me? Hold up, mommy, are you talking to
Big Game? You don't want to get on the radar.
(06:15):
I'm like, the opinions on the podcast are truly Shakira
fumly don't come from us. I love the Some of
my best friends are in the US. Enjoy your cake, mommy,
what about you? Honestly, this is not completely relevant. But
(06:37):
maybe no, it's totally irrelevant. I really am loving the
fact that our vice president Kamela Harris used to date
Montella Williams and she thought that was it to her
at one moment. I'm loving it this week up um
is blasts. I'm just kidding. I mean, they were a
(07:00):
hot little couple in two thousand and she thought, probably,
oh my god, power couple. Look at us. Oh my god,
little did she know. Imagine if monte was the first,
the first, the first, first mate, because they call us
first lady for the first second man, yeah, the second man.
(07:24):
Oh I don't want to be the second man or
even the second lady. You but I'm just trying to
picture him. This is how we do it. We're in
the White House. Wait, not him, him. Montel Jordan didn't
he sing that song Whoa, Whoa. I gotta take it back,
because I did I say mont Yes, we were like
(07:50):
I was like, wait, Montle Jordan from the Fighting Temptations.
This whole time, I thought it was Montal Jordan. Oh no, No,
Williams from the talk show Oh baal ahead black Mr Clean,
one of the most famous black bald heads. I would say,
first one I ever saw. And he's from Baltimore, Maryland.
(08:12):
Just in case anybody wanted to be more stand up. Alright, y'all, alright, y'all.
I'm ready to get into the main topic this week,
which is Grammy winning artists and songwriter Taylor Parks. And
here to chat with us about Taylor Parks is Taylor Parks.
(08:32):
But first we're gonna take a break. Welcome back. Today
we are talking to singer, songwriter, actress, and hit maker
Taylor Parks. Little hip maker Taylor has co written all
(09:01):
your favorite songs, hits like Ariana Grandes, Thank You, Next,
Panic at the Discos, High Hopes, as well as four
tracks on Janelle Monet's Dirty Computer. I can't even I
like that pink, don't judge me, Okay, we carry on.
She reimagines genre gender and what popular music sounds like.
(09:23):
Her sophomore album, Coping Mechanisms, dropped in November, and it's
available for you to listen to write me out, so
get on that after you listen to the podcast. Of course,
her music has really defined different parts of my life experience,
and I'm just so hella grateful that she's here. We
(09:43):
think Taylor is a dope young black artist that everyone
should know. Welcome Taylor. Hey, Hey, we can't wait to
dive into your album, Coping Mechanisms, but can we take
a moment to just acknowledge how damn popping you are.
It's kind of surreal for those of you who are
(10:06):
just starting to follow Taylor's career, or if you have
been following it. The connection that I made in doing
um stalker type research about you was that you played
one of my favorite characters in a movie of all
time in Little Linas in Hairspray Girl. You flipping in,
a dancing and a singing like a little queen. So
(10:27):
a tiny tu you know what I mean? I was
a tiny out here doing my thing, just happy I
could like saying. I was like, look at the thing,
and you were saying it. You weren't singing, you were
saying anything. Um, but I know you started out as
a dancer with Debbie Allen, who is a part of
the Shonda Land family and UM a place in our
(10:50):
hearts of course. So can you talk a little bit
about how you became a dancer and how that transitioned
into the next phase of your career. It was a
very very interesting thing growing up. I had two left feet.
I felt like I did anyway, you know what I mean.
And then I grew up with this girl, Chelsea, who
(11:11):
was going to class at Debbie Allan dance academy. She
I'm from Texas originally, and she had a dance school
out there. The next thing, you know, I'm doing the
summer intensive and she's asking to do people sing because
at the time she was doing dancing in the wings.
