

Wallis Bird explains how she receives songwriting “transmissions” from the cosmos and treats songs as “friends” that she listens to, not inventions. She connects music to joy, grief, activism, and staying engaged with humanity instead of looking away. She performs three TED songs and discusses their meanings and craft.
Wallis Bird (Irish musician and songwriter; began playing guitar at six months old; known for high-energy performances; writes for kids; activist for queer rights, refugees/migrants, and anti-racism). Anna Bulbrook (TED music curator; interviewer). Elise Hume (host). Tracy Kay (appears onstage during the third song).
songwriting is listening and checking in; repetition (“keep going and go further”) unlocks lines; grief and loss re-gifted her creativity; “words are stories” (not necessarily spells); activism is resolving conflict and advocating for equitable chances.
“To My Bones” (joy with strangers in a disco pub; lyric “Oh life, I love you to my bones”); “As the River Flows” (refugees crossing the Mediterranean; repeated “overcoming mystery” as she sings louder until she loses her voice); “Indictum” (self-protection in a relationship; written around age 30; revisited at 43).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.
Exploration of Wallis Bird's early music experiences and her energetic performances.
“For Wallace, songwriting isn't really about invention.”
Wallis discusses her perspective on songwriting as a cosmic experience rather than invention.
“That's coming up right after a short break.”
Conversation about the joy and connections fostered through music, including Wallis's flagship song.
“Now starting at$699 with exclusive student pricing starting at$599.”
Discussion about Wallis's unique stage presence and energy while performing.
“Where did the lyric, Oh life, I love you to my bones, come from?”
Wallis shares experiences of performing in challenging environments and the lessons learned.
Wallis reflects on her early experiences with music and how they shaped her career.
“This is a perfect segue into talking about your energy.”
Discussion on how recent experiences have reignited Wallis's passion for music and her activism.
“And it's almost surprising that you have to laugh at it.”
Explore how music serves as a form of activism and emotional expression.
“It's this idea of not being shy in a room to play music or taking my guitar with me to somewhere to instigate something.”
Delve into the relationship between songwriting, real experiences, and universal messages.
“So how do you stay looking at what's wrong?”
Explore the complex relationship between songwriting, experience, and reality.
“Like the objectivity of I'm making a song and the song wants this and it's not specifically about any of these particular things, but they're all feeding into this cohesive piece of creativity.”
Discussing the emotional depth in performing songs and their personal meanings.
Wallis Bird shares her approach to listening to music and the world around her.
“that I just played is called Indictum and it's also a ballad that I wrote from when I was 30 years old.”
Finding inspiration and the creative process in unexpected places.
“I like to understand where things come from or the workings of it.”
Wallis Bird answers rapid-fire questions about her preferences and experiences.
“Wallace, morning person or night owl and why?”

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.
On TED Talks Daily, what are the key points of this episode?
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
0:03Anna Bulbrook: You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hume. Wallis Bird was handed her first guitar when she was six months old. She's been playing music ever since, and if you've ever seen her on stage, you know she plays with a kind of energy that seems almost too big for one body to hold. Where does it come from?
0:25Wallis Bird: I just realized that it's something that was handed to me from elsewhere, something very cosmic. I feel it very strongly.
0:33Anna Bulbrook: Wallace, an Irish musician and songwriter, took to the TED stage to perform three original songs. And afterwards, she sat down with TED's music curator, Anna Bulbrook, for a special Beyond the Talk conversation to explore her work and the stories behind the songs she performed. For Wallace, songwriting isn't really about invention. It's about listening to the world, to the cosmos, and to the songs themselves, which she treats less like things she makes than company she keeps.
1:00Wallis Bird: I consider my songs my friends. So I have a listen to what they're telling me and I'm constantly checking in. I always try and give it a lot of respect and a lot of time.
1:13Anna Bulbrook: What follows is a conversation with Wallace's performance woven throughout about joy, grief, activism, and what it takes to keep making things that bring people together, even when the world gives you every reason to look away.
