Who is TAP?
Tracy Ann Perpall, popularly known as TAP, describes herself as ‘the tongue and cheek vlogger’. Beyond doing videos and television, she is an optimistic, ambitious and passionate person who’s crazy about acting, film and anything related to the performing arts.
“I’m that girl who has known what she’s wanted since she was 8 years old…twirling around in my bedroom, looking in the mirror, practicing Oscar acceptance speeches; hoping to one day to take the world by storm. I’m a fighter too. I am also someone who pushes to the very edge if I’m going after a certain goal”.
TAP says that inspiration for the projects usually come from her everyday life.
“A lot of times, I get inspiration from conversations I’m having with my girlfriends….those usually lead to the funny vlogs that I do on my “justcallmeTAP” Youtube page. Sometimes the vlogs are based on stories that I watch on the news. For instance, my domestic violence campaign “Roses”, was directly inspired by some of the horrific stories that I saw on the news.”
TAP is a very proactive person and believes that if there is something positive to which she can contribute, she gives it all her energy.
“I decided to use my voice and the audience and following that I have garnered to raise awareness about the alarming rate of domestic violence occurs in The Bahamas. Sometimes, I get inspiration just from thinking aloud to myself, which I do a lot! Inspiration is something you can’t really contain or predict…I’ve gotten some of my best ideas in the bathroom too…is that too much information? Ha!”
TAP talks about what ‘grinds her gears’.
In The Bahamas, people tend to underestimate the time, ability, energy and money that go into being an entertainer, an actress or doing any sort of performing art. It takes a lot of time and a lot of teamwork to put a lot of these projects together. I’m sure that any artist will agree with me when I say, that even if you’re looking at a 4 minute video or maybe one photo image… the outcome of what the audience sees, took an amazing amount of effort, time and energy to complete. I hate that sometimes people act like, what we as artists do is so easy…but I always say…if it was so easy, then everybody would be doing it…and that isn’t the case. I also try to remind myself of something my brother once told me, that it’s not the people who watch your work…it’s not their job to really understand, it’s their job to enjoy.
I do feel a lot of pressure to perform, to do something grand, to outshine the last thing I did and sometimes I do feel like having a pity party for myself and I want my fans and those who enjoy me to feel it too…but I just have to tell myself to suck it up, because feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t produce results.
TAP discusses the entertainment industry in the Bahamas and some of the changes she will like to see:
- I will love people to be more professional, punctual and not take things so personally. It’s hard because it is an art form and we as artists can be so emotional. We need to learn that this is a business and to put personal feelings and alliances to the side. I try as much as possible to separate my personal and professional life. Although I love to be dramatic on screen, in my every day life, I am actually very private and most importantly…DRAMA FREE!!
- I wish corporate Bahamas and the government or powers that be and whomever may be able to financially contribute to Bahamian artists and young people, would remove the stick that’s up some of their butts and realize that this isn’t 1918 and that being an artist is a REAL career and that it IS a skill just like being a lawyer or a plumber. Stop trying to ‘swing’ artists. Stop offering us payment in gum or cupcakes (the cupcake thing is a TRUE story). Stop trying to always beat us down on our prices. Stop offering us yellow painted rocks and calling it gold…because at the end of the day, artists help to push the culture forward, artists help to preserve history. We are story tellers and no community is complete without us.
Photograph: Barry Williams. MUA: Flawless Facez. Clothing: The Velvet Hanger. Styling: Aneka Stewart.
To read more on TAP check out our Summer 2014 issue on Issuu.com- TAP Into This!
Pages 34-42 Nu Woman’s summer 2014 issue.
Be sure to check out TAP’s documentary “BWAPEN” to be released July 2nd at https://www.youtube.com/user/justcallmeTAP
©2014 Nu Woman Magazine
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