SA: Tyla shares eponymous debut album

The 14-track collection, recorded over three years and released via Fax and Epic, was heralded by singles such as ‘On and On’ and ‘Truth or Dare’, along with her breakout track ‘Water’. The release was also accompanied by a music video for the single ‘ART’.

It features Nigeria’s Tems, Jamaican act Skillibeng and US stars Gunna, Travis Scott and Becky G. Production was helmed by Sammy SoSo, Mocha, Believve, Rayo and Sir Nolan.

Since her big break, buoyed by commercial and critical success around the world, including becoming the highest charting African female soloist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 and going platinum in South Africa, a full-length project from the 21-year-old has been hotly anticipated.

“I’m very excited,” Tyla said ahead of the project’s arrival. “Because when I listen back to the album, I’m like, the people are not ready.”

Consistent with Tyla’s musical template, the LP listens fundamentally as a fusion of R&B and amapiano, with sprinklings of Afrobeats and pop. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a pop star, but beyond that, I wanted to be an African pop star,” Tyla noted. “The roots of my sound are in amapiano music, in South African and African music. Since I started experimenting with amapiano, I just feel like it’s really helped me get to this point where I created something that is fresh and new, but still familiar and comes from home. It’s a sound of Africa, and it’s something that I couldn’t be more proud about.” 

On the themes the project addresses, Tyla said: “I’m speaking about the things that I’ve gone through while creating the album… I was becoming a woman. So it was a lot of growing that happened, and me realising my worth and realising how I want to be treated – and how basically, I’m that girl, and people need to know I’m that girl.”

Tyla will head out on tour in support of the LP, commencing this month in Norway and ending in the US in May.