1:26Wallis Bird: I'd like to die on stage and people to feel like I try to be warm and inviting and hoping for a nicer future.
1:35Anna Bulbrook: That's coming up right after a short break.
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3:37Anna Bulbrook: And now our TED conversation of the day.
3:40Wallis Bird: Okay, we're going to start with an easy one. Okay. Tell us who you are and what you do. Oh my God, that's not easy. My name is Wallace Byrd. That's my real name. I was born in Ireland and I was given my first guitar at six months old and I have been chasing music ever since. I love anything to do with music. I love people that are involved in it and I think about the rhythm of the planet and my part in it. The first song that I performed at TED was To My Bones. It's quite an old song. Should I talk about it? Yeah. OK. It's about 15 years old and I feel like it's my flagship song. It's the one that I wrote that makes me happiest where it's brought me and what it's given me.
4:28Wallis Bird: It's about joy and a perfect moment out with friends and the way people have connected with it and the amount of joy that it's brought me and other people, especially kids, is really, really special to me. So, yeah, that's what that song's about. You want to grab your guitar? Cool. Maybe we can talk about how you receive transmissions. Or maybe something you want to elucidate about a songwriting moment with one of these songs. Is there like a lick that stands out to you as like an inciting incident for one of these songs? A lick or a rhythm or a bit? Yeah. Something that unlocked something? Yeah.
5:07Wallis Bird: Okay, cool. I'm a big fan of repetitions. Oh, yes.
5:28Wallis Bird: And then I lose my mind at the end of that. It's just a mantra. It's just this keep going and keep going and go further and further and further. and I think that's just my calling. Keep going and go further. I'm not saying I'm excellent or anything, but I definitely love doing that. That was a really good closing line. Where did the lyric, Oh life, I love you to my bones, come from? It was just a feeling. It was a feeling of ecstasy. There was this moment where we were all in a pub and it was a disco pub and we started doing the same dance choreography at the same time. I don't know how that happened.
6:12Wallis Bird: And we were doing Limbo. Like it's about this moment in a bar with strangers where the moment just felt too good to be true. And I remember just that line kept coming to me, oh life, I love you to my bones, as if you can't handle how good the moment is. So it just came out actually. Hiya. So my name is Ted. You're all very welcome to my world. And I'm going to sing you three songs. The first one is for joy. And the second one is for humanity. And the last one is for the heart. So they're real depressing. You're welcome. See ya.
7:02Okay. All right.
7:06Wallis Bird: This is called To My Bones.
7:19Wallis Bird: We're kissing the lips of strangers We're hugging whoever next we meet Oh life, I love you to my bones When everything's shut, we're listless Take them home and cook them dinners And sing, oh life I love you to my bones Domino's medicine, it's who you are and who you win Take a seat and let it grow, the world will love you Elephants of memory, an alphabet of chemistry All of these things, how they be roscoe And be mean, laughter and no TV I've got punchlines and fisticuffs and tons and tons of luck I've got firesides and Dutch goals There's no such thing as you own And my fortune is my home, my home and all I know Oh yeah, because, because Oh life I love you to my bones
9:09Thanks very much.
9:14Wallis Bird: This is a perfect segue into talking about your energy. You are known as a performer with infinite energy. Where does it come from? Actually, Anna, I do and I don't know. Where I say it comes from is it's an outer body thing. No matter what, if I'm dying of the flu in the bed, I manage to somehow get up on stage. It's grand. I've never been so sick that I've had to not be able to get the energy to play. And sometimes when I'm lost in the moment of it, I just realise that it's something that was handed to me from elsewhere. Something very cosmic. I feel it very strongly. And the older I get, the closer I get to understanding.
9:59Wallis Bird: I used to be a bit shy about admitting that it feels cosmic because it just felt a bit trite or something. But I think we might all die. So I like being romantic about it, you know. You have this, you know, one million watt bulb energy on stage. But whose wall is off stage? I think the very same. I just really enjoy people. And when I'm up on stage, it's just a moment to I get a real kick out of guiding a room like a DJ or something like that. And it's really interesting for me to create something that at least everybody in the room, like I tend to pinpoint people who are just stood there like this, I'm not into this, or I was dragged here.
