“I Wanted to Make Something Undeniable”: Hope Tala on the Raw Emotions & Intimate Ink Stains of ‘Hope Handwritten’

With ‘Hope Handwritten,’ Hope Tala has crafted a deeply personal, tender, and poetic debut album – one that charts her coming-of-age, artistic evolution, and the raw honesty she’s learned to embrace through songwriting.

‘Hope Handwritten’ – Hope Tala

Hope Tala has always been a writer first.

Lyrics spill from her like ink on paper, tracing the emotional terrain of her inner world. But it wasn’t until Hope Handwritten – her long-awaited debut album – that the British-Jamaican singer/songwriter felt the full weight of her own words, returning to songs and feeling their emotional pull in a way she never had before.

Released February 28^th, 2025, Hope Handwritten is Tala’s most ambitious, intimate, and honest work to date – an expressive, hour-long effort that is truly years in the making.

“It became a coming-of-age album,” the 27-year-old explains.

“I wrote consistently over a very turbulent and formative three-and-a-half year period in which I experienced a lot of personal change… through the making of Hope Handwritten, I’ve been able to access a new level of vulnerability and truth.”

Spanning themes of self-discovery, heartbreak, resilience, and the ever-present tension between hope and uncertainty, Hope Handwritten is more than just a collection of songs – it’s a testament to Tala’s growth as both an artist and a person, arriving seven years after her first foray into the music industry.

First conceived in 2021, the album became a creative anchor for Tala over the past four years, shaping her understanding of songwriting, identity, and the industry itself.

“I definitely wanted to make something that felt undeniable, to me at least,” she says. “Something really heart-driven, honest, story-focused and cohesive, but not so cohesive that every song wouldn’t be able to stand on its own.” That balance – between cohesion and individuality, between emotional rawness and poetic refinement – defines Hope Handwritten as both a deeply personal and universally resonant body of work.

For Tala, the album’s title isn’t just a name; it’s a philosophy.

“It references the practice of writing, which is so central to the album’s content and creation,” she shares.

In the opening track, “Growing Pains: Prologue,” she sings, “Getting ink stains all over my hands again / but I’ve forgotten how I used to write my name” – a lyric that inevitably weaves itself into the album’s identity.

Like the ink on her hands, Tala’s artistry is unshakable, a mark of both where she’s been and where she’s headed.

With Hope Handwritten, Tala doesn’t just introduce herself – she immortalizes a version of herself in sound, in words, in something undeniable.

Speaking with Atwood Magazine, Hope Tala delves into the heart of Hope Handwritten – from its earliest inspirations to the emotional weight it carries today. She reflects on the personal and artistic growth that shaped this record, the lyrics that resonate most deeply, and the songs that pushed her into new creative territory.

As she steps into this next chapter, Tala embraces both the uncertainty and the excitement of sharing her most vulnerable work yet. Stream Hope Handwritten wherever you access music, and dive deeper into Hope Tala’s debut album in our conversation below!

“Honestly, I think my main aim for the past four years has been to make the album I needed,” Tala smiles. “Now it’s finished, I’ll be able to properly put that to the test.”

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:: stream/purchase Hope Handwritten here ::

:: connect with Hope Tala here ::

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Stream: ‘Thank Goodness’ – Hope Tala

A CONVERSATION WITH HOPE TALA

Hope Tala: I started the first draft of this album in January 2021, so it’s hard to even remember what my initial vision was. I definitely wanted to make something that felt undeniable, to me at least. Something really heart-driven, honest, story-focused and cohesive, but not so cohesive that every song wouldn’t be able to stand on its own two feet, if that makes sense. It became a coming-of-age album; I wrote consistently over a very turbulent and formative three-and-a-half year period in which I experienced a lot of personal change and growth.

Hope Tala: Hope Handwritten was the first title I ever landed on for the album; I used a different title for a year or so, but I couldn’t get Hope Handwritten out of my head. I like the almost-self-titled-ness of it, and the fact that it references the practice of writing, which is so central to the album’s content and obviously its creation. In the first track, ‘Growing Pains: Prologue,’ there’s a lyric that goes ‘getting ink stains all over my hands again / but I’ve forgotten how I used to write my name.’ I can’t remember if that lyric came before or after the title Hope Handwritten, but I love the conversation that exists between that lyric and the album title.

Hope Tala: That feels really weird to think about, because it feels like forever and no time at all simultaneously. God, you change so drastically in a seven year period. I’ve changed so much as a human being. As an artist and a songwriter, I feel a lot more empowered than I used to be about a lot of things, but I’m also scared and anxious about things I didn’t think about much a few years ago. I definitely take the sacred creative part of the job less for granted now, because I’ve seen and felt it be put in jeopardy by the powers that be and by the cynicism and reticence I’ve learned through the process of growing up. I’m really trying to cling onto the playfulness and sense of awe that helps me create in a way that feels spiritual and authentic.

Hope Tala: During the making of this record I was writing songs that made me cry while listening back to them, for the first time ever. A lot of these songs make me really emotional – that’s a new thing for me. In the past I might have felt emotional while writing certain songs, but I wouldn’t return to the songs and be moved in quite the same way. Not to take anything away from the earlier music I released – I’m so proud of it and deeply love most of it – but through the making of Hope Handwritten, I’ve been able to access a new level of vulnerability and truth. I feel like I’ve been able to branch out a bit sonically too, which wasn’t intentional but I think it was necessary for me.

Hope Tala: ‘Magic or Medicine’ feels really honest in a brutal and exhilarating way; it was the last song I wrote for the album so I think it’ll always feel special to me as the final piece of the puzzle. ‘Miracle’ and ‘Lose My Mind’ might be my favourites sonically – and ‘I Can’t Even Cry,’ which felt like a turning point for me as a writer in that I allowed myself to just say the vulnerable thing. But then ‘Survival’ might be the one I’m most proud of lyrically. Obviously I love them all; I was so picky about which songs made it onto the final tracklist. I wrote between sixty and eighty songs for the album overall, many of which I really liked.

Hope Tala: Lyrically forward! I love that phrase. Two that come to mind are ‘there’s so many ways to bleed / but if the pain comes, we’ll still have the poetry’ from “Miracle,” and ‘remember when I talk to myself I’m somebody’s daughter, sister, someone’s lover and so many people’s friend’ from “Magic or Medicine.”

Hope Tala: I always say that I hope people take whatever they need from my music. I would just like Hope Handwritten to connect with listeners in some way. I’ve learned so much patience, resilience and faith through making this album, and I really just want to do the body of work justice now. It has hummed at the back of my mind pretty much every minute of the past four years. I think I’ll really miss tinkering away with it, but I’m looking forward to having it for the rest of my life as a listener, and to see what that new relationship looks like.

Honestly, I think my main aim for the past four years has been to make the album I needed; now it’s finished, I’ll be able to properly put that to the test.

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:: stream/purchase Hope Handwritten here ::

:: connect with Hope Tala here ::

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Hope Handwritten

an album by Hope Tala