Photo by Madeline Dalla

Taylor Parks, who goes by the stage name Tayla Parx, has one message: “Come as you are because, whatever that is, is acceptable.”

It’s a message that comes through all Parks’ work, whether that’s as a songwriter of chart-topping hits for a variety of musicians or through her own work on her debut LP We Need to Talk.

“I think that’s where everything truly, truly starts — you being your authentic self. It’s just you accepting being what you want for what you are and being confident in that,” the 25-year-old artist says from San Francisco, where’s she’s kicking off her U.S. tour opening for Lizzo, herself a powerhouse of female empowerment anthems.

From the beginning, Parks has worked with strong women, writing songs for everyone from the K-Pop all-female group Red Velvet in 2015, to earning a Grammy nomination as part of the writing team behind  Janelle Monáe’s 2018 Dirty Computer, to Ariana Grande’s chart-topping “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings” in 2019.

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