10:39Wallis Bird: And I go straight to that person and try and find something that makes their eyes light up or something. So that was always my drive, is to kind of connect a room. And maybe that's just me wanting everybody to love me. And it's some lame trauma from my childhood or something. But I love people and I'm not that much different offstage, to be honest with you. Have you ever had a room so challenging you didn't crack the code? Oh, yeah. Rare, though. Rare. There's always something. And I'm a bit persistent as well, but there has been one or two concerts in my life where I was like, whoa, that was just impenetrable.
11:18Wallis Bird: And it's almost surprising that you have to laugh at it. But it's not to do with me, I'll tell you. Sometimes it's just a tough room. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been in rooms where I was asked, like I was in a room where there was a very intense national security scare. Oh. Yeah, and I was asked to be mindful of that. And so these kind of, I see it as an opportunity to take something in and take something from it. So it's, nothing's ever lost in the doing of something, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You mentioned that you started playing guitar when you were six months old. Well, yeah, it was given to me.
11:57Yeah.
11:58Wallis Bird: I was like, explain this. It was like a teddy, I suppose. And I guess my parents didn't really consider that I would be holding on to one for the rest of my life. But as soon as I could have it in my hands, seemingly it was there. And I treated it as my teddy. and yeah instruments it's funny because we're not from an instrument family but my parents were always very they were like I see that they have rhythm in them so they gave us instruments to play but they never forced us to do anything either and then when I was like 18 months old I fell under a lawnmower and I lost all my fingers and I do remember very early two things about being in the hospital, which I think is just shock related.
12:43Wallis Bird: And the other thing was being annoyed that I couldn't play because my hand was sore. And so they're my earliest memories, which is like music and something to do with pain and music and yearning for music. So it's kind of never left me, just this yearn to need music around me and in me and what have you. How has that kind of foundational experience shaped your drive to play now? It's changed over the years. I have to say, like in the last two years, I have an unbelievable new love for music. I wrote my last record about loss and grieving. And when I felt like I couldn't actually face being creative, that's when it came to me.
13:29Wallis Bird: That's when it came to me as a necessity of healing. And that's when I regained my, oh, my God, that's what music is for. because I suppose for a long time I had been just enjoying being a workhorse to the craft and like trying to get better all the time and stuff like that. And I was just on a train. But then in the last two years, it was like it was gifted, re-gifted to me as a new person almost. So I'm back on this gorgeous new track with it now. Describe this gorgeous new track. Is it like new space? Like what is the texture of this new track? It's people. It's other people. It's this idea of not being shy in a room to play music or taking my guitar with me to somewhere to instigate something.
14:12Wallis Bird: I used to be afraid to instigate something because I was embarrassed. I didn't want to be singled out in a room. And there's just this idea of like, well, an artist's duty is to create culture and to create moments worth living, I suppose. But a day is long and we can go a long time without feeling happy to be around each other or enjoying music. And music brings a lot of free and easy enjoyment and like no pressure enjoyment. And I think I'm back on that track now. Yeah. You said you don't want to instigate things, but you are also a bit of an activist. Yeah, a little bit. I suppose I'm an activist in so much as that I like to resolve conflict, I think.
15:00Wallis Bird: And I'm okay to be in there and taking shots for people in that way, for activism. So queer activism is my thing. Refugee, migrants, anti-racism activism. It's not even activism, it's just like, I don't know, trying to do the best I can, really. There's one moment specifically in one of the songs it's called As the River Flows, where there's a sentence I just keep repeating and I keep singing louder and louder until I don't have any voice left. So it goes, overcoming mystery, overcoming mystery, overcoming mystery, overcoming mystery, over and it keeps going up and up and up until I don't and and then I always push it even one more further every time um because it's about refugees traveling crossing the Mediterranean and gripping onto life and losing their breath and trying to breathe and it's not the most pleasant thing but it's actually celebrating those who lived, you know.