And you know, that's when I first started to find
out about the chocolate nutcracker and all of these things
that will following the years. So she introduced me to
(11:33):
the world of dancing and acting actually, and I was
obviously just really blessed to be around a lot of
really incredible people, but also she was one of my
first real mentors. UM and I was lucky, you know,
to have somebody who was so tough. Yeah. I just
finished watching the documentary. I was like, whoa de gonna
get you into? She is indeed? So wait, how did
(11:58):
you go from jumping and being a child actor to
being a hit maker. What drew you to focus on
music songwriting? What was that process like for you? It's
definitely been interesting, I think the more I learned about it,
because growing up I didn't know, Like when I first
met Debbie, I didn't know the songwriters existed. I just
knew that I liked to sing um and I liked music,
and I liked, you know, everything that involved it. And
(12:20):
so then growing up you eventually you just learned and
you become a fan of your craft. So in music,
I'm like, I gotta know everything about it. There's producers,
there's a and rs, there's publishers, there's all of these things.
And I got to a point where I had been
doing all of this on screen stuff like from the
Nickelodeon and UM and did Bones and Gilmore Girls, and
(12:42):
I was like, I just want to be behind the
scenes for a little bit so that I can find
my real voice, you know what I mean? As an actress,
you're always being molded into something. So I couldn't just
be like, I just want to have green hair, which
is eventually what I did, But I couldn't do that
while being on the screen of playing the type of
roles that I played. So eventually I just woke up
(13:03):
when it was like, I want to do voiceover acting
because it really isn't about how you look or anything
like that, and I get to it also gives me
the flexibility to work on my craft as a songwriter.
Nice Nice. So, as a certified hitmaker, what's the number
one key ingredient for the song? Mmm? The number one
key ingredient would have to be honesty. I think that
(13:27):
people can hear honesty, like in every word that you're saying,
every melody, every breath. That's what the hit record is.
You know something that makes people feel and you can
only make them really feel it if you're being honest
that and we all know honesty takes vulnerability, and I mean,
there's not much more vulnerability than spilling out your words
(13:48):
and saying D like this beat on top of it.
So how do you help other artists access that part
of themselves and open up to you and also how
do you not let that vulnerability consume you? You know, like,
how do you put yourself out there? For me? I
see my sessions as therapy sessions. They know when I'll
step into that room. My job isn't to judge you here.
Whether it's we're talking about getting their heartbroken, or whether
(14:10):
we're talking about the person that they coming on fun
lit or whether they talk whatever we're talking about, my
job in that moment is to make sure that you
have somebody that you know, that you have somebody that
is there to listen and let the world relate. Because
guess what, if you are feeling that as one person,
there's millions and millions and millions and millions and millions
of other people are feeling that exact same thing. And
(14:31):
that's what great music is supposed to do. Is supposed
to bring people together that thought they never had anything
in common, but a someone could do that. That's very true.
So I mean, in listening to your new album and
all of the music that you have worked on, your
understanding of chord progression and just like evoking emotion like
you were just saying, I feel is unmatched. Obviously listening
(14:54):
to some of your music. I felt the same feeling
the same way I heard Stevie Wonder for the first time,
because it was like, Wow, thank you, I'm not I
don't lie, so just I wouldn't say anything if I
didn't believe that, But I just I feel like there's
something very specific that you do, and you probably know
(15:14):
what I'm talking about. I can't put words to it,
but can you talk about how that compares to when
you're writing your own music? And also that thing, well,
I don't know what it's called. Yeah, you know. I
think it's like when it comes to my own music,
I have the freedom to really explore all of the
different genres and errors that I'm a fan of personally.
(15:37):
When I'm going in as a songwriter for another person,
the thing that makes me excited about it is it's
like trying to hit a bulls eye. It has to
be this exact same way and you're fitting into one box.
And that's really really fun because you're shape shifting and
you're trying to get an exact thing. It's like a
fun game almost. It's the complete opposite. When it's not
own stuff, it's let's just have fun and let's have
(16:01):
freedom and literally just kind of make a gumbo all
the things that I enjoy, you know what I mean.
