By Gabrielle Taylor | 7 August 2023
When listening to “Hot Pink” by Talyana, the first thing I noticed was how delicate and light her vocals were. Her voice echoes and is layered in such a beautiful way throughout the entire track, making every lyric sound fragile and precious. In a video featured on Talyana’s Instagram, she discusses an interesting topic of artists’ voices being portrayed as instruments themselves. She says, “Our voice emulates a specific instrument, and that specific instrument is what we sound best with. I want you to look at your favorite artist, your favorite songs, and try to see who your favorite artists emulate in their singing tone.”
She uses Ariana Grande as an example: “She elongates her phrases, she does like a bunch of swells, everything’s very connected. She emulates strings! That’s why she sounds so good with strings!” Talyana even says she may sound crazy with this theory, but it makes perfect sense. This insightful video not only showcases Talyana’s incredible knowledge surrounding music and tone but it helped me understand what instrument her voice reminded me of on “Hot Pink.” A flute!
The airy vocals delivered by Talyana represent that of a wind instrument as beautiful and dainty as the flute. Her voice contrasts against the bass-heavy melody of “Hot Pink” and I hope to see this combination in future work of hers. If you love the “dark pop” vibe from artists like Dua Lipa, and Zara Larsson you’ll thoroughly enjoy this track from Talyana. The heavy bass and synths underneath those gorgeous vocals deliver that cyberpunk vibe!
The visualizer for the song features bright pink goo spilled underneath a detached robotic arm, capturing—as Talyana puts it—“the essence of being alone in a cyberpunk world, evoking emotions of introspection, defiance, and escapism.”
Talyana’s world is full of pink color palettes, dream core, and liminal spaces, taking the listener to an entirely different world. The futuristic theme of this song sounds like it belongs in the soundtrack of the video game Cyberpunk 2077. The game takes place in a dark place called Night City, and the main character is a mercenary skilled in hacking and melee and long-range combat. V, the character the player controls feels the same way Talyana described the song: defiant and desperate to escape the life they’re in.
With “Hot Pink”being a depiction of what a song from the year 2077 could possibly sound like, I’m excited to see what Talyana will release next. Will she continue to create music for a generation of people yet to exist?