16:18Wallis Bird: I think that kind of sums up my whole criteria as an artist, you know, just very critical of the fact that geography is just literally where you happen to be born. And I just think that we should have equitable chance in this world. Humanitarian law is extremely important to me because I know that not everybody follows it. But there's part of me that kind of just wants to celebrate when it is kept in check. And is this a song that you wanted to be this directly? That's a lovely question. Yeah, it's sideways political. A lot of my stuff is sideways political just because I think existing on this planet is political.
17:00Wallis Bird: Everything, we are as close to a blade of grass as we are to, you know, I mean, the future of AI or whatever. It's all related. yeah okay this next song is brilliant
17:20Wallis Bird: it's called As the River Flows and it's in support of migrants and refugees and in defiance of racism
17:37Wallis Bird: And as the river flows While you and I are made of water Surging into history Universal mystery All in all we cannot choose The life that we were given So we move across the land to sky to sea Looking for more than we were offered Are we not allowed? Are you still where your mother pushed you out? I doubt that this is true If you can move, then I will too Too
18:26Wallis Bird: Oh to the land, to the sea, to safety, to safety, to safety. To the land, to the mouth of the sea, to the land, to the sea. To safety, to safety, to safety. Overcoming mystery. Overcoming mystery. Oh, what are you scared of? Aren't you brave enough to pave a basic decency for humankind? A baby lost its family, lost its life.
19:12Wallis Bird: Don't turn your face away, don't tell me borders are for jobs and civic order when I know you see it differently. You want your palette white, you want it clean.
19:34Walk a mile, walk 2 ,000 miles
19:39Wallis Bird: Walk 3 ,000 miles to the land, to the sea To safety, to safety, to safety Overcoming mystery To safety, to safety, to safety Overcoming mystery
20:24Wallis Bird: Overcoming mystery Overcoming mystery
20:49Wallis Bird: To save, to save, to save, to save, to save, to save, to save, to save to safety
21:25Anna Bulbrook: just safety passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. member FDIC. Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters.
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22:16Wallis Bird: Your new album has been described as having the courage not to look away. So how do you stay looking at what's wrong? Oh my God. Looking at what needs fixing over time? That's a lovely question. I think with the last record, it's about grieving and loss, death specifically. So singular person and then a vast amount of people dying at the same time, which is really, really hard to deal with mentally. so I kind of came at it from the position of looking at singular souls and the worth of humanity and how that looks in the social conscious at the moment in the modern times in our generation and the steps that took us to get to cruelties that we that we have and we bestow onto others unfortunately and I think just looking at grief and the absurdity and the weirdness and And the kind of unanswerableness of it, I started to turn to space and to ghosts and listening to...
23:20Wallis Bird: Space like physical space or space like outer space? Outer space or the spiritual world, I suppose, the cosmos. And that really helps because then you begin to listen to the messages of the world. I began to listen to the messages of the world. And I mean, they might not be right, but I'm still figuring it out. But I found that once you open that gate to the other side, then there's a lot of answers to who I am and what I think about humanity. And I don't know, there's no answer to it. I'm just trying the best that I can to be open and not be a bollocks. I think that's a noble pursuit. I feel like there's a link between receiving messages from the universe and songwriting, especially for you.
24:09Wallis Bird: So let's talk about that experience of songwriting. Can you talk a little bit about finding what the song wants? Oh, that's a lovely way to put it. That's a lovely way because I consider my songs my friends. So I have a listen to what they're telling me and I'm constantly checking in. I always try and give it a lot of respect and a lot of time. So I spend a lot of time trying to engage and be open to allow whatever is to come to pass through me. And then eventually just by way of craft, by writing multiple times or singing things repetitiously, like for a half an hour, sing the same line and see how it fits or just paying attention to it.
