Tayla Parx

Early life and education

Parx was born Taylor Monét Parks in Texas, and grew up in Dallas before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 13. Her mother worked in IT and her father in mortgage underwriting. She sang before she could speak, and as a young child, her grandmother—a pianist—sang lullabies to teach her to harmonize.

Music was a central focus of Parx's upbringing. She sang in church, and took dance, voice, and classical piano lessons. She began writing songs in elementary school. She loved Missy Elliott, who later introduced Parx to songwriting as a profession through her work with Aaliyah.

Planning to concentrate on dance, Parx began attending Debbie Allen's Dance Academy in 2002. Allen was enthusiastic about Parx's talent, and in addition to dancing, she encouraged her to act.

Career

Early career: Lincoln Center, ''Hairspray,'' Nickelodeon

With her parents' permission, Allen brought Parx to Washington, DC, and from the age of nine until she was eleven, she performed at Lincoln Center as the narrator in a stage adaptation of Allen's book, Dancing in the Wings.

At Allen's urging, the Parks family moved to Los Angeles in 2006. During her first year in LA, Parx was cast in Gilmore Girls and Everybody Hates Chris. Her breakthrough role was as Little Inez Stubbs in the 2007 musical remake of the film Hairspray. She subsequently appeared on television shows including Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP and Victorious. She met Ariana Grande, who starred in Victorious, at Nickelodeon.

2012–2016: Warner Chappell, "BO$$", "Solo Yo"

Feeling that she had become pigeonholed as an actor, in 2013 Parx decided to take a break from film and television. Refocused on music, she learned to engineer and began studying entertainment law. At 17, she met Babyface, who became a mentor, and at 19, Jon Platt signed her to a publishing deal at Warner Chappell. In a 2021 interview she said that her background as an actor helped her as a songwriter: "The art of songwriting is really being able to say, 'I'm here with you. I'm listening to you'. It was like this clash of two worlds that I loved."

In 2013, she earned her first album credit as a co-writer and co-producer on the title track of Sevyn Streeter's debut album, Call Me Crazy, But... She reconnected with Grande, and together with Tommy Brown and Victoria Monét, they wrote "My Everything", the title track of Grande's second album. She scored her first big hit as a co-writer and vocal producer on "Boss," the lead single from Fifth Harmony's debut album. Certified platinum in the US, it was on the Billboard Hot 100 or 15 weeks.

Parx voiced Sim in the video game The Sims 4 in 2014, and a year later voiced Victor Stone in the film Justice League: Gods and Monsters.

In 2015, her songs were recorded by The Internet, Pentatonix, Red Velvet, Jason Derulo, and Keyshia Cole, among others, and she was featured on "Anyway", a track co-written with Chris Brown. She also released her first single as a solo artist, "Don't Answer the Phone". In April 2016, she had her first #1 hit on the Latin Pop charts with the Sofía Reyes and Prince Royce track "Solo Yo."

2017–2019: ''We Need to Talk'', "Thank U, Next", ''Dirty Computer''

Atlantic Records released Parx's TaylaMade, a mixtape composed of 20 songs and interludes, in 2017. She said she had a feeling of freedom when she stepped into the studio to work on the mixtape, knowing all she had to do was be herself. Khalid, Chiiild, and Syd were featured on TaylaMade.

Parx co-wrote the BTS song Mic Drop", released in 2017. It held the #1 spot on the Japanese K-pop charts for six weeks. The following year, she co-wrote "Like I Do" with Christina Aguilera. The track won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung performance. Parx also co-wrote the title track of Chloe x Halle's The Kids Are Alright, (which was Grammy-nominated in the Best Contemporary Urban album category). She co-wrote four songs for Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer, taking a "deep creative storytelling dive" to help Monae tell her story. Parx received her first Grammy nomination in the album of the year category for her work on Dirty Computer.

In October 2018, Parx collaborated with Grande, Monet and Brown on the follow-up to Grande's album Sweetener. They wrote nine songs in a week, including the "internet -melting" title track, "Thank U, Next." Parx urged Grande to use the names of her exes in the song. Released in November 2018, the song hit #1 in 23 countries, becoming a "worldwide cultural moment." Parx also co-wrote "7 Rings", which hit #1 in 28 countries and became one of the best-selling songs in digital music history. Like "Thank U, Next", "7 Rings" debuted at #1 on the Hot 100.

