Following the release of her record-breaking single, ‘Water’, Tyla’s winning streak has been one for the books! From bagging a Grammy award at the age of 22 to collaborating with big names such as Travis Scott for her hit song’s remix, Tyla’s rise to superstardom has been meteoric.
Cementing her star power, Tyla has finally unleashed her self-titled debut album, TYLA which is an eclectic fusion of Pop and distinct African sounds. The Grammy award-winning South African pop sensation joins Nandi Madida on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest track, “ART.” She also discusses her new album, ’TYLA,’ the evolution of her sound, working with local and global producers, and sharing South African sounds with the world.
Click here for the full interview on Apple Radio.
On the Pressures of Winning a Grammy Early in Her Career.
I feel really good. Either way it’s a blessing I’ve received [a Grammy], regardless of when I did. It’s a huge achievement, a huge moment for Africa so I’m just happy I was able to be that vessel for home, and more to come for sure!
On her Injury that Led Her to Cancelling Her Highly Anticipated Tour.
It was definitely a difficult decision. It was a hard one, missing Coachella, missing all these festivals that I’ve dreamed about, and opening my own tour… all of these things have been moments that I’ve been waiting for, but I’m always living by ‘everything happens for a reason’ so either way I know that I’m gonna do it, whether it be next year or the end of this year or whenever it may be. It’s gonna be bigger and even better, so I’m just trusting that God got me regardless.
On How She Found Her Sound.
Since ‘Getting Late’ – since I discovered that I really enjoyed mixing pop with African music – I was kind of on a mission to find the perfect blend, the sound where I feel 100% about it, so over two or three years now I’ve been working towards perfecting the sound and just trying new things. I feel like when I got to ‘Water’, it was kind of the moment where we’re getting somewhere.
Wrapping up the album I just started going in more and working with these people that I call the Fantastic Four – it’s Corey [Marlon Lindsay-Keay], Sammy Sosa, Mocha and Ari [PenSmith] – and working with them, and I feel like I just hit the jackpot. I finally got to the point where I was happy.
On Working with Kelvin Momo.
I really wanted to start with something proudly South African, something that is raw. The song is a voice recording that I took in a Kelvin Momo session so I love that you’re hearing the song, you’re hearing people talk – you’re hearing our accents, our language – and I just wanted people to also hear the roots of my sound, because obviously I’ve experimented a lot and it’s very much different from how original piano or afrobeats is, so I just wanted people to hear a raw South African session, and then take them through what I did with it [in the album].