Let's go, you were like that gumbo. I made gumbo this. Look,
I made gumbo this things. Given I was eating it
for like five days after I made so much, I'm like,
where are you at? Let me get it, let me
get a pot. Look. And also I saw you tweet
(16:25):
about macaroni and cheese. What cheddar? Only here we go? No,
you gotta have I think you gotta have on some
five cheese. Now it depends on what kind of cheese
you got. There's lots of Jesus in the world, but
you gotta make sure that they go right. But also,
(16:46):
like my one big thing about sometimes when people make
I know that I'm gonna get a lot about this,
when people make the maconi to peppery and like it's
just like the two peppery and I'm just like no, no, no, no,
it's like for you canceled up. Yeah, I'm like yeah,
but yeah, my mac was fire this year, and you
(17:09):
know what I mean. But I'm always open. I'm always
open to try some different things. But speaking of the
gumbo and this, you know, recipes that you throw into
this sophomore album of yours that we've been waiting so
long for, Like girl, when I tell you, I've had
it on repeat, we have been bumping. You are clearly
a storyteller. What did you want to tackle with this album?
(17:32):
And who hurt you? Who wasn't let us know? It's
so interesting because a lot of the times when I'm
listening back to my album, I'm like, Okay, this is
honestly a mixture of two exes, you know, or it's
a mixture of this and this experience that just I
have different perspectives them, but we need to talk really strong.
(17:54):
The album, my last album showed the story of me
being like, you know what, we don't jump in deep in,
maybe I'll get hurt for the first time. Who knows?
I did? You know what I mean? And that was
a thing where I was like, Okay, you can't be
afraid to fall in love, right because then you never
actually fallen in love, and then you might fall and
it can be what your thought was love, and then
(18:16):
the next person comes along and then it changes. So
I really wanted to show really my coping mechanism for
coming out of heartbreak, you know what I mean? And
in the beginning of the album, in that moment, or
if I was being like petty and I was just
trying to party it all the way and anything. I'm
the type of person that's like, I can say anything
to convince myself like all these are the pros and
(18:38):
cons of loving you. I'm very much so that type
of person. But as analytic as I am, it took
me a minute to get over that one. And it
really happened with the album when you were like, I
hope you're so fucking sad. I was like, let's cod yes,
not holding anything back when you get into that moment
(19:00):
of finally. I think that we all have that that
one person that we're like, oh, I want you to
say sorry, and then by the time you get it,
get like, you know what, Actually that was nice for
my ego, But now we're I don't even want to know,
you know. I mean, we all listened to your album
and loved it. Headmaker, Headmaker. We've said that, um but
(19:21):
justified girl, you took us there with that one. It's
just too good. I know, yeahs you had a sad
you loved too. Oh girl, I was playing all of them.
I'm telling you, like sad and just you captured the
essence of like the heart in that experience, you know
(19:42):
what I mean of like breaking and falling and lifting
yourself back up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
We've all been there, and if you haven't been there, uh,
you might be there one day and you know what
I mean. So, you know, while we're on the eggs,
I'm wondering, do you want them to hear this? Did you?
Did you write? In the beginning, I was more like okay,
(20:09):
because I was like, when they hear this, it's gonna
be like whoa, whoa. But then eventually, like later on
working through the album, I was like, well, okay, I'm
just happy that I got it out of my system.
And then it became a thing. I was like, well,
I mean, I hope I don't hurt their feelings. More
from being like sad to being like, well, I don't
(20:29):
really care enough to like hurt your feelings or anything
like that. It's just I'm just gonna like get my
emotions out. And this is a nice little diary, Yeah,
a diary for sure. So from a night out party
and described in the song system to struggling to not
call up that X and tell them what you never
said and never mind. This album really paints a picture
(20:52):
of that painful breakup journey. So what is your coping mechanism?
