[ WM ] That ’ s a really great story ! Taya , you have a particularly soulful voice . A great example of this is “ For All My Life ” from your new solo project that has just been released . Did you grow up listening to American Soul Music ? Who were some of you early musical influences , mainstream or sacred ?
[ Taya ] That is a very kind compliment because I love soulful music . I really do want to be able to create music that moves people and I love a bit of the blues , I love the storytelling and singersongwriter , but to have soul in there is such a kind word . I grew up listening to a large range of different genres . My Dad had a turntable and he invested in some amazing big speakers . So , I grew up with music and at a loud volume and for example , one of the ways he loved to wake us up to go to church as a family , he would put on a big classical musical piece . It ’ s like fanfare . I forget exactly what it ’ s called , but there ’ s these crazy cymbals and that ’ s what my Dad would do at 6:30am on a Sunday .
I ’ m like , “ Dad . You wake up with your heart in your mouth and in your chest and you realize it ’ s just church time . Okay , here we go .” but I grew up listening to the Beatles . I grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac . I grew up with a little bit of Joni Mitchell in there , which I love her voice . Honestly , Australia ’ s a little bit more of a secular nation . We don ’ t have a Bible belt . I didn ’ t grow up with Christian radio . It was like Top 40 was in there , a lot of R & B was in there as well . A whole bunch of classical . One thing my Dad did , he gave us an education that he wished that he had had growing up .
And so we did piano lessons from a young age . I played cello and my sister did violin . My oldest sister played clarinet as well as the piano , and somehow my parents tricked us into thinking we ’ re doing piano since I think it was like 10 years old and then they said if you continue to do this , when you get to high school , you get to pick another instrument , so you get to do both , which I like now as an adult . I ’ m like , “ How did you convince me that doing more work was a good idea ?” I fell for it and I am grateful because I love the cello , but I will say , one thing that my Dad said early on when I was younger , when I started to write songs , he said for better or worse , he said , “ You need to rip people ’ s hearts out .”
TAYA - For All My Life
He ’ s like , “ You need to create and whether you write a song or you get to sing a song , you need to be able to connect with people in such a way that it essentially evokes the response .” I think all good art should be able to evoke a response and I also think it ’ s amazing that music was something that God ordained for us to have such deep connection with . It ’ s also crazy that music has an ability to perhaps go into places that a conversation would not be allowed to go .
Music , for some reason , just has this weird permission , which obviously is a heavenly language and as songs started long before we got here and will continue long after we leave