April 02, 2024
Tyla is the new face of African pop music and she’s aiming to take over the music world.
When South African singer-songwriter Tyla turned 22 years old in late January, she was on top of the world.
Tyla’s mission is clear. She’s setting out to change the geography of pop stardom.
- “It’s something I feel like the industry is lacking,” the singer declares. “An African pop star.”
- “I was not prepared at all,” laughed Tyla, who won the inaugural African Music Performance Grammy last month, beating out established superstar nominees. “On the way to the Grammys, I was like, ‘Hey, I did not write nothing. Let me think of things in case I win.’ But I don’t know, I was just moving. I was going with the flow that day. And I feel like God was just giving me peace and letting me know that ‘Girl, you got it! Like, relax.’ So, that was kind of the energy of the day.”
Throughout the past year, tons of good energy have been coming toward Tyla, who released her self-titled debut album last week. It’s a culmination of lifelong aspirations for the 22-year-old whose ambitions were always bigger than her continent, as massive as it is.
Powered by the Cape Town-recorded “Water,” a lighting-in-a bottle smash that took the world by storm and earned her the Grammy before her album was released, she’s quickly become one of the leading faces popularizing music originating from Africa.
As Afrobeats has gained massive attention the past few years, Tyla is introducing much of the world to Amapiano, which translates to “the pianos” in the Zulu language, a fusion of Kwaito house music and jazz, often driven by log drums.
- “I’m finally getting to do what I love and I have more opportunities,” the “ART” artist said of her whirlwind year. “I’ve always wanted to be in this position. I’ve always wanted to just push the culture, push what we’ve been literally making for years and years and years in Africa… now it’s time to expand and to share it with the rest of the world.”
Tyla, along with her fellow African music Grammy nominees Davido, Musa Keys, Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, Asake and Olamide represent a Pan-African musical takeover for a new generation. Besides charting the course of her own pop stardom, Tyla’s goals are to spread the pride of her country and keep the people who created Amapiano at the forefront of the movement.
- “We’ve obviously had African artists that have pushed boundaries, but I feel like now is a time when people are actually paying attention to us properly and actually latching on to the music and the culture and showing interest beyond the trends,” she says. “And we have African artists leading it.”
Thanks to her strong debut, Tyla has proven that she is one of those leaders.
