“I feel like people can sense when you make videos and are super confident in what you're saying to the camera,” she explains.
Tasha Wishes To Bypass That Box, Refusing To Be A One-Dimensional Content Creator.
“The album does have a lot of romantic undertones for sure, but it also deals a lot with the struggles that I’ve had with my self-esteem, with exploring my sexuality, friendships, it's very much based in my relationships,”
Tasha on the lyrical tone of her upcoming record.
Therere’s More to tasha malan than meets the online eye.
Tasha Malan,
The Bay’s
Pop Princess
Holds Court
Like most musicians, she’s pulling from past experiences when writing these new songs. She mentions how no one song is strictly about one person or one specific situation; it's more of a mosaic, she’s connecting the dots through her music.
Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Tasha’s main creative partner, Lupe Pacheco Gomez. An SF-based photographer who’s helped build her visual branding over the last few months. She refers to Gomez frequently when explaining her creative progress, especially when planning her visuals. The creative duo have been meticulously planning the release of her next single, ‘Soft Spot.’ which she describes as a song that, “ about revealing a vulnerability, and that you have a ‘Soft Spot’ for someone, even after things didn’t go the way that you had originally thought of wanted… but still you'll have fondness for them.”
Tasha and Lupe are approaching the construction of the world for her next single in a new way. As the duo starts to move forward, they are hoping to show a wider range in their artistic vision. “... I think this is more experimental, we're not trying to depict a love story, we're thinking more about what kind of symbolism we want to bring in, and how we're going to show this different side of Tasha,” she explains.
The creative duo who are currently in the studio working to wrap up her upcoming project are taking no short cuts. After their summer release, they’ve taken what has worked and what hasn't and used that to guide them forward. For Tasha, she’s just enjoying the ride and learning to approach things as they come up.
Tasha is no stranger to being a multitasker; she’s not your average influencer spending all her time filming Tiktoks in her bedroom. She’s your average 20-something-year-old trying to balance a million different things at the same time. It’s one of the things that, through our various conversations together, I was able to pick up about her energy; she's determined to get things done.
In a digital age where so many people in her position would surrender to trying to stay in one lane, to maximize their brand identity for brand deals and TikTok shop ad posts, Tasha is working to capture her internet buzz and turn it into something more long-lasting. In the days of influencer relatability discourse, it’s refreshing to see someone be able to walk the line between comedic internet-girl-next-door and serious musician so well.
It’s that exact confidence that she looks for in other creators while she’s scrolling on TikTok. She’s been posting TikToks since her time at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated with a degree in Sociology in 2023. But it wasn’t until she moved back to the Bay that she started feeling more comfortable posting her own voice on the platform.
“It was something about being away from my peers in Santa Cruz and just being out on my own in the city that freed me from being scared to post more TikTok,” she says.
Over the past year, Tasha has gone through the highs and lows that come with putting yourself up for online consumption. From viewers speculating that she’s actually a transplant from Toronto, Canada. Having to navigate the complexities of people attacking her for blowing up local food spots to the masses, and becoming an unofficial spokesperson for the Mission District. Malan has used her platform to speak on issues close to her heart, such as protecting queer fem spaces, anti-ICE organizations, and raising funds for Gaza Aid. However, advocacy comes at a price in the modern online sphere, and creators like Malan have to adjust or be subject to having their videos taken off platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
She knows that her viewers can recognize where she draws her lines on certain issues: “I know that the people who follow me know what my beliefs are on issues like Palestinians and ICE, and I’ve made content about those topics, but the community guidelines changed recently, and it’s been harder for those videos to get seen.” She goes on to explain how sometimes she has to make the decision between saying something and understanding that the algorithm will just take it down. Tasha currently finds herself in a self described ‘transitional period’ with her content on TikTok, much of which includes her push to promote her music.
For Tasha, it’s always been about the music. “Since I started posting videos on the Internet back in 2019, the goal was always to grow a platform to promote my music,” she explains. In June, she self released her lead single, “Be My Lover’ off her upcoming album, which is slated to come out in the next few months. The Disco-Pop record showcases her desire to make music that, in her words, ‘will get the girls and they’s’ to dance. We had the opportunity to attend her music video release party back in June, which was themed Indie Sleaze. In attendance we’re roommates, friends from Santa Cruz, and a slew of SF creative natives. The music video, which was filmed at a friend's apartment in the city, consisted of flooding a room in glitter and inviting her college friends to be extras.
