Hope Tala is primed for battle on the ferocious “All My Girls Like To Fight”

Hope Tala has been surrounded by music for as long as she can remember. Long car trips were filled with a rich back catalogue of music, from Brandy’s Full Moon to Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi, as well as a healthy scattering of Now That’s What I Call Music compilations.

These long car journeys fuelled her artistic agency, and the London-based creative has harnessed these musical influences to create a rich tapestry of sounds. “All My Girls Like To Fight”, the first single from her forthcoming EP Girl Eats Sun, is a pugnacious return.

Fists clenched and chins raised, dancers raise their muletas in triumph as they circle Hope Tala in fierce defiance, plumes of red silk entwining around the central figure. Directed by Millicent Hailes (Migos, Lil Yachty), Hope is bold and assertive - emulating the emotional urgency and layered narratives of “an action movie soundtrack.”

“I grew up on good stories, and have always been driven by a desire to craft my own”, she explains. “Writing ‘All My Girls Like To Fight’ was the first time I felt like I was really constructing an expansive narrative in a song. I wanted to create a visually rich tale steeped in drama and intrigue to match the suspenseful Spanish guitar chords we started with in the studio, and wanted to portray women as having strength and agency in the narrative.”

Lacing her usual dreamy musical landscapes with a bold rap verse, her experimentation is empowering - “I always felt destined to make music. It’s my duty to see this through.”