And I know that. I was like, you know, one
of them. One of them, of course, is writing and
singing for me. Another big one is gardening. I'm growing
like thirty different types of plants. It's I'm the type
of person when I like something, I love it, and
(21:13):
so I've been going in like it's a whole another thing.
So I've been following Black Girls with gardens instead, like
trying to be like, oh I just want to give
my garden up so I could be on there you
were and yo, I literally like being the blogs. Like
one time I had my mango trees going through and
I was like, y'all, what's going on? Like it's crazy,
(21:36):
I have an all little thing. Anyways, I'm a nerd
when it comes to that. You got mango trees? Yes,
oh wow, so you have a real garden to avocado trees, broccoli, Yes,
that's exactly what. I'm not really on this like stelf
sustainable tip right now. So I'm just trying to see
in every single way. So I think that that's one
(21:57):
big thing that that I was able to lose. First
of all, finished the album, cope with finding other ways
to cope with it, because then I was stuck in
the house. But then also it brought me closer my
current relationship and all of these other things. It was
just like a nice moment to just reevaluate. So you are,
(22:19):
I would say, genre list, you do it all, you
have a lot in you. And as black female comedians,
we know people can be quick to stereotype and trying
to put you in a box. We rock with MEGANA.
Stallion and nickel Back and Randy Tavin, and so we're
constantly surprising people. Have you ever found yourself battling assumptions
in the music industry, maybe defining some expectations of what
(22:41):
you can do and can't do. Definitely. You know when
I first came into the industry as a professional songwriter,
you know, it's years old. When I first started to
have a little bit of success, people would immediately be like, Okay,
well you're young, so you're gonna run for kids or
you and you're gonna write this particular genre of music,
(23:02):
whether it's R and B, a hip hop or whatever.
They felt was that identity, and then it was oh,
you're only gonna write for a female artist. And it's
all of these things that eventually just made me personally
because it's my personality. I was a kid when you
tell me no and made me want to do it
more so. So little did they know they were actually
(23:24):
inspiring me. They were right, it's not something that happens
often where you have somebody spanning from Gena to Gena
di Gennald. But where they were wrong is that it's
not impossible. I mean, it's not impossible at all. You
don't discourage somebody. But in my particular case, it was like, Okay,
I'm going to make sure that this is a thing
that encourages somebody else and me going through all of
these things like a battle warrior, the next young black
(23:46):
girl will be able to find an easy example to say, look,
Taylor did that, and I can take it even further.
So one thing I wanted to ask you about. I
noticed in a lot of your songs you don't use
like gender specific pronouns for you know, the love interest
or the subject of the song. Can you talk a
little bit about that and the rationale behind it. Yeah,
I used to do it in the beginning because as
(24:09):
a songwriter, I was writing for guys and girls, and
I figured, if the song is truly great, it won't
matter if you're saying him or her. And then in
my case, it just naturally transition for me because sometimes
I'm saying about a girl, sometimes I'm saying about a days.
You know, it's just whatever is that move, honestly and
whatever that experiences. It just gave me the freedom to
(24:32):
first of all, for me to interpret it however, um
and whenever that point was in my life. Also for
the artists that I was runing for some songs hard
guys and the caking songs are originally for girls or
vice versa. For myself, it was just really really natural
because my fans know me is I Want You and
you and YouTube h I've listened to I Want You.
(24:56):
It was you know how Spotify tells you like this
is one of your most played songs girl. When I
heard that song being a by black woman as well,
I'm just like, this is my life experience, Yes, you
know me, and like I just like think about you
being a part of the team behind like Dirty Computer
and the Internet Special Affair, like Okay, I'm gonna stop.
(25:19):
How does it feel to be a Biken? What is
it like? What is it like to be part of
such major moments in queer black history. I think it's
just honestly a relief for me to just know that
I'm doing being authentic to myself, you know, and it
happens to be something that other people relate to, and
(25:43):
so I think in a lot of ways that makes
you feel like, Okay, boom, so I'm not crazy and
I'm not alone, you know, and you pull this lie
to this is awesome. I literally it was just like,
I can't believe the soundtrack to my life was there.