Music has always been a part of Tasha’s life. Her father whom she collaborated closely on past projects, is a trained pianist. If you ask her, she’ll tell you about her childhood memories of watching her dad perform across the city. Or how she got to watch him produce music out of his studio that doubled as his home for a while. How he took the musical training he received in Mexico and turned it into something bigger than himself. You can feel the emotional connection she has with her father, the trust, the mutual respect; you can also hear it in the music they’ve made together.
Tasha has been trying to find the line between her online persona and the musical identity she’s building from the ground up. When it comes to her artistic vision, she’s been hard at work figuring out what feels right and what she wants to let go of. Especially with her new music, which is slated to come out soon. Tasha, who has previously worked closely with her Dad as a sole producer, has been branching out and tapping new local creatives to help her further develop her sound.
“I’m looking for someone who has range, someone who’s focused on the small details, and will catch things I won’t.. someone’s who’s ready to add to the vision, and can hear my sound and what I’ve done before and create something that in that world..” Said Malan when asked what she looks for when looking for a new producer.
When working on a new song, it all starts with a YouTube beat, followed by a melody and lyrics, then it's all rebuilt from scratch. Recently, Tasha has been captivated by a very 80s beat style of music. A sound which showed up her latest single ‘Be My Lover,’ but her listeners shouldn’t expect a straight up 80’s time piece on her upcoming album. Tasha’s been very adamant that she’s trying to show her versatility on this upcoming record. It’s why she’s gone back to the drawing board several times while putting the project together. It’s more than just making a catchy tune for TikTok engagement; she is aiming for something more personal.
Like most musicians, she’s pulling from past experiences when writing these new songs. She mentions how no one song is strictly about one person or one specific situation; it's more of a mosaic, she’s connecting the dots through her music.
Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Tasha’s main creative partner, Lupe Pacheco Gomez. An SF-based photographer who’s helped build her visual branding over the last few months. She refers to Gomez frequently when explaining her creative progress, especially when planning her visuals. The creative duo have been meticulously planning the release of her next single, ‘Soft Spot.’ which she describes as a song that, “ about revealing a vulnerability, and that you have a ‘Soft Spot’ for someone, even after things didn’t go the way that you had originally thought of wanted… but still you'll have fondness for them.”
Tasha and Lupe are approaching the construction of the world for her next single in a new way. As the duo starts to move forward, they are hoping to show a wider range in their artistic vision. “... I think this is more experimental, we're not trying to depict a love story, we're thinking more about what kind of symbolism we want to bring in, and how we're going to show this different side of Tasha,” she explains.
The creative duo who are currently in the studio working to wrap up her upcoming project are taking no short cuts. After their summer release, they’ve taken what has worked and what hasn't and used that to guide them forward. For Tasha, she’s just enjoying the ride and learning to approach things as they come up.
Tasha is no stranger to being a multitasker; she’s not your average influencer spending all her time filming Tiktoks in her bedroom. She’s your average 20-something-year-old trying to balance a million different things at the same time. It’s one of the things that, through our various conversations together, I was able to pick up about her energy; she's determined to get things done. In a digital age where so many people in her position would surrender to trying to stay in one lane, to maximize their brand identity for brand deals and TikTok shop ad posts, Tasha is working to capture her internet buzz and turn it into something more long-lasting. In the days of influencer relatability discourse, it’s refreshing to see someone be able to walk the line between comedic internet-girl-next-door and serious musician so well.
From the surface, her videos walking down Valencia Street might appear as nothing more than a comedic sketch. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find someone whos deeply connected to her community, and understands whats going to keep viewers coming back for more. If you haven't already, you can listen to ‘Be My Lover’ and all available streaming platforms, and keep an eye out for her new music dropping soon.
If you live in the Mission District, the name Eliah Tasha Malan, Aka @Tasha.Malan on TikTok, probably isn’t new to you. The 25-year-old Bay Area native has captivated an audience on the platform with her comedy content. From videos about the best burritos in The Mission to categorizing different San Francisco neighborhoods as individual zodiac signs. Tasha has built her online persona on being The Mission’s resident funny girl-next-door.
