Interview: Tallup Talks ‘Waistline’, Her Influences And Dancehall Music Career

Emerging dancehall star Tallup dropped visuals for her new song Waistline, which peaked at No. 6 on Trending in YouTube Jamaica last week — a first for the Queen of Mobay.

DancehallMag caught up with the starlet recently where she went into detail about her influences, personality, and career so far.

As a former winner of the dancehall queen competition, how did you transition into being an artist?

I can’t tell yuh enuh, I don’t know how I transitioned, I just transitioned. You could say I just evolved because in everything in life you don’t stay to one level yuh always evolve and my evolution led to me being an artist. Basically a destiny as wah me know, mi just dedicate miself an put een the same hard work I put in when I was a dancer, suh mi just focus and put een the work an people seet and see growth, suh dats basically how mi transition by taking music seriously and investing time and a lot of hard work in it.

Do you remember the point in your life when you decided that you were going to become an artist?

It was 3 or 4 years ago the idea of becoming an artist was brought to me by my friend Paton. He brought music to me, at the time I was a track athlete nursing an injury therefore I was on a break. It was then he suggested being an artist to me because he thought i had the image and the voice for it. I took it into consideration and I also met a few other important people on the way and they encouraged me, family members also, Andrew Powell , Stampede Isla and other friends also encouraged me. After all the support that is when I decided.

For those who don’t know Tallup outside of being a dancer, how would you describe yourself as an artist?

My personality does not change yuh understand? Its the same personality, same energy, same vibe, same mindset and the same goals. The same Tallup mi bring inna music is just me, what yuh see is what yuh get. I was born this way I wasn’t made this way, a di same qualities mi bring to music. The same hard work, dedication and driving force. Tall Up is a person wah believe in herself and is confident and love herself, with high self-esteem and mi love people to because I am not a selfish person and I believe in everybody winning.

Has the success of Waistline surprised you?

No enuh it nuh really surprise me because I have been putting in this work and I knew that one day, one very fine day I would see the results. I already claimed this year to be my breakthrough year.

From the year start I knew there was a different type of feeling inna di air where mi just know seh mi nuh deh pon nonsense mi nah wait fi nobody give it to mi , mi nah wait fi nobody acknowledge mi just aguh guh out deh an guh extra hard than how mi normally guh. Mi just tell miself seh mi aguh dweet an wi claim it an wi just aguh manifest everything an wi put it inna di universe an seet yah now , wi talk to god an wi reason an mi tell him fi close the doors him nuh wah mi guh through and open the ones that are favourable, suh.

I am not surprised I had the feeling, I knew.

How important are dancers in dancehall in your opinion?

Dancers play a very vital role in dancehall because dancers complete the entertainment package. A dem keep the crowd going the whole time a we keep the energy high suh if yuh inna a party an a song a play an yuh nuh have the dancer dem a gi yuh da energy deh its like yuh nah sing ntn, they are the x-factor in a party.

They keep the party alive and at a high-intensity suh without the dancers the party comin like nothing. A di Dancer dem now a push the Waistline song right now. If yuh nuh have dem a play a part inna the thing is like nothing because a di dancer dem lift up the video and made it what it is. They are important in everything from the local to the international market. Suh nuff love and respect to mi Waistline Warriors straight!

Your style is so bold and charismatic. How did you acquire your stage presence?

My confidence is what makes my performance outstanding. As an individual I am naturally very bold, charismatic, vibrant and energetic. Those elements make my performances easy because I am a natural person.

I don’t think about stuff, I don’t plan stuff, nothing I do is staged it’s just natural talent, I guess that is what makes my performances epic. You don’t know what I’m gonna do, expect the unexpected just know I’m gonna do something tremendous. Anything mi do it’s gonna wow yuh, I am very unique because I put it all in my performance, it comes easy to me.

Name a few of your influences that have impacted your music.

There are a lot of artists in the music industry that inspired me locally and internationally. Busy Signal, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Ninja Man, Lady Saw, Patra, Sista Charmaine and internationally there is Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, Sade, Toni Braxton, Pati Labelle a lot of ppl as i said i love music, I listen to music on a wide scale so i am inspired by so many musicians.”

Waistline is creating an impact at the moment however what overall impact is Tallup looking to make in dancehall music?

The impact I am looking to make is gonna surprise you as much as it will surprise me. Just know seh the impact nah guh normal and its gonna be something to talk about as usual and look out for. I rather not say much on that i just want to make things flow and just patiently tek mi time grow into the person I should be and i am as excited as you to see the impact i am gonna make on dancehall, Jamaica and worldwide so let’s just wait on it.

How did the Queen of Mobay (Montego Bay) name come about?

I am from Montego Bay for those who didn’t know. I won the biggest dancehall queen competition which is hosted in Montego Bay “International Dancehall Queen” I won it in 2013. So I was crowned in my city as a queen so that eventually made me a queen. Additionally, a selector whose name is Shiah Banks he always sees me and call me Mobay Queen, he always calls me that name and after hearing more and more people referring to me by that name and i thought to myself I think I could work with Queen of Mobay. I started to work with that name with hashtags and so on and people got used to it and started to use it an seh well she is the female artiste representing from Mobay at the time , suh people just work with it.”

What can your fans look fwd to the rest of 2021?

For 2021 and beyond Dancehall, Reggae and the entire music industry can just look out for greatness, greatness, greatness from now until forevermore, thank you (Laughs)

Waistline currently stands at almost 300,000 views on YouTube since its release on June 11, 2021. Watch the visuals above.