I remember you calling me up and being like, there's
an anthem we haven't anthem? Yes, and it was. It
(26:08):
was very great. I actually was watching the music video
where I Want You Today, and it's just so striking.
The colors, the movement, it's all very beautiful. Thank you
so much. We definitely have a lot of really really
fun creators what we're doing, like the videos and the visuals,
whether it's you know, still things or music videos whatever.
(26:30):
So I'm definitely lucky to have my crew, Park Studios
and everybody else that we're collaborating with just to get
it out there. You know, So question for you and
I don't know if this it's too hard, but wish
you prefer more performing or writing? And are you doing
a virtual tour? We can come too soon. That's us
(26:50):
asking you to place make it happen. Yes, I will
definitely be doing a virtual tool which we've been together
right now. I'm exciting about because you know, you have
a lot of a lot of really creative ways to
kind of just interact with your fans, because it's it's
really about approaching it from the outside the box type
of way, you know, like what can we play with
that we couldn't do when we were all in one
(27:12):
room together. Um, just seeing the bright side of things.
And then I think I get two completely different things
out of performing and writing writing. I'm able to be
a chameleon and kind of really really camouflage and be
able to get all all of these expressions, expressions like
I couldn't see myself singing how hopes about panic at
(27:32):
the disco, But it was really really fun to be
a part of it. And then something with like thank
you next and the Dirty Computer songs, those are songs
that I really couldn't hear anybody else like singing besides those,
and then you'd go in even further with the country songs.
And so it's all about what is best for that song,
you know what I mean? And and in order for
me to feel like I always have access to do
(27:55):
whatever is best for that song, I can't see myself
either just performing or just write. Both of them kind
of work hand in hand for me. That makes me
wonder as a songwriter, like when you're collaborating because we
see like a song like thank you next there are
other people's names on it too, but you know, we
know you as the face of it outside of Arianna, Like,
how does that process work? Do you guys all write
(28:17):
your own stuff and then kind of pick what works together?
What's that process? Like? Every song is different. So sometimes
you'll have Ariana in that case will send me an
idea maybe um and it might have a learn or two,
or if she might just send me a thing like
I want a song that has to do with blank
blank blank um. So every song is different, especially in
(28:38):
that case. And then sometimes it's just us going through
beats together in the studio picking it out and then
the song just comes out of a natural conversation. The
thing that's a common thread between all of the different
songs that I've done is just the strength of collaboration.
So nobody's fighting to be like I did all of this,
and nobody's trying to push anybody to the side. Is
just really a matter of being like, look, we want
(29:00):
to make sure that we're working with honest people. Of course,
it always gets complicated when somebody might think that they
maybe did more than they did, or somebody maybe think
they did less when they actually did more. So it's
just about really holding everybody with that same respect. You
know that you would want to be healthy. I saw
mine that you're a virgo. Um, okay, so you already
(29:23):
know we acted up every time a Virgo party, especially
right now, you know, you know Beyonce Virgo. I mean
that's how you want to use our interview times, right. Look, Look, look,
(29:44):
I'm just saying like I feel like every time a
virgo knows the virgo, we like see everything, see each other,
scorpios in the building. Yeah about you actually okay, okay, okay,
(30:04):
what about your mommy, I'm a I'm no one. Do
you said that? No more? Do you said Virgo party
awesome extence, I even like even more. But I like
everybody even Yeah, I like everybody. If you saund like
a mama, I like everybody, No, say every kids. But
(30:27):
I'm also curious, what is it like working in the
K pop world? So that was really fun because naturally,
as a songwriter, I like to jump from John John
and usually you have to jump from artists to artists
to do that. But then within K pops, they like
to use so many different genres in one song, and
the song will be like four minutes long, and so
(30:50):
it was really a different format for me, and I
really enjoyed it as a songwriter because it was I
was able to flex those muscles of just being able
to be like, first of all, they're really really appreciative
of real R and B or like hip hop or
just music in general. The artist that I've worked with anyway,
you know, like they really appreciate that. I don't Knowmber,
(31:12):
probably like my first time ever ever going out there
was like years ago, and now I'm like, wow, I've
been back like four times now at this point. I
learned something new every time. But I'm just I admire
the fact that they are. They were, they've been doing
kind of a US radio and streaming is norm now
and that's not caring about genre, just trying to make
(31:32):
great music. Curious, who's your favorite musician you've worked with?
