In the Time of Tyla

Merely a week ahead of the release of her debut album, Tyla transformed her suite at West Hollywood’s Mondrian hotel into a film recording studio. Her close-knit team bustled to ensure that Tyla, svelte, bespeckled and rocking tousled curls, was relaxed and prepared for an afternoon of press.

“Just being called a Grammy Award-winning artist, that, I literally have to get used to,” she tells OkayAfrica. “I'm just looking forward to the audience growing and more people listening and paying attention to what we’re doing.”

You know the name and have heard the inescapable viral hit. Just seven months after making the splash into crossover stardom, Tyla maintains her musical stature on her 14-song eponymous debut album, Tyla, released today.

Across lively tunes, Tyla articulates a celebration of South African culture on her new album, which speaks to the diaspora along with having an international flavor. Travels were fitting for Tyla to refine her sound, and, in starting the process three years ago, she recorded her debut in various spots, like Dubai, London, Los Angeles, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.

“A lot of the songs that we create, regardless of the lyrical context, [they] make you move; it's about rhythm. I love that I have that in the album because it's natural for me to gravitate towards that type of sound as an African,” she says.

It was a climb for the artist, born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, to reach the international heights that she attained in the last year. The 22-year-old vocalist, née Tyla Laura Seethal, performed cover songs on Instagram as a teenager before catching buzz with her 2019 introductory single, the atmospheric and mid-tempo “Getting Late.” As acclaim for Tyla grew, so did her audience when she dropped the energetically sensual follow-up “Been Thinking” and the saucy Ayra Starr collaboration “Girl Next Door.” Broadening her fanbase, Tyla was tapped as a supporting act on the European leg of Chris Brown’s Under the Influence Tour.

Last July, Tyla met her breakthrough with the hooky and timeless summery single “Water.” The track was so monumental for the singer that, along with receiving an RIAA platinum certification and cracking the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, it also earned Tyla her first Grammy Award in the inaugural Best African Music Performance category. Since then, the world has been catching on to Tyla, who shows no signs of slowing down while she’s on an extraordinary run. But the South African does make time to pivot for her next act.

Tyla - Water (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com

Tyla affirms that among her fellow nominees, including Asake, Burna Boy, Davido and the aforementioned Ayra Starr, there was no competition, but unity in the preservation of music from their shared continent. “All of them showed love and it's all love with us. Really, we’re all trying to push the same thing – Africa to the world, so it's a win for us all,” she adds.

"Really, we’re all trying to push the same thing – Africa to the world, so it's a win for us all.”

Despite Tyla’s respect for where she comes from, her team opted for her to not answer some questions about the upcoming 30 years of democracy in South Africa we had planned for her, wanting to keep the focus solely on her new album.

Tyla was given the chance to connect with one of her heroes, Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, whom she revers, in the new album. On “No. 1,” the vocalists offer self-affirmations over a resonant message of women’s empowerment. But the song almost didn’t make it on Tyla – while the artist was putting the finishing touches on her album in L.A., Tems, who was in London, had to send her part last-minute.

“I've been wanting to work with Tems. She knows it, and she's shown love to me – the feelings were mutual,” Tyla reflects. “I remember just really wanting her for a song, like, sending her songs and she would send me songs. We got one song that we both really liked but literally the day before, I [was notified that I] had to submit the album.”

She continues, “We managed to work the record and make it what it is now, which is amazing because we made it [just] in time. So even though it was the last song it's definitely one of my favorites. Like, come on, it’s for the girls.”

Although the two are both Grammy recipients in their own right, Tyla counts Tems as a muse, especially in the esoteric Afro R&B field. “I look up to her. She's opened many doors. She's done so much, not only for Africa, but just in general, she’s [powerful] in the industry,” Tyla says. “So, I love her and what she's doing and I'm so happy that now she's a part of my story and she was able to share a bit of her on my project.”

On Tyla, the artist also turned her attention to the United States, handpicking rapper Gunna for the riddim-drenched “Jump,” which also features dancehall act Skillibeng. Since Gunna has recently become familiar with the Afrobeats space, it was a no-brainer for Tyla to tap the Atlanta artist as a collaboration.

“He’s a great rapper, he kills it. For ‘Jump,’ because it was a different vibe to what I'm used to, I really tapped into a different vibe,” she says. “I just felt like a rapper would take it further into the world that I really wanted it to be in. So after thinking, Gunna literally was the perfect choice for me, not only because he's great but because he's shown interest multiple times [in] Afrobeats and the love for the culture, which made that choice very easy.”

More quality material is abound on the album, including the dreamy affair “ART,” the rapturous and tantalizing “Breathe Me” and the gentle ballad “Butterflies,” which Tyla calls a “break” before bringing listeners “back to the vibes.” For those who doubt that she’ll achieve another sensation like “Water,” Tyla remains unbothered.

“People try to bring that on me, but I know that the music that I have is amazing,” Tyla says about the predictions. “It's gonna do what God wants it to do and whatever it does is gonna be what it does. I'm sure that people that receive it well, they're gonna be my audience. I know that if people love ‘Water,’ they're gonna love the album and I feel like that confidence keeps me okay.”

“It's gonna do what God wants it to do... I know that if people love ‘Water,’ they're gonna love the album and I feel like that confidence keeps me okay.”

Tyla doesn’t put any focus on her critics, but instead takes care of her physical and mental well-being as she recovers from an injury that caused her to cancel her first global headlining tour. Although she doesn’t specify her injury, she expresses her intention for speaking to her fans, coined ‘Tygers,’ in a candid letter.

“Even if people outside don't know, people internally, like in my team, knew how much it meant to me to do a whole tour and Coachella and all these huge things, but I needed to listen to my body,” she says. “I felt like it could have been kind of disrespectful to just leave people hanging, because these people are my supporters, my Tygers, my people and they look out for me. They really care for me.”

“So I felt like sharing it even though I didn't go into full detail because I don't really like sharing details about myself,” she adds. “I felt like what I shared was a lot but I hope that it was enough for my Tygers to know that I really care for them and I respect them, and I don't want them to feel like I would just drop them or just cancel on them. It was a real thing, and I’m happy that I was able to let them in a bit.”

However, Tyla’s given enough to hold us over while we anticipate her return to the stage. In addition to a nostalgic album and merch campaign, she’s also an It Girl in the ‘Linen Moves’ campaign from GAP. “Just me dancing and doing this iconic ‘Back on 74’ choreo – I loved it before the offer even came, so the fact that I was considered to be that girl for it was a really cool moment,” Tyla says about starring in the GAP commercial.

Whereas the singer wants to incorporate dembow, dancehall and Jersey club into her future work, for now, she’s taking her influence abroad while holding it down for South Africa. With this albumserving as a strong introduction, Tyla is showing artists back home what’s possible and has gained newfound recognition that’s “been a long time coming.”

“People listen to my music and they fall in love with that type of amapiano, then they go deeper and they listen to other artists back home,” Tyla says. “While I'm building my name, I'm also opening more doors for other African artists and just bringing people back to the culture.”