In our current online moment, it feels like every single person you follow is trying to become an influencer. From TikTok-Shop reviews testing meaningless single-use plastic products to day-in-the-life vlogs from a girl making six figures at her tech job. To the viewer, it might feel like the market for online influencers has never been more saturated. Even in SF, which at first glance might not appear as a hot spot for online creatives, has seen its rise in young people trying to carve out a niche for themselves here. From food reviews to documenting solo-date nights in the Marina. In between the constant online white noise, one voice in particular stood out to me.
I came across Tasha's content last winter, the video was part of her then ongoing ‘VIVA (BLANK)’ series. It was the second installment in the 7-part series, and the line that made me stop and bookmark the video was, “Viva Ann Phong.” The video series, which was filmed while walking down recognizable side streets in the Mission District, felt like a refresher from the oftentimes hyper manicured content coming off the desks of other resident Bay Area influencers. But for Tasha, it was a video she made last October that changed everything for her.
In the middle of the cities summer season (October), she uploaded a video where she talked about taking a “free” bus ride down to Golden Gate Park to enjoy a Mission burrito instead of sitting inside her hot apartment. The video, which gained over 130K views, was one of her first pieces of Bay Area-tailored content to go viral on TikTok. Before that, it was a video of her talking about her experience studying abroad in Spain as a Mexican-American student. It was one of her first videos where she talked directly to the camera. That TikTok currently sits at over 1.2 Million views and has over 280k likes.
When it comes to posting online and handling the influx of attention, Tasha says it’s all about managing it with confidence.
From TikTok fame, personal identity, and her big plans in the music scene — Tasha is ready for her time in the spotlight.
Like most musicians, she’s pulling from past experiences when writing these new songs. She mentions how no one song is strictly about one person or one specific situation; it's more of a mosaic, she’s connecting the dots through her music.
Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Tasha’s main creative partner, Lupe Pacheco Gomez. An SF-based photographer who’s helped build her visual branding over the last few months. She refers to Gomez frequently when explaining her creative progress, especially when planning her visuals. The creative duo have been meticulously planning the release of her next single, ‘Soft Spot.’ which she describes as a song that, “ about revealing a vulnerability, and that you have a ‘Soft Spot’ for someone, even after things didn’t go the way that you had originally thought of wanted… but still you'll have fondness for them.”
Tasha and Lupe are approaching the construction of the world for her next single in a new way. As the duo starts to move forward, they are hoping to show a wider range in their artistic vision. “... I think this is more experimental, we're not trying to depict a love story, we're thinking more about what kind of symbolism we want to bring in, and how we're going to show this different side of Tasha,” she explains.
The creative duo who are currently in the studio working to wrap up her upcoming project are taking no short cuts. After their summer release, they’ve taken what has worked and what hasn't and used that to guide them forward. For Tasha, she’s just enjoying the ride and learning to approach things as they come up.
Tasha is no stranger to being a multitasker; she’s not your average influencer spending all her time filming Tiktoks in her bedroom. She’s your average 20-something-year-old trying to balance a million different things at the same time. It’s one of the things that, through our various conversations together, I was able to pick up about her energy; she's determined to get things done. In a digital age where so many people in her position would surrender to trying to stay in one lane, to maximize their brand identity for brand deals and TikTok shop ad posts, Tasha is working to capture her internet buzz and turn it into something more long-lasting. In the days of influencer relatability discourse, it’s refreshing to see someone be able to walk the line between comedic internet-girl-next-door and serious musician so well.
From TikTok fame, personal identity, and her big plans in the music scene — Tasha is ready for her time in the spotlight.
Tasha Malan,
The Bay’s
Pop Princess
Holds Court
If you live in the Mission District, the name Eliah Tasha Malan, Aka @Tasha.Malan on TikTok, probably isn’t new to you. The 25-year-old Bay Area native has captivated an audience on the platform with her comedy content. From videos about the best burritos in The Mission to categorizing different San Francisco neighborhoods as individual zodiac signs. Tasha has built her online persona on being The Mission’s resident funny girl-next-door.