And if you have a lot of favorite questions, I'm like, Um,
I think probably most recently, my favorite musician to work
(31:54):
with was probably John Legend. And I said that because
trick for you guys, it's a different doing a musician
and a pop star, you know what I'm saying. So
we're only going to count the musicians, um, and that
means that you play an instrument, you know what I mean.
And so as far as as far as the musicians go, um,
definitely John Legend was one of them out of out
(32:15):
of them and King Princess because both just have an
interesting take on their genre and on their instrument. Um.
So we're gonna jump back a little bit, back to
the Nickeloneion days where you first met Ariana Grande and
we're just wondering, now y'are both in the music industry
blowing up. How did y'all discuss music back then? Did
(32:37):
you know this was coming? No, not at all. Actually,
when I think we first had our introduction to each
other when she was doing thirteen UM and I was
doing Hairspray, and then after that, years later we would
end up like connecting just from doing different things. My
best friend growing up, Keekie Palmer had she gone is
(33:04):
an incredible, incredible person, so we just knew. Um. We
ran in all the same circles, so you know, Kiki
Newer and Leon Thomas who was also on the on
another Nickelodeon show, I Harley Um who's also a collaborator
UM of Ariana. We just kind of grew up and
evolved with each other. Honestly, it's a very interesting thing
(33:25):
because we saw each other, you know, Dona Thins, everybody
else saw us as just child actors is working with kids,
and we know that there's another kid who shares a
very similar experience because growing up, most kids aren't working
at nine, ten, eleven, twelve years old. So it's really
nice to have those people that understand. And also, I
think anytime you grow up with somebody and they've seen
(33:47):
how hard you work to get there, it makes it
all that much more like just gratifying when you were
all sitting at the Grammys together, or like hey, I
feel like it's going to be so surreal. Yeah, it's
much better versus versus like a stranger who just came
on towards the end and they don't know of the
hard work. Okay, follow up question nickeloneon actors versus Disney
(34:12):
actors win in a fight. It's so hard because let
me tell you that a lot of the Disney kids
or from Texas like me. So I'm like them and
the Jonah's brothers and Selena and they're also we've all
worked together, you know, on the on the artist side,
but then day I've also worked with the nickeloeon gids
(34:35):
And this is all when this was doing me up
right here, I know, Mama answers. Everybody wins a participation trophy,
everybody gets a black guy. All right, let's talk about hair. Girl.
You're doing it all with the hairstyles, and I so
(34:57):
appreciate when I see a black girl changing it up
because it's something I I've always done. But it took
me a while to be able to to step into
changing my hair so much for an array of reasons.
You know, people always got kind of questions, um, but
you know, you know, hair is a big dic right,
it means a lot. What made you decide to start
(35:19):
wearing your hair natural and also just switching it up? Man,
it was tough. I like literally woke up one day
and realized I was like, Okay, I want to do
something new, but I don't want to do too much.
But came out of doing like green and purple and
pink and all of these colored hairs, like these little
bob wigs, you know, And first of all, I was like, oh,
(35:40):
I'm so tired of whigs. I can't do it. I
can't do it. I just need to I just need
a break for a second. Also with the transition of
the music, you see that transition with my hair too,
because it's really me just evolving as a person with
we need to talk phase with the different wigs, I
was going to each extreme to the next and coping mechanisms.