24:55Wallis Bird: And then I imagine it as a person or as a feeling or as an emotion. I really visualize my lyrics as landscapes or spaces, reflective textiles. I really try and visualize a meaning of a song or... You said you envision your lyrics? Yeah. Tell me more about that. Colors, feelings, smells, time, future past. I'd like to think that I can envisage new things, but I'm actually not very good at it. So I take what I know about, what I really enjoy about, like architecture or, you know, looking at this backdrop, the material is a beautiful paper. So when I think of that, I imagine, does the brown color affect the sound of the paper?
25:38Wallis Bird: What does it sound like? How could I describe what it sounds like? And that really helps me to describe the language of my emotion in visual and aural triggers, I suppose. do you ever have to give in to what the song wants and I'm saying this a little bit of a wink because you've mentioned resisting certain lyrics or certain callings from songs so do you ever have to bend to the will of the song or resent the song for what it wants to be yeah and I learned very quickly not to resent anything that I ever write because I remember I was two albums in I was in my second album and I started to say over the microphone, I'm not really into this song.
26:22Wallis Bird: And it's almost like casting a curse on the song. So that's when I decided from then on, I said, I have to love what I'm doing because I'd probably be singing this for the rest of my life. And you also don't know who's listening. And I specifically write for kids in mind. I want them to feel like they can understand it. And I also think kids are like the greatest critique of your music. If they get it, then you're okay. but I don't say no to much ideas. True story. True story you have to do what the song wants and then you better love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean there's a lot of crafting goes in and you have to because there's stuff I'm constantly thinking about the future and I really want to think in a solutionist way.
27:07Wallis Bird: I want to think that there's beauty in this world. I'm very aware of the pessimism and the bad things in this world and so I'm choosing my lot which is to be kind of, I'd like to die on stage and people to feel like I try to be warm and inviting and never damning anything and hoping for a nicer future or something like that. I feel like there's a moral quandary in songwriting. Yeah. Using real experiences to turn into songs that become pieces of art that go out in the world, but also if it's really about a person or, you know. How about you? Did you write about people or experiences or? Well, in my experience, there's always a kernel of truth or a few kernels of truth and some real experiences in mind.
27:55And then when you're crafting something that to me, that's where almost like the objectivity takes over.
28:00Wallis Bird: Like the objectivity of I'm making a song and the song wants this and it's not specifically about any of these particular things, but they're all feeding into this cohesive piece of creativity. It could be fictional or only partly fictional. But the thing that it becomes becomes real. And that's a real feeling and a real transmission. But it doesn't mean that because I wrote a song about Wallace and how we had a chat that then the song equals Wallace. Right. Or this equals the content of our experiences, people together or something like that. So it's real but transitionary or something. Yeah.
28:36Wallis Bird: I mean, it's fiction. Ultimately, it's a construction. Right. You know, it's a story based on a story that you told yourself about something that happened. Yeah. What do you think about that sentence, words are spells? I believe it. Yeah. In a way. Yeah. But maybe I would say words are stories. Words are stories. Yeah. Because I don't think, I think they have some influence, but I don't think that they have power necessarily. Mm-hmm. Okay. This is a lovely interview, by the way. I would like to invite my lovely partner on stage for this, Tracy Kay, please. Come on stage.
29:17Wallis Bird: This one is for your heart.
29:24Wallis Bird: Well, I'll tell you the truth As I only do My friend
29:36Wallis Bird: I'll be living my youth As I live till my end My friend
29:48Wallis Bird: I've been battered and bruised But it's only a few that have stayed Or left And that's nothing a hammer A nail or my mind couldn't cure But I've left people hang On a stick or a word If their grip grew tight Oh, the battles, the battles The bears that I've shared are all mine But the more you hold on to me The less you can have of me The more you hold on to me The less I have yours to keep
30:56Wallis Bird: Yeah, the more you hold on to me I'll try not to leave Peace on Earth. Thank you so much. So that last song that I just played is called Indictum and it's also a ballad that I wrote from when I was 30 years old. Before I turned 30 I had quite the ego and I was like I'm brilliant. Yeah, yeah. and it was that sarcasm I can't tell I left it open yeah yeah so I just turned 30 and I'm 43 now so it's been really interesting revisiting this song and looking over it it's about self-protection and somebody offering you something that you don't want and it could be the make or break of your relationship because I really loved this person and I didn't want them to go anywhere but I needed their love to change.
