pigeon-holing her, think again; she’s also credited on High Hopes, the biggest hit of Panic! At The Disco’s career (No. 6 in the States in summer 2018). Warner Chappell signing Parx, then, is the definition of hot right now. Her current commercial success and industry recognition has undoubtedly been jetpropelled by her membership of Grande’s creative inner circle. But, whilst there is a sort of (carefully projected) sorority/ sleepover vibe to that set-up, Parx’s place in it is all about craft and graft rather than pillow fights and pinky promises. As far as her work and relationship with Grande is concerned, Parx hasn’t got lucky – she’s got recognized and rewarded. Before her current burst of global hits, Dallas-born Parx had already written big songs with (and for) artists such as Mariah Carey, Fifth Harmony, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and Demi Lovato. Before that she was a successful child actress, appearing in the cult 2007 movie Hairspray and in various TV shows, including Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. Grande, born in the same year as Parx (1993), also found fame first on Nickelodeon (four seasons in Victorious, in which Parx also appeared). But, whilst this was when the pair first met, and what provided common ground, a far more important similarity was that they both knew it was music that was their true calling. There will be a shift of gears later this year, as Parx’s debut album, We Need To Talk, comes out on her own label, Tayla Made, via Atlantic Records. Whilst it marks a new chapter, it does not mean a change in career. Parx is still a songwriter. She says: “I will never stop writing for other artists. Will I be more choosy about which artists I write for? Yes. But listen, I write about 200 songs a year, and I
can’t release them all!” She adds: “Sometimes I wake up and I want to write a rock song; sometimes I wake up and I want to write a country song. And I love the fact that I can do that because it’s not always about me.” Right now, more than ever, it is actually quite a lot about Parx. As she prepares to embark on new projects with Dua Lipa and Sam Smith, as well as spending more time in Nashville working with some country artists, she is certain to add to her growing list of smash hits and make it harder to know which chart-busting banger to ask her about first.
started to turn around. You mentioned acting, did that appeal to you as an alternative permanent career path? It was something that I almost fell into. I took it on as a challenge. I do like a challenge. 99.999% of the things I do in my career I do because they are challenging. Ultimately, I decided it was distracting me too much from the thing that I love, and the thing that I need to dedicate myself to perfecting, which was music. [Acting] definitely helped me though, with the whole idea of getting into character when
“EVERYONE HAD BEEN SAYING: ‘THERE’S NO MONEY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!’ IT WASN’T UNTIL I WAS 15 YEARS OLD THAT [SITUATION] STARTED TO TURN AROUND.” One way out of that quandary, of course, is to start with other people’s…
it came to writing very personal songs, but from the point of view of another artist.
What was the music you loved growing up? Back in Texas, where I’m from, my parents bought me a karaoke machine and the songs I remember learning and singing along to were Brian McKnight, Back At One and Babyface, When Can I See You? And the other artist I was exposed to early on, perhaps because she was a Texan as well, was Erykah Badu. Now, looking back, I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re all singer/songwriters…’
Whilst the acting was taking off, were you already writing songs? I started writing songs when I was 13, 14. After Hairspray, I wanted to go into music, but at that point, people saw me as an actress that was trying to sing. Basically I had to re-start my career and prove that I was meant to be in music. My parents bought me Logic and the thinking was, If no one wants to write with you right now, do it yourself; just start. And that was great because it meant that I learned to engineer and produce, create my own beats and be really self-sufficient.
Did you think of songwriting, or music generally, as something you could make a living at? Not until I was about 15, I don’t think; before that I’d only made money from acting. I think before then, everyone had been saying, ‘There’s no money in the music industry!’ It wasn’t until I was 15 that that
What got you on the first step on the ladder? My big break was probably BO$$ by Fifth Harmony (2015), that’s when a lot of people in the industry started to hear my name, and became curious about 89