Shays is really me saying Okay, I've tried the extremes,
(36:00):
I tried the streames, and now I'm settling into somewhere
in between. And so it's definitely been a journey. Like
and I was I realized I've never worned my like
just natural hair ever ever in all of these years,
you know what I mean. Because I was very usually
started off as being on sets. Trust me, you don't
want to have your natural hair out there, you know
(36:25):
what I mean, So in order to protect yourself. It
was a protection type of thing at first, but then
it's just like, okay, I started to just kind of
find out, Okay, what kind of worlds do I need
to be using, what kind of like this don't need
to be doing? How do I deal with? You know,
my my sling I pollo I deal with Because I
can be a very um bad at being a girly girl.
(36:47):
Sometimes I'm like, oh, I don't want to wrap my hair.
I don't want to like do things like that. Speak
on and I'm trying to pull it together. I'm trying
to pull it together. But with my natural hair, at
least I'm able to be like, okay, anything where I
can learn to something that happened to and dive deep
to a subject, I'm like, okay, I'm down, curls out
(37:07):
here popping. You're doing it, girl, You're doing it. Thank you,
thank you, thank you. Because you know, sometimes with Naturale,
you wake up and it's like this looks what what
was yesterday? But now everybody's learning a lot more about
hair and I'm happy to be one of the people
to be a part of it because I'm just trying
to be honest about my little adventure that we're just
(37:30):
trying to figure it out together. So, Taylor, thank you
so much for being here today. Before we let you go,
one last question. What do you hope listeners get from
coping mechanism? Besides you know something, just shake it too.
I really hope they're just listeners get something to to
make them feel a little less alone. Honestly, um and
(37:52):
and honestly, just be honest with your emotions and be
thankful for the you know, the good, the bad, ugly,
everything in between, because at the into the journey, he
is always going to come out and coming new and improved. You.
I so appreciate that. I want to thank you for
the space that you create for folks to live their
authentic truth and to just feel what they're going through
(38:13):
and to really like the way that you document this
experience of being human is just so so powerful. So
thank you, thank you, thank you man, thank you guys
for having me. I'm so honored to be a part
of this and just have some good little conversations to
start the day off. Can you tell us what we
can expect. You can expect for Coping Mechanisms to be
(38:37):
doing our virtual chour. You can expect to see a
little bit more mean being involved in TV and film, um,
and just more music. More Taylor may music. It's coming
that Taylor. I'm gonna get you, uh, some of my
mom's mac and cheese. By the way, I'm gonna let
you know, trade trade off. But we gotta do that
(39:01):
in the fair things. So we gotta do blind for
everybody and be like, okay, all right, yeah, this will
be a fun game. Whose mac is it? Intro the
whole little ki all right, y'all, thank you so much
for having bye bye. All right, Oh that was so
(39:29):
fun that y'all. If you aren't listening to Coping Mechanisms,
your best to get to it. But it is time
for us to give some advice. And it looks like
a little family drama took place over the holidays, so
y'all are gonna want to hear this one. We'll be
right back after the break. Welcome back. Y'all got questions
(39:59):
and maybe you have some answers. Is Tom Bros To
give some advice. MAMMYA what you got for us? All right?
Dear o D I'm having family issues and I don't
know what to do or if I should even do
anything at all. I'm thirty two and I think I
finally met the love of my life, but my family
hates him. My family is very old Southern Baptist, and
(40:22):
he's Bluish, Black and Jewish and has no desire to convert.
I love him for who he is, but they always
give me a hard time about it. Over the holiday,
my mom asked me if I was willing to let
my future children burn and for this man is dramatic.
She even told him to his face that she was
(40:44):
praying for his soul, but she didn't think it was
going to end well for him. It sucks because I'm
close to my family, but this is just out of control.
A holiday dinner without my family seems bleak. But it
is also not fair to my man to have to
deal with them. What do you all think I should do?