32:00Wallis Bird: And so that was a very big learning curve for me. And it's always interesting to sing about it because you have to distance yourself from those lyrics but you also have to give them a good duty to serve them correctly and stuff. But actually now the way I feel the song is based on the emotion and the curvature of how it was written. So it's kind of one of those ballads that also stood with me and stood the test of time and people asked me to sing that And I just love when people sing along with that song because community and gathering people to sing. That's my bag, really. You say you have to distance yourself from the lyrics.
32:39Wallis Bird: Is it sort of like applying a layer of objectivity to this really subjective experience that you're turning into a song or that's becoming a song? Or is it what's that distancing? Or is it just like you're not in that emotional moment in the same way? Yeah, there's there's definitely that. You know, I don't I don't feel that. But then sometimes when you're singing it, you get the exact feeling. It's like you get a smell and then you're brought right back in time. And it's gut wrenching. So there's those things like the protection of how do you continue on? And so you just allow the emotion to happen and then go through it.
33:13Wallis Bird: But the distancing, I think, is to embody what the song means to me and do it correctly. but also because it is a bit of an awkward song, I don't want the person to feel slammed across the side of the head every time they hear me sing it. I want to ask a little bit of a more abstract question. How do you listen to music? Ah, with great gusto. I love music. Do you know what I love about listening to music is sometimes I absolutely don't understand it whatsoever. And then I'm like, is this an age thing? is this a geographical thing? But no, do you know when people say I listen to anything? I literally listen to anything.
33:57Wallis Bird: But how do I listen to it? Just, I suppose I'm all ears. I'm all ears and I don't like to look at it critically. I like to understand where things come from or the workings of it. I prefer to celebrate listening rather than being like, why did they, you know, what's the story? I don't like to be critical. I like to be encouragingly listened to music. How do you listen to the world? I won't lie. I do a lot of scrolling. I do a lot of scrolling. I listen to a lot of movies. I have them on headphones when I take walks because I like listening to how movies are made just by sound. I like to take a couple of senses out of things because it's a multifaceted art or whatever.
34:44Wallis Bird: So how do I listen to the world? I don't know what I'm listening for but I'm definitely listening I'm trying to pay attention yeah how do you carve out space to create? do you carve out space? yeah and it I do yeah and it'll happen to me in the most random places like I'll be standing queuing at the counter in a shop and then the most symphonic beautiful idea might come along and then you're like oh great just trying to have a conversation with somebody and listen to this song going on in your head you know when I was a kid I grew up with seven kids. I was number six of seven. And funnily, the only place that I could get a moment's peace and make music and sing and play the guitar was alone in the toilet.
35:29Wallis Bird: So I don't know, there's something about small spaces. I love small spaces and going into places with zero light and being a little worm, I guess. But generally, I have music going on all the time because my lifestyle is so movement all the time. So I just I'm kind of a receptor. If you're okay with it, can we do a couple of lightning questions? Yeah. Wallace, morning person or night owl and why? I used to be a night owl morning person now, probably because I don't drink anymore. What's a hill you would die on? I will fight people if they're not nice to people like encouragement I love encouragement I think encouragement makes people go really far and kind of subduing people does not or being the boss of people What's the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
36:26Wallis Bird: Oh my god I'm often doing this actually Oh my god do I need a specific time? I'm always laughing until I'm crying I'm always very close to tears actually. Oh yeah, me too. Yeah. It's good, isn't it? Yeah. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
36:48Wallis Bird: Flying. Why not? I'm a bird. Be amazing. What's your current theme song? Oh, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it. Got the best of my love. I swear to God, every morning for the last year, nearly every morning, and I'm like, put it straight on. I don't know, yeah. What's the best advice you've ever ignored?