In our current online moment, it feels like every single person you follow is trying to become an influencer. From TikTok-Shop reviews testing meaningless single-use plastic products to day-in-the-life vlogs from a girl making six figures at her tech job. To the viewer, it might feel like the market for online influencers has never been more saturated. Even in SF, which at first glance might not appear as a hot spot for online creatives, has seen its rise in young people trying to carve out a niche for themselves here. From food reviews to documenting solo-date nights in the Marina. In between the constant online white noise, one voice in particular stood out to me.
I came across Tasha's content last winter, the video was part of her then ongoing ‘VIVA (BLANK)’ series. It was the second installment in the 7-part series, and the line that made me stop and bookmark the video was, “Viva Ann Phong.” The video series, which was filmed while walking down recognizable side streets in the Mission District, felt like a refresher from the oftentimes hyper manicured content coming off the desks of other resident Bay Area influencers. But for Tasha, it was a video she made last October that changed everything for her.
In the middle of the cities summer season (October), she uploaded a video where she talked about taking a “free” bus ride down to Golden Gate Park to enjoy a Mission burrito instead of sitting inside her hot apartment. The video, which gained over 130K views, was one of her first pieces of Bay Area-tailored content to go viral on TikTok. Before that, it was a video of her talking about her experience studying abroad in Spain as a Mexican-American student. It was one of her first videos where she talked directly to the camera. That TikTok currently sits at over 1.2 Million views and has over 280k likes.
When it comes to posting online and handling the influx of attention, Tasha says it’s all about managing it with confidence.
Like most musicians, she’s pulling from past experiences when writing these new songs. She mentions how no one song is strictly about one person or one specific situation; it's more of a mosaic, she’s connecting the dots through her music.
Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Tasha’s main creative partner, Lupe Pacheco Gomez. An SF-based photographer who’s helped build her visual branding over the last few months. She refers to Gomez frequently when explaining her creative progress, especially when planning her visuals. The creative duo have been meticulously planning the release of her next single, ‘Soft Spot.’ which she describes as a song that, “ about revealing a vulnerability, and that you have a ‘Soft Spot’ for someone, even after things didn’t go the way that you had originally thought of wanted… but still you'll have fondness for them.”
Tasha and Lupe are approaching the construction of the world for her next single in a new way. As the duo starts to move forward, they are hoping to show a wider range in their artistic vision. “... I think this is more experimental, we're not trying to depict a love story, we're thinking more about what kind of symbolism we want to bring in, and how we're going to show this different side of Tasha,” she explains.
The creative duo who are currently in the studio working to wrap up her upcoming project are taking no short cuts. After their summer release, they’ve taken what has worked and what hasn't and used that to guide them forward. For Tasha, she’s just enjoying the ride and learning to approach things as they come up.
Tasha is no stranger to being a multitasker; she’s not your average influencer spending all her time filming Tiktoks in her bedroom. She’s your average 20-something-year-old trying to balance a million different things at the same time. It’s one of the things that, through our various conversations together, I was able to pick up about her energy; she's determined to get things done. In a digital age where so many people in her position would surrender to trying to stay in one lane, to maximize their brand identity for brand deals and TikTok shop ad posts, Tasha is working to capture her internet buzz and turn it into something more long-lasting. In the days of influencer relatability discourse, it’s refreshing to see someone be able to walk the line between comedic internet-girl-next-door and serious musician so well.
It’s that exact confidence that she looks for in other creators while she’s scrolling on TikTok. She’s been posting TikToks since her time at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated with a degree in Sociology in 2023. But it wasn’t until she moved back to the Bay that she started feeling more comfortable posting her own voice on the platform.
“It was something about being away from my peers in Santa Cruz and just being out on my own in the city that freed me from being scared to post more TikTok,” she says.
Over the past year, Tasha has gone through the highs and lows that come with putting yourself up for online consumption. From viewers speculating that she’s actually a transplant from Toronto, Canada. Having to navigate the complexities of people attacking her for blowing up local food spots to the masses, and becoming an unofficial spokesperson for the Mission District. Malan has used her platform to speak on issues close to her heart, such as protecting queer fem spaces, anti-ICE organizations, and raising funds for Gaza Aid. However, advocacy comes at a price in the modern online sphere, and creators like Malan have to adjust or be subject to having their videos taken off platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
She knows that her viewers can recognize where she draws her lines on certain issues: “I know that the people who follow me know what my beliefs are on issues like Palestinians and ICE, and I’ve made content about those topics, but the community guidelines changed recently, and it’s been harder for those videos to get seen.” She goes on to explain how sometimes she has to make the decision between saying something and understanding that the algorithm will just take it down. Tasha currently finds herself in a self described ‘transitional period’ with her content on TikTok, much of which includes her push to promote her music.
For Tasha, it’s always been about the music. “Since I started posting videos on the Internet back in 2019, the goal was always to grow a platform to promote my music,” she explains. In June, she self released her lead single, “Be My Lover’ off her upcoming album, which is slated to come out in the next few months. The Disco-Pop record showcases her desire to make music that, in her words, ‘will get the girls and they’s’ to dance. We had the opportunity to attend her music video release party back in June, which was themed Indie Sleaze. In attendance we’re roommates, friends from Santa Cruz, and a slew of SF creative natives. The music video, which was filmed at a friend's apartment in the city, consisted of flooding a room in glitter and inviting her college friends to be extras.
Music has always been a part of Tasha’s life. Her father whom she collaborated closely on past projects, is a trained pianist. If you ask her, she’ll tell you about her childhood memories of watching her dad perform across the city. Or how she got to watch him produce music out of his studio that doubled as his home for a while. How he took the musical training he received in Mexico and turned it into something bigger than himself. You can feel the emotional connection she has with her father, the trust, the mutual respect; you can also hear it in the music they’ve made together.
It’s easy on the internet to typecast creators into categories that make it easier for us to consume their content. It's why influencers cling to digging themselves into their respective online niches. The funny girls stick to making you laugh, the fashion girls pull DePop hauls out of thin air, and your local Dj’s never skew from promoting their upcoming top secret location show to a hyper pop trending audio.
Tasha has been trying to find the line between her online persona and the musical identity she’s building from the ground up. When it comes to her artistic vision, she’s been hard at work figuring out what feels right and what she wants to let go of. Especially with her new music, which is slated to come out soon. Tasha, who has previously worked closely with her Dad as a sole producer, has been branching out and tapping new local creatives to help her further develop her sound.
“I’m looking for someone who has range, someone who’s focused on the small details, and will catch things I won’t.. someone’s who’s ready to add to the vision, and can hear my sound and what I’ve done before and create something that in that world..” Said Malan when asked what she looks for when looking for a new producer.
When working on a new song, it all starts with a YouTube beat, followed by a melody and lyrics, then it's all rebuilt from scratch. Recently, Tasha has been captivated by a very 80s beat style of music. A sound which showed up her latest single ‘Be My Lover,’ but her listeners shouldn’t expect a straight up 80’s time piece on her upcoming album. Tasha’s been very adamant that she’s trying to show her versatility on this upcoming record. It’s why she’s gone back to the drawing board several times while putting the project together. It’s more than just making a catchy tune for TikTok engagement; she is aiming for something more personal.
There’s more to Tasha Malan than meets the Online eye.
From the surface, her videos walking down Valencia Street might appear as nothing more than a comedic sketch. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find someone who’s deeply connected to her community, and understands whats going to keep viewers coming back for more. If you haven't already, you can listen to ‘Be My Lover’ and all available streaming platforms, and keep an eye out for her new music dropping soon.
“The album does have a lot of romantic undertones for sure, but it also deals a lot with the struggles that I’ve had with my self-esteem, with exploring my sexuality, friendships, it's very much based in my relationships,”
Tasha wishes to bypass that box, refusing to be a one-dimensional content creator.
“I feel like people can sense when you make videos and are super confident in what you're saying to the camera,” she explains.
From TikTok fame, personal identity, and her big plans in the music scene — Tasha is ready for her time in the spotlight.
From the surface, her videos walking down Valencia Street might appear as nothing more than a comedic sketch. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find someone who’s deeply connected to her community, and understands whats going to keep viewers coming back for more. If you haven't already, you can listen to ‘Be My Lover’ and all available streaming platforms, and keep an eye out for her new music dropping soon.
If you live in the Mission District, the name Eliah Tasha Malan, Aka @Tasha.Malan on TikTok, probably isn’t new to you. The 25-year-old Bay Area native has captivated an audience on the platform with her comedy content. From videos about the best burritos in The Mission to categorizing different San Francisco neighborhoods as individual zodiac signs. Tasha has built her online persona on being The Mission’s resident funny girl-next-door.
In our current online moment, it feels like every single person you follow is trying to become an influencer. From TikTok-Shop reviews testing meaningless single-use plastic products to day-in-the-life vlogs from a girl making six figures at her tech job. To the viewer, it might feel like the market for online influencers has never been more saturated. Even in SF, which at first glance might not appear as a hot spot for online creatives, has seen its rise in young people trying to carve out a niche for themselves here. From food reviews to documenting solo-date nights in the Marina. In between the constant online white noise, one voice in particular stood out to me.
I came across Tasha's content last winter, the video was part of her then ongoing ‘VIVA (BLANK)’ series. It was the second installment in the 7-part series, and the line that made me stop and bookmark the video was, “Viva Ann Phong.” The video series, which was filmed while walking down recognizable side streets in the Mission District, felt like a refresher from the oftentimes hyper manicured content coming off the desks of other resident Bay Area influencers. But for Tasha, it was a video she made last October that changed everything for her.
In the middle of the cities summer season (October), she uploaded a video where she talked about taking a “free” bus ride down to Golden Gate Park to enjoy a Mission burrito instead of sitting inside her hot apartment. The video, which gained over 130K views, was one of her first pieces of Bay Area-tailored content to go viral on TikTok. Before that, it was a video of her talking about her experience studying abroad in Spain as a Mexican-American student. It was one of her first videos where she talked directly to the camera. That TikTok currently sits at over 1.2 Million views and has over 280k likes.
When it comes to posting online and handling the influx of attention, Tasha says it’s all about managing it with confidence.
From TikTok fame, personal identity, and her big plans in the music scene — Tasha is ready for her time in the spotlight.
Tasha Malan,
The Bay’s
Pop Princess
Holds Court
Tasha wishes to bypass that box, refusing to be a one-dimensional content creator.
“I feel like people can sense when you make videos and are super confident in what you're saying to the camera,” she explains.
Tasha has been trying to find the line between her online persona and the musical identity she’s building from the ground up. When it comes to her artistic vision, she’s been hard at work figuring out what feels right and what she wants to let go of. Especially with her new music, which is slated to come out soon. Tasha, who has previously worked closely with her Dad as a sole producer, has been branching out and tapping new local creatives to help her further develop her sound.
“I’m looking for someone who has range, someone who’s focused on the small details, and will catch things I won’t.. someone’s who’s ready to add to the vision, and can hear my sound and what I’ve done before and create something that in that world..” Said Malan when asked what she looks for when looking for a new producer.
When working on a new song, it all starts with a YouTube beat, followed by a melody and lyrics, then it's all rebuilt from scratch. Recently, Tasha has been captivated by a very 80s beat style of music. A sound which showed up her latest single ‘Be My Lover,’ but her listeners shouldn’t expect a straight up 80’s time piece on her upcoming album. Tasha’s been very adamant that she’s trying to show her versatility on this upcoming record. It’s why she’s gone back to the drawing board several times while putting the project together. It’s more than just making a catchy tune for TikTok engagement; she is aiming for something more personal.
It’s that exact confidence that she looks for in other creators while she’s scrolling on TikTok. She’s been posting TikToks since her time at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated with a degree in Sociology in 2023. But it wasn’t until she moved back to the Bay that she started feeling more comfortable posting her own voice on the platform.
“It was something about being away from my peers in Santa Cruz and just being out on my own in the city that freed me from being scared to post more TikTok,” she says.
Over the past year, Tasha has gone through the highs and lows that come with putting yourself up for online consumption. From viewers speculating that she’s actually a transplant from Toronto, Canada. Having to navigate the complexities of people attacking her for blowing up local food spots to the masses, and becoming an unofficial spokesperson for the Mission District. Malan has used her platform to speak on issues close to her heart, such as protecting queer fem spaces, anti-ICE organizations, and raising funds for Gaza Aid. However, advocacy comes at a price in the modern online sphere, and creators like Malan have to adjust or be subject to having their videos taken off platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
She knows that her viewers can recognize where she draws her lines on certain issues: “I know that the people who follow me know what my beliefs are on issues like Palestinians and ICE, and I’ve made content about those topics, but the community guidelines changed recently, and it’s been harder for those videos to get seen.” She goes on to explain how sometimes she has to make the decision between saying something and understanding that the algorithm will just take it down. Tasha currently finds herself in a self described ‘transitional period’ with her content on TikTok, much of which includes her push to promote her music.
For Tasha, it’s always been about the music. “Since I started posting videos on the Internet back in 2019, the goal was always to grow a platform to promote my music,” she explains. In June, she self released her lead single, “Be My Lover’ off her upcoming album, which is slated to come out in the next few months. The Disco-Pop record showcases her desire to make music that, in her words, ‘will get the girls and they’s’ to dance. We had the opportunity to attend her music video release party back in June, which was themed Indie Sleaze. In attendance we’re roommates, friends from Santa Cruz, and a slew of SF creative natives. The music video, which was filmed at a friend's apartment in the city, consisted of flooding a room in glitter and inviting her college friends to be extras.
Music has always been a part of Tasha’s life. Her father whom she collaborated closely on past projects, is a trained pianist. If you ask her, she’ll tell you about her childhood memories of watching her dad perform across the city. Or how she got to watch him produce music out of his studio that doubled as his home for a while. How he took the musical training he received in Mexico and turned it into something bigger than himself. You can feel the emotional connection she has with her father, the trust, the mutual respect; you can also hear it in the music they’ve made together.
It’s easy on the internet to typecast creators into categories that make it easier for us to consume their content. It's why influencers cling to digging themselves into their respective online niches. The funny girls stick to making you laugh, the fashion girls pull DePop hauls out of thin air, and your local Dj’s never skew from promoting their upcoming top secret location show to a hyper pop trending audio.
“The album does have a lot of romantic undertones for sure, but it also deals a lot with the struggles that I’ve had with my self-esteem, with exploring my sexuality, friendships, it's very much based in my relationships,”
Tasha on the lyrical tone of her upcoming record.
Like most musicians, she’s pulling from past experiences when writing these new songs. She mentions how no one song is strictly about one person or one specific situation; it's more of a mosaic, she’s connecting the dots through her music.
Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Tasha’s main creative partner, Lupe Pacheco Gomez. An SF-based photographer who’s helped build her visual branding over the last few months. She refers to Gomez frequently when explaining her creative progress, especially when planning her visuals. The creative duo have been meticulously planning the release of her next single, ‘Soft Spot.’ which she describes as a song that, “ about revealing a vulnerability, and that you have a ‘Soft Spot’ for someone, even after things didn’t go the way that you had originally thought of wanted… but still you'll have fondness for them.”
Tasha and Lupe are approaching the construction of the world for her next single in a new way. As the duo starts to move forward, they are hoping to show a wider range in their artistic vision. “... I think this is more experimental, we're not trying to depict a love story, we're thinking more about what kind of symbolism we want to bring in, and how we're going to show this different side of Tasha,” she explains.
The creative duo who are currently in the studio working to wrap up her upcoming project are taking no short cuts. After their summer release, they’ve taken what has worked and what hasn't and used that to guide them forward. For Tasha, she’s just enjoying the ride and learning to approach things as they come up.
Tasha is no stranger to being a multitasker; she’s not your average influencer spending all her time filming Tiktoks in her bedroom. She’s your average 20-something-year-old trying to balance a million different things at the same time. It’s one of the things that, through our various conversations together, I was able to pick up about her energy; she's determined to get things done. In a digital age where so many people in her position would surrender to trying to stay in one lane, to maximize their brand identity for brand deals and TikTok shop ad posts, Tasha is working to capture her internet buzz and turn it into something more long-lasting. In the days of influencer relatability discourse, it’s refreshing to see someone be able to walk the line between comedic internet-girl-next-door and serious musician so well.
There’s more to Tahsa Malan than meets the Online eye.