In 2018, in addition to voicing AJ for The Walking Dead video game series, Parx had three songs simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100: “Thank U, Next,” "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco, and the Khaled featuring Normani track, "Love Lies." "High Hopes," which Parx began working on at a BMI writing camp in 2016, was Panic! at the Disco's biggest hit to date, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Love Lies" was a Top 10 hit in seven countries.

With her debut album, We Need to Talk, released in April 2019, Parx explored genre, gender, and feminism as well as her identity as a queer Black woman. In a review in Vice, Kristin Corry wrote that Parx's habit of "crafting 200 songs a year has made her a painfully concise songwriter, one who carefully crafts every moment of the record's 15 tracks". The review emphasized Parx's ability to both convey and elicit emotion in her songs: Corry wrote that she could "almost hear Parx's heart breaking" on one track, and that another induced anxiety "like the moment you send a risky text, and see that the other person is typing." Entertainment Weekly described the album as "equal parts swagger and vulnerability."

2020–present: ''Coping Mechanisms,'' ''Many Moons, Many Suns''

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parx built out her home studio, and finished her second album, Coping Mechanisms. During the 2020 presidential election cycle, she recorded A Blue State, a 3-song EP of cover songs that "captured the truths" of the moment, and "reflected society, how society was feeling." She covered Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything" and Kirk Franklin's "I Smile" on A Blue State, which was released on Atlantic in October 2020.

Coping Mechanisms was released in November. In an article in Nylon, Steffanee Wang wrote that with Coping Mechanisms, Parx "turned the demons and emotional baggage that live in (Parx's) head into vibrant soundscapes of breezy disco, glitchy techno, and percussive pop."

During the pandemic, Parx produced vocals and co-wrote six songs, including "34+35" and "POV", for Grande's fifth album, Positions, while observing strict social distancing protocols. She and Grande were rarely in the same room. She was nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Album category for her co-write, "I'm Ready", on John Legend's Bigger Love. She received her third Album of the Year Grammy Nomination as a co-writer of "FUBT" on Haim's Women in Music Pt. III.

In 2021, she become the fourth Black woman to write a #1 country hit with "Glad You Exist", a collaboration with Dan + Shay. She received her fourth Album of the Year Grammy nomination as a songwriter on Justin Beiber*s Justice *the same year, and in 2022 earned Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Jazz album for her work on Not Tight, the debut album by Domi and JD Beck, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Diana Ross's Thank You.

Writing when inspiration hit, Parx began working on her third album, Many Moons, Many Suns, just after the release of Coping Mechanisms. In July 2024, she dropped the "raucous, catchy, empowering, high-energy track" "Era" (featuring Tkay Maidza). The album was released independently on TaylaMade. In Rolling Stone, Parx said: "I'm in my era of owning everything that I am, If you listen to my lyrics, I'm telling you everything that you need to know about me and what my values are as a as a human. I'm saying that when you go through those dark times, you will finally bounce back and realize that you're OK."

TaylaMade, Inc.

Formally launched in 2021, Parx established TaylaMade, Inc. as an umbrella organization for her ventures. It includes Parx Studios, a creative collective that has worked with artists including Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish and Noah Cyrus; and Trailer Parx, a lifestyle brand. TaylaMade Inc. also encompasses Parx Publishing, a joint venture with Warner Chappell; 3020 Management, and TaylaMade Records. Parx Publishing and 3020 Management have signed writers and producers including Grammy nominees Oliver Frid, Kameron Glasper, and Em Walcott.

Personal life and advocacy

Parx lives in Nashville. She is queer. In the mini-documentary, Who Is Tayla Parx?, she described herself as "a dog mom, a sister, a daughter, an executive, a writer and an artist."

Parx is a member of the Mechanical Licensing Collective and a founding member of The Pact, a songwriter's lobby established to end the practice of performers receiving credit and publishing rights for songs they did not write. She was appointed to the leadership committee of the Recording Academy's Black Music Collective in September 2020.

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Soundtrack appearances

Songwriting credits