British pop artist and songwriter Talia Mar first built a huge online following before developing her career as an artist. Now she has established herself through honest songwriting, relatable lyrics and a strong connection with her audience. Following the release of her latest single ‘A Bitch Always Knows’, she is preparing to take the stage at KOKO for her headline show in October, while also working towards the release of her upcoming EP. With a growing sense of creative independence, including directing and editing her recent music videos, Talia Mar is shaping her music on her terms.

We caught up with her to talk about inspiration, creativity, performing live, and what's next.

For anyone discovering your music for the first time, how would you introduce yourself as an artist? 

To describe myself as an artist, I'd say I’m someone who deeply loves songwriting. Every time I write a song, I want to accurately portray how I’m feeling or how someone else is feeling (if I’m telling their story) - it’s the most important thing to me when I’m producing my music. So to anyone who’s seeing me for the first time, I’m a pop girly through and through, but a songwriter at heart. 

Are there any artists or musical influences that have particularly shaped the sound you're creating at the moment and your career? 

I always take influence from every single artist I listen to. I’m a big female artist lover. I love Taylor Swift, RAYE, Adéla, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey. I love every female artist ever to walk this earth, and there’s no one particular person that I try to emulate or a sound that I particularly try & use, but I take parts of every artist I listen to and try to put them into one. 

For your latest release ‘A Bitch Always Knows’, what was the writing and creative process like, and was there a specific moment that inspired that track? 

When writing ‘A Bitch Always Knows’, there was no one moment that sparked that song, but I wrote it four years ago, with two of my absolute favourite people to write with. We were just joking in the room about the fact that when things go wrong in your life, you always have a sense of "I knew that was going to happen" and we wanted to capture that in a fun way in the song. Because it’s never actually a fun feeling when you go "Ugh, knew it! Knew that was gonna go wrong", so we wanted to put a fun spin on what is actually quite a painful feeling. 

You have some upcoming live shows, including KOKO on October 6th. What is it that you most enjoy about performing live? 

I have always loved performing, but I think my number one favourite thing about performing is watching people sing lyrics back to you that you wrote. Whether you wrote that song six months ago or five years ago, watching someone in the crowd who might live a hundred miles away from you, a thousand miles away from you, singing songs that you wrote in a room, with two friends, on a random Sunday, is such a special feeling. 

Do you have a favourite song to perform live, and is there a particular song that gets the biggest reaction from the crowd? 

Do you know what? My favourite song to perform live constantly changes. For a while it was ‘Bored’, I always love playing ‘Stay The Night’ because it gets such a strong reaction from the crowd. But I think ‘Self Portrait’ is one that always has maybe the best reaction, because so many people relate to it & it’s the song that they use to get themselves through a bit of a rough patch. So that’s always one that I always love seeing people sing back to me. 

You've achieved so much across music and your online career. Looking back, what would you say has been your biggest career achievement so far, and why does it mean so much to you? 

I would say that my biggest career achievement so far is probably my most recent music videos. I used to say that it was my show that I put on in 2017 because I did it all alone, and I then obviously signed to a label, and I’ve now kind of come back to that feeling of doing stuff alone. While I have an incredible team around me, deciding to direct and edit my music videos has been something that I was so passionate about trying, and I have loved every second of it. It’s something that I’m super proud of and something I actually didn’t know whether I was ever gonna get to do. 

Is there a song you've released that you feel particularly represents who you are as an artist right now? 

A song that I’ve released that feels most like who I am right now is probably ‘Suit & Tie’. There’s just something about that song and the way that it’s produced that I feel like I’d been wanting to write a song like that for so long. To finally be able to actually do it and have it out in the world was so nice, and it still feels like a turning point in my career in songwriting. 

What can we expect from the next chapter of your music? Do you have any standout goals for the year? 

I have so many goals for the end of the year. I recently announced that I am releasing an EP. I haven’t announced the date yet, but that’s what I’m so excited about for the next chapter of music. It’s all stuff that I’m so excited about, and I don’t remember the last time that I was this excited to release a body of work. So, stay tuned because that is all to come & I cannot wait!