Since dropping her smash hit Water, Tyla has been rising fast: breaking records, notching up awards nominations and even winning her first Grammy. And for her next act? Sony’s new prodigy is set to release her debut album. Here, we speak to the star – alongside Africa Creative Agency’s Colin Gayle, We Make Music’s Brandon Hixon, Epic Records’ Sylvia Rhone and Ezekiel Lewis, plus Since ’93/RCA UK’s Glyn Aikins – to hear how a young singer from Johannesburg is taking the world by storm…
WORDS: CHARLOTTE GUNN COVER PHOTO/PHOTOS: JEREMY SOMA
The year 2023 had its fair share of global breakout hits but only one came from a 21-year-old South African artist with dreams of making it into the upper echelons of pop.
Meet Tyla, whose single Water – now certified platinum in the US – blends amapiano beats with pop hooks to create a track that propels listeners to the dancefloor. Helped along by a Bacardi-inspired TikTok dance craze that involves fans pouring water down their backs, Water has 451,601 UK sales to date, according to the Official Charts Company.
As well as peaking at No.4 here and spending 12 weeks in the Top 10, so far Water has almost 390 million Spotify streams. In turn, it has helped Tyla earn her first Grammy, both BRIT and MOBO nominations, the No.4 spot on the BBC Radio 1 Sound Of 2024 poll and a No.7 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – making her the first South African solo artist to feature in 55 years. At last count, Tyla had amassed almost 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with 118m likes and 7m followers on TikTok.
The numbers are already undeniable, but when you hear about Tyla’s ambition, you soon realise she’s only just getting started.
“I always wanted to see an African pop star be like Rihanna or Ariana Grande – someone from Africa on that level,” begins Tyla excitedly. We speak shortly before the Grammys and she’s in Miami, laying down the finishing touches to her eponymous debut, due for UK release via Since ’93/RCA on March 22. Oozing with enthusiasm and a deserving amount of confidence in both her ability and her mission to be Africa’s first global pop star, it’s clear from the first