Signed I don't want my babies to burn. It's always
(41:12):
hard when you love don't get along with your family,
and you shouldn't have to choose. You really shouldn't. I think,
you know, we just got to create some boundaries. Um,
I don't want my babies to burn. I w m
V that's too much. But but no, I feel you
(41:41):
like you are in a good, healthy relationship and his
faith doesn't bother you, So that is what matters. And
I think you know you love your family, but they
got to show some respect because that's you know, your man.
I mean, it's hard to tell your mama what to do.
Let me tell you that right now. She probably won't listen,
but I think she just having a conversation like, hey,
(42:04):
I get that you are on the same page with
what we are doing or what we believe. But this
is where I'm at. And if you want us in
your life and you want to see you a future grandkids,
then you gotta treat us right. And I think this
is like a unique opportunity for you to create new traditions.
You know, if your family doesn't come around, that's so
(42:26):
unfortunate for them, But this is your life that you
get to craft, and so this is an exciting time
for you guys to merge both of your faiths or
if that even is your faith. You know, like there's
room to create new traditions. New traditions can be great,
but it is hard to um to lose your family
(42:46):
if that's what might happen. So I would I would
really just try to journal and figure out is this
something that you really are willing to lose your family over?
And is your family's love something you're willing to lose
the love of your life over. Because it's a possibility
that one of those things happen, and you don't want
to be resentful to nobody. So just make sure you
(43:08):
really know where you're sitting and what decision you're about
to make, because um, new traditions are great, but family
is important. Yeah, I think you need to talk to
your family. I know you've tried, but like I feel
like when you make a situation like all right, we're
sitting down to talk because there's an issue fundamentally and
we need to talk. That lets people know like this
(43:29):
is justin off the cuff conversation about how we feel.
This is like our life and the future of our family,
and like I want you to be a part of
our lives, but you also call yourself a Christian in
our damning somebody else. That point needs to be brought
up to your mother, Um, and I think after a
conversation like that, you will be able to gauge if
(43:52):
they can put their pride down to get past the
religious aspect and realize their daughter loves somebody and they
should support that. This is a thing that many people
go through, right of like, trying to navigate their families,
relationship to religion, and their own life. And at some
point you really do have to figure out what that
(44:13):
balance is for you so that you don't go crazy
trying to, you know, live a life for someone else,
or live two or three lives for multiple different people.
And if we didn't help, I don't want my babies
to burn. It's hard for me to even say if
we didn't help talk to somebody this license. Yes, it
(44:34):
makes you feel any better. I don't think your babies
will burn. They won't burn to Nobody is going to
be on fire here. There's just love. No kids are
going into Oh no, okay, this took a turn. Um,
(44:56):
we hope that helped. Yes, we hope that helps, and
we hope that y'all enjoyed This conversation with Taylor Parks
also dove getting to talk to her about her and
about what it takes to be a hit maker, y'all. Yes,
as always, we appreciate y'all tuning in. Please remember to
subscribe if you want to show us some love. You
(45:17):
can also rate and review the podcast that would be
What's Up? Yes, yes, yes, please rate and review and come.
Keep keep with us on social media at Obama's Other
Daughters on Instagram at O D improv on Twitter, and
on Facebook at Obama's Other Daughters. Also, if y'all want
to because don't forget to do that. And if you
(45:39):
need some advice or you know someone who does, please
send us your letters because we are unlicensed but love
to give advice um, and you can do that at
O D Podcast at gmail dot com. Look, we helped.
I don't want my babies to burn. I think we helped. Yo.
We can't wait to see you guys next week, well too,
(46:00):
in the six days till the next episode. Bye Bye
You Down is a production of Shawnda Land Audio and
partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcast from Shawnda
(46:20):
land Audio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Y'all know,
(46:46):
technically we aren't seeing them next week. We just let
them hear us so who he's say instead of see
feel speak too well. We'll enter your ear drums next week.
Leave it at
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com