37:13Wallis Bird: When I started off in the industry, I took the advice of others that wanted to dress and clothe me and then I did it and I looked like somebody and felt like somebody completely different. So I ignored people telling me to be something different. what's one small gratitude that you have in your life right now well being here it's no small gratitude everything's actually quite large gratitude I have a beautiful meal in my belly I'm meeting incredible people and I'm here at the far side of the northern hemisphere doing something which I've followed for most of my adult life I kissed a red carpet yesterday was it a circle Yeah.
38:03Wallis Bird: It's just a random red carpet on the street.
38:09Wallis Bird: Just going around kissing random red. Yeah, yeah. If you find a red circle, just kiss it. Exactly. That's advice from Wallace Bird. Thank you so much for sitting down with us, Wallace. It's been a pleasure. And sharing your bright million watt light bulb with us. Oh my God, what a pleasure. Thanks very much for having me. Yay! Now we can make all the noise. Yeah.
38:35Wallis Bird: Oh life, I love you to my bones Oh, life, I love you to my bones. Oh, life, I love you to my bones. Oh, life, I love you to my bones.
39:10Thanks very much.
39:15Anna Bulbrook: That was Wallace Byrd at TED 2026 and in conversation with Anna Bulbrook. This interview was recorded in April of 2026.
39:26Anna Bulbrook: If you're curious about TED's curation guidelines, visit TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was produced by Lucy Little and edited by Alejandra Salazar. Additional support from Maggie Bishop. This episode was mixed by Lucy Little. And the interview was recorded in Vancouver by Dave Pulmer and Rich Amos of Field Trip. The TED Talks Daily team includes Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarnivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Valentina Bohanini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott.
40:04Anna Bulbrook: Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu. I will be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.
40:23Anna Bulbrook: This episode is sponsored by McDonald's. For a limited time, you can try McDonald's new Caesar snack wrap for just under$3. It has that creamy, garlicky Caesar flavor with crispy chicken wrapped up and ready to go. Add in a Diet Coke, and honestly, that might just be my new go-to order. And sure, McCrispy strips with Caesar sauce are an obvious combination, but it got me thinking, what else at McDonald's deserves a little Caesar? Fries? Nuggets? Maybe even a burger? Now's your chance to find out. Try the new Caesar snack wrap and Caesar sauce available for a limited time at participating McDonald's.
41:00Anna Bulbrook: Prices and participation may vary. This episode is sponsored by Kohler Smart Toilets. The objects we interact with most are often the ones we notice least. But what if the most overlooked space in your home could be the most considered? Kohler Smart Toilet challenges that assumption. Their Veil Smart Toilet is a sculptural silhouette that isn't just intentional, it's a philosophy. That design changes everything. The Kohler Veil Smart Toilet is sleek with a rounded shape that's more like architecture than just plumbing. And it goes beyond looks. The touchscreen controls and customizable cleansing features offer a level of comfort and cleanliness that exceeds expectations.
41:37Anna Bulbrook: It's all about elevating those ordinary daily rituals into something extraordinary through thoughtful design. Kohler has been pushing these boundaries for over 150 years, mastering that balance of stunning form and high-performance function. That's a long time to get it right, and it shows in every detail. Experience the difference of Kohler Smart Toilets. Find out more at Kohler.com. With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs.
42:18Anna Bulbrook: Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.
Irish musician and songwriter Wallis Bird received her first guitar at six months old and has been chasing music ever since. After her TED2026 performance of three genre-bending original songs, Wallis sat down with TED music curator Anna Bulbrook – a musician herself – to talk about the cosmic energy she taps into on stage, and what drives her songwriting. Their conversation explores her lifelong pull toward music, the stories hidden inside her songs, and how creativity can heal. It's woven through Wallis's electrifying, deeply moving performance, as she sings about joy, grief, social struggle, and what it takes to use music to bring people together, even when the world gives you every reason to look away.
To learn more about Wallis and her music, visit www.wallisbird.com.
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