FRIDAY 23 JULY, 2021
Australian music artist TIA has just released her fourth single, Talk About It. The undoubtedly vocally gifted 17-year-old singer-songwriter has been called ‘a Melbourne powerhouse with her mind-blowing vocal chops, with comparisons to pop icons like Bishop Briggs and Dua Lipa,’ by Triple J Unearthed, no less.
Talk About It is an up to speed contemporary RnB pop crossover track that features several quite enticing hooks, most notably those embedded within the framework of the pre-chorus parts, which are also aided by stripped back treatment when compared to the rest of the track. The chorus goes for big and very nearly achieves it: its weight rests solely on a cycle of a repetitive and relatively straightforward reiteration of the title.
No harm there; it hammers home the message, its sleek simplicity acts as a form of respite from the more multidimensional verse and pre-chorus sections. The production is shiningly lean when it needs to be and full-bodied when the listener expects it, not only adhering to a few of the tropes of contemporary pop that aim for an RnB edge but creating a blend that attempts to forge a fresh approach. Talk About It is accessible pop and not in some cutesy teen pandering way but a more traditional, more or less adult sense; a song with all highs and lows crowned by TIA’s intimacy hinting cadences.
The lyric’s varying points of view suggest a conversation, a tête-à-tête whose crescendo is the admission that things need to be discussed. The opening lines, ‘I don’t know how to say this / I can’t articulate this’, capture the narrator’s ambitions and the ensuing problems. The track’s lyric focuses on this balancing act, and this notion of individuality and healing is later laid bare by the ‘learning how to be me’ line.
As TIA says, ‘I feel we have all normalised hiding the pain away pretending to be okay and not talking about the negativity that we can get consumed by. I want ‘talk about it’ to show even though we have lows and negative internal thoughts that it’s okay to have tough moments and to actually talk about how difficult things are.’ Just what that negativity derives from is not clear, but that’s beside the point right, we know what TIA means here, and, of course, her intentions are quite valid.
