Dazed XP is a series where we go deep on all things video games – consoles v PC, iconic video game characters, gaming bugbears and stereotypes, or retro faves.

For Talia Mar, there’s a lot in common between being a pop star and being a streamer on Twitch. “When you're live on a stream, you can’t pretend,” she tells Dazed. “It’s the same in music; you can’t fake it too much. So if you’re being yourself authentically in both they do naturally crossover.”

Mar is an example of such a fusion. As a content creator and Twitch streamer, she has amassed legions of fans, including a million subscribers on YouTube. Meanwhile, as a pop star, a career she began in earnest at the beginning of this year, she has equally impressed; her debut single, “Self Portrait”, has already racked up over a million streams. It’s her new single “Bored”, however, that’s a proper pop moment: recalling the bombastic 00s sound perfected by the likes of Britney Spears and Aaliyah, it is, for want of a better term, an absolute banger.

Releasing great pop music doesn’t preclude playing video games, though. “I find a way to play,” Mar says. “I just don’t sleep.” Here, she takes Dazed through all of her gaming obsessions and hot takes.

GO TO GAME WHEN BORED

Talia Mar: I’m playing one right now called Coral Island, which is a farm sim. It’s so not my usual vibe; I’m more of a first-person shooter type of gamer. But it has sucked me in.

EARLIEST GAMING MEMORY

Talia Mar: Probably playing Banjo-Kazooie on N64. That game kind scared me a little bit. I was really scared of the jumping vegetables. They terrified me. But I remember as a kid playing that and thinking, “This is a bit of me.”

FIRST GAMING LOVE

Talia Mar: I used to watch my dad play Assassin’s Creed. That was my favourite thing to do as a kid. I was obsessed with it. And then Call of Duty was the first game that I proper rinsed. I lost my soul for a bit. I fell in love with it. 

BIGGEST GAMING BUGBEAR

Talia Mar: Gaming has always been a very male-dominated industry. It’s becoming less so and more girls are getting into it. I think I would love to see more of that. I’d love to see more crossover of games. I think there’s this assumption that girls who play video games must play cosy games and nothing else. It’s the same for boys. If you’re a boy you must play shooters and nothing else. The crossover for both and realising games are for everyone. People should try everything because they’ll never know.

MOST RELATABLE VIDEO GAME

Talia Mar: This is probably going to sound really stupid, but probably Mario. A lot of the games that I was playing at that time were things where you were one character and that was the only person you played as. It was normally a man. Obviously, Mario is a boy and I’m not an Italian plumber. But as soon as you go into the multiplayer, I could play as Princess Peach. It was so exciting. I got to live my princess fantasy and play as a character that I wanted to be. I don’t want to be Mario; that’s not something that I aspire to be. But Princess Peach? I want a bit of that.

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