No products in the basket.
From her earliest days at the piano, Tanis Chalopin has treated music less like a discipline to be mastered and more like a language for self-discovery. What began as a refuge for an introverted child has evolved into a career defined by honesty, vulnerability, and fearless storytelling. Her songs, whether intimate confessions or reflections drawn from others’ experiences, carry a rare balance: deeply personal yet universally resonant. With her upcoming EP Just Some Stories, Tanis opens another chapter, weaving themes of belonging, identity, and time into music that invites listeners not just to hear, but to feel.
In this conversation with House of Solo, Tanis reflects on her journey so far, the stories behind her songs, and the way she hopes her music will continue to connect with people in 2025 and beyond.
You started making up your own music on the piano at just five years old. Do you remember the very first time you realised music was yours to create?
Creating music for the first time was almost an accidental discovery for me. I really was a terrible sight reader and therefore, reading partitions was anything but relaxing for me. Therefore, when I was feeling anxious as an introverted kid, just putting my hands down on the piano and closing my eyes to play whatever comes through was how I began improvising and eventually writing down my own compositions. I did not really have a realisation that music was “mine to create”. It was just a matter of understanding that if other people could put a sequence or a combination of notes together to create a particular sound or intention, why couldn’t I do the same?
You’ve said that you started writing music because other people’s songs made you feel something. How do you hope your listeners feel when they hear your songs, like “Priority” or “Kid”?
I would probably rephrase that in saying that I did not start writing music because of other people’s songs. I think I would have become a musician regardless, but simply because I love music for its power to make us feel deeply, whatever the emotion may be in that particular moment. If a song I write can help you smile, help you cry or help you feel empowered, then I have done my job as an artist, much as many other artists’ music have done for me too. And if my music doesn’t speak to you right now, well hopefully I will one day write a song that does 🙂
Your lyrics feel deeply personal, yet at the same time, they’re very relatable to others. What is your writing process like, and how do you decide which emotions you want to convey in a song?
Most songwriters will tell you that we write a lot of material that never sees the light of day. When I release a song or two we are only seeing a small selection of many many deleted songs! I myself have experiences to share and sometimes I have stories someone else told me that inspire my songs, yet sometimes they just don’t convert into a coherent musical piece. Great lyrics without a strong melody may not work. Ultimately, I do not select my songs based on their topics or themes, but instead I try and finish all my song ideas and then listen to them all back and make a selection of my favourites, which usually are based on a combination of music and lyrics working well together.
You often explore themes of identity, belonging, and time. What big questions are you asking yourself these days through your music?
As mentioned before, what I am releasing is only a small snapshot of the many thoughts that run through my mind! That being said, I cannot speak for everyone, but I do think we all hope to belong to something at some point and in the absence of that it can feel very confusing. Coming from a mixed heritage and moving around constantly, my home has always been where my family is. And that was always fine when I was a kid and protected by the roof of my parents. But when the time came for me to go out in the world myself, I found myself feeling surprisingly unwelcome in places that I identified with. It turns out that being mixed sometimes means your are just not enough of any one thing to be viewed as one of their own. So yes, belonging is an important theme for me.
Your EP Just Some Stories is about to be released. What was your mindset and what was your life like at the time of producing this EP, and how did that shape the direction of the tracks?
Honestly, I have been working for a few years on these songs and making the final selection of these tracks. I have been living with them for 2 years now and I am more excited than any other emotion to share them and also to finally be able to give credit to all the amazing people who have helped me along this journey.
Your songs carry so many emotions and seem to adapt to different moments in people’s lives. For which moments in life do you think the songs on this new EP will resonate the most?
I wish I could answer that! But music is so subjective and I cannot tell you what will or will not resonate with someone nor when it will. I hope that people will find a bit of themselves in most of my songs because I do not write about stories that are highly uncommon and I hope my tracks can make you smile when you need a little courage and maybe dance a little at the same time.
Who do you think will connect most deeply with the lyrics of Just Some Stories?
Anyone!
How was the process of creating this EP different from your previous work?
The biggest difference with this EP, and the reason it is called “Just Some Stories” is that the songs are all stories of experiences and moments in time that I lived through and had time to reflect upon. It took some time to come together but it is a body of work that I am proud of and it is 100% my voice.
When creating an EP, what part of the process do you find the most challenging, and which part do you enjoy the most?
Creating is always the most fun. It is a moment where all the possibilities in the world are available to you, and there is that excitement of what we can come up with! The part I definitely find very challenging is the promoting and the social media. In my natural state, I am introverted and shy so talking about myself and sharing my life does not come naturally to me and it is something I am trying to balance in order to still accomplish being in touch with my fanbase while being true to my personality.
What do you hope people take away from your music in 2025 and beyond?
I hope they can understand my lyrics, enjoy my sound and maybe relate to the experiences I share in my music. I am constantly learning and this is just the beginning of a long musical journey for me that I sincerely hope people will stay tuned for!
