Tayla Parx
Parks in 2019
Background information
Born	Taylor Monét Parks (1993-09-16)September 16, 1993 (age 32) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Genres	R&B pop hip hop country urban contemporary soul Latin alternative K-pop
Occupations	Songwriter singer actress entrepreneur
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Atlantic Def Jam TaylaMade
Website	taylaparx.com

Taylor Monét Parks, known asTayla Parx, is an American singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and actress. A two-time Grammy nominee in the Album of the Year category, songs she has written and co-written have exceeded 16 billion streams onSpotify and appeared on thepop,hip hop,R&B,K-pop, country, andLatin charts. She has released four albums, an EP, and a mixtape as a solo artist.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Parx took singing, dance, and classical piano lessons growing up, and wrote her first songs as a child. At 9 she was enrolled at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, where, at Allen's urging, she began to act. Her family moved to Los Angeles in 2005, and in 2006 she was cast in her first television show. In 2007 she appeared as Little Inez Stubbs in the filmHairspray.

Parx was signed toWarner Chappell Music when she was 19. Her first hit as a songwriter wasFifth Harmony's debut single, "BO$$", In 2018, three of her co-written songs appeared simultaneously on theBillboard Hot 100: "Love Lies" byKhalid andNormani, "Thank U, Next" byAriana Grande, and "High Hopes" byPanic! at the Disco. In 2021, withDan + Shay's "Glad You Exist", she became the fourth Black woman to write a #1 country song in the history of the genre's airplay charts.

In 2017, Parx debuted as a solo artist with the mixtape,TaylaMade, It was followed by the full-length albumsWe Need to Talk (2019),Coping Mechanisms (2020), andMany Moons, Many Suns (2024). She also releasedA Blue State, a three-song collection of covers, in 2020.

Parx is the founder of TaylaMade, Inc, a company that acts as an umbrella organization for Parx Publishing, a joint venture withWarner Chappell Music; 3020 Management, a management company for artists, writers, and producers; Trailer Parx, a lifestyle brand; Parx Studios, a creative collective; and TaylaMade Records, an independent record label.

Parx was born Taylor Monét Parks^[1] inTexas, and grew up inDallas before moving toLos Angeles at the age of 13.^[2] Her mother worked inIT and her father inmortgage underwriting.^[3] She sang before she could speak, and as a young child, her grandmother—a pianist—sang lullabies to teach her to harmonize.^[4]

Music was a central focus of Parx's upbringing. She sang in church, and took dance, voice, and classical piano lessons.^[5] She began writing songs in elementary school. She lovedMissy Elliott, who later introduced Parx to songwriting as a profession through her work withAaliyah.^[6][7][8]

Planning to concentrate on dance, Parx began attendingDebbie Allen's Dance Academy in 2002.^[8] Allen was enthusiastic about Parx's talent, and in addition to dancing, she encouraged her to act.^[9]

With her parents' permission, Allen brought Parx to Washington, DC, and from the age of nine until she was eleven, she performed atLincoln Center as the narrator in a stage adaptation of Allen's book,Dancing in the Wings.^[10]

At Allen's urging, the Parks family moved to Los Angeles in 2006.^[11] During her first year in LA, Parx was cast inGilmore Girls andEverybody Hates Chris.^[12] Her breakthrough role was as Little Inez Stubbs in the 2007 musical remake of the filmHairspray.^[10] She subsequently appeared on television shows includingNickelodeon'sTrue Jackson, VP andVictorious. She met Ariana Grande, who starred inVictorious, at Nickelodeon.^[3]

Feeling that she had become pigeonholed as an actor, in 2013 Parx decided to take a break from film and television. Refocused on music, she learned to engineer and began studying entertainment law. At 17, she metBabyface, who became a mentor,^[13] and at 19,Jon Platt signed her to a publishing deal atWarner Chappell. In a 2021 interview she said that her background as an actor helped her as a songwriter: "The art of songwriting is really being able to say, 'I'm here with you. I'm listening to you'. It was like this clash of two worlds that I loved."^[14][11][15]

In 2013, she earned her first album credit as a co-writer and co-producer on the title track ofSevyn Streeter's debut album,Call Me Crazy, But...^[16] She reconnected with Grande, and together withTommy Brown andVictoria Monét, they wrote "My Everything", the title track of Grande's second album.^[17] She scored her first big hit as a co-writer and vocal producer on "Boss," the lead single fromFifth Harmony's debut album.^[12] Certified platinum in the US, it was on theBillboard Hot 100 or 15 weeks.^[18]

Parx voiced Sim in the video gameThe Sims 4 in 2014, and a year later voicedVictor Stone in the filmJustice League: Gods and Monsters.^[19]

In 2015, her songs were recorded byThe Internet,Pentatonix,Red Velvet,Jason Derulo, andKeyshia Cole, among others, and she was featured on"Anyway", a track co-written withChris Brown. She also released her first single as a solo artist, "Don't Answer the Phone". In April 2016, she had her first #1 hit on the Latin Pop charts with theSofía Reyes andPrince Royce track "Solo Yo."^[20]

Atlantic Records released Parx'sTaylaMade, a mixtape composed of 20 songs and interludes, in 2017. She said she had a feeling of freedom when she stepped into the studio to work on the mixtape, knowing all she had to do was be herself.^{[citation needed]}Khalid,Chiiild, and Syd were featured onTaylaMade.^{[citation needed]}

Parx co-wrote theBTS songMic Drop",^[21] released in 2017. It held the #1 spot on the Japanese K-pop charts for six weeks.^[22] The following year, she co-wrote"Like I Do" with Christina Aguilera. The track won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung performance. Parx also co-wrote the title track ofChloe x Halle'sThe Kids Are Alright, (which was Grammy-nominated in the Best Contemporary Urban album category). She co-wrote four songs for Janelle Monae'sDirty Computer, taking a "deep creative storytelling dive" to help Monae tell her story.^[23] Parx received her first Grammy nomination in the album of the year category for her work onDirty Computer.^[24]

In October 2018, Parx collaborated with Grande, Monet and Brown on the follow-up to Grande's albumSweetener. They wrote nine songs in a week, including the "internet -melting" title track, "Thank U, Next." Parx urged Grande to use the names of her exes in the song.^[16] Released in November 2018, the song hit #1 in 23 countries, becoming a "worldwide cultural moment." Parx also co-wrote "7 Rings", which hit #1 in 28 countries and became one of the best-selling songs in digital music history. Like "Thank U, Next", "7 Rings" debuted at #1 on the Hot 100.^[3]

In 2018, in addition to voicing AJ forThe Walking Dead video game series, Parx had three songs simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100: “Thank U, Next,” "High Hopes" byPanic! at the Disco, and theKhaled featuringNormani track, "Love Lies." "High Hopes," which Parx began working on at aBMI writing camp in 2016, was Panic! at the Disco's biggest hit to date, peaking at #4 on theBillboard Hot 100.^[25] "Love Lies" was a Top 10 hit in seven countries.

With her debut album,We Need to Talk, released in April 2019, Parx explored genre, gender, and feminism as well as her identity as a queer Black woman.^[26] In a review inVice, Kristin Corry wrote that Parx's habit of "crafting 200 songs a year has made her a painfully concise songwriter, one who carefully crafts every moment of the record's 15 tracks". The review emphasized Parx's ability to both convey and elicit emotion in her songs: Corry wrote that she could "almost hear Parx's heart breaking" on one track, and that another induced anxiety "like the moment you send a risky text, and see that the other person is typing."Entertainment Weekly described the album as "equal parts swagger and vulnerability."^[27]

At the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Parx built out her home studio, and finished her second album,Coping Mechanisms. During the2020 presidential election cycle, she recordedA Blue State, a 3-song EP of cover songs that "captured the truths" of the moment, and "reflected society, how society was feeling." She coveredMarvin Gaye's "What's Going On",Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything" andKirk Franklin's "I Smile" onA Blue State, which was released on Atlantic in October 2020.^[21]

Coping Mechanisms was released in November.^[28] In an article inNylon, Steffanee Wang wrote that withCoping Mechanisms, Parx "turned the demons and emotional baggage that live in (Parx's) head into vibrant soundscapes of breezy disco, glitchy techno, and percussive pop."^[29][28]

During the pandemic, Parx produced vocals and co-wrote six songs, including "34+35" and "POV", for Grande's fifth album,Positions, while observing strictsocial distancing protocols. She and Grande were rarely in the same room.^[30] She was nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Album category for her co-write, "I'm Ready", onJohn Legend'sBigger Love. She received her third Album of the Year Grammy Nomination as a co-writer of "FUBT" on Haim'sWomen in Music Pt. III.^[31]

In 2021, she become the fourth Black woman to write a #1 country hit with "Glad You Exist", a collaboration withDan + Shay.^[32] She received her fourth Album of the Year Grammy nomination as a songwriter on Justin BeibersJusticethe same year, and in 2022 earned Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Jazz album for her work onNot Tight, the debut album byDomi and JD Beck, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album forDiana Ross'sThank You.^[33][11]

Writing when inspiration hit, Parx began working on her third album,Many Moons, Many Suns, just after the release ofCoping Mechanisms.^[34][35] In July 2024, she dropped the "raucous, catchy, empowering, high-energy track" "Era" (featuringTkay Maidza).^[36] The album was released independently on TaylaMade. InRolling Stone, Parx said: "I'm in my era of owning everything that I am, If you listen to my lyrics, I'm telling you everything that you need to know about me and what my values are as a as a human. I'm saying that when you go through those dark times, you will finally bounce back and realize that you're OK."^[37]

Formally launched in 2021,^[38] Parx established TaylaMade, Inc. as an umbrella organization for her ventures. It includes Parx Studios, a creative collective that has worked with artists includingLil Nas X,Billie Eilish andNoah Cyrus;^[39][38] and Trailer Parx, a lifestyle brand. TaylaMade Inc. also encompasses Parx Publishing, a joint venture with Warner Chappell;^[40] 3020 Management, and TaylaMade Records. Parx Publishing and 3020 Management have signed writers and producers including Grammy nominees Oliver Frid, Kameron Glasper, and Em Walcott.^[21][15]

Parx lives in Nashville.^[41] She isqueer.^[42] In the mini-documentary,Who Is Tayla Parx?, she described herself as "a dog mom, a sister, a daughter, an executive, a writer and an artist."^[38]

Parx is a member of the Mechanical Licensing Collective^[21] and a founding member of The Pact, a songwriter's lobby established to end the practice of performers receiving credit and publishing rights for songs they did not write.^[43] She was appointed to the leadership committee of the Recording Academy's Black Music Collective in September 2020.^[44]

Media related toTayla Parx at Wikimedia Commons

• Tayla Parx atIMDb
• Tayla Parx's channel onYouTube

• 1993 births
• Living people
• 21st-century African-American actresses
• 21st-century African-American women singers
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American LGBTQ people
• 21st-century American singer-songwriters
• 21st-century American women singers
• Actresses from Dallas
• African-American child actresses
• African-American LGBTQ people
• African-American women singer-songwriters
• American women singer-songwriters
• American bisexual actresses
• American bisexual musicians
• American child actresses
• American contemporary R&B singers
• American film actresses
• American LGBTQ singers
• American LGBTQ songwriters
• American television actresses
• American video game actresses
• American voice actresses
• American women hip-hop singers
• American women pop singers
• Bisexual women musicians
• Bisexual singer-songwriters
• LGBTQ people from Texas
• LGBTQ women singers
• People from Mesquite, Texas
• Singer-songwriters from Texas
• Singers from Dallas

• CS1 uses Korean-language script (ko)
• CS1 Korean-language sources (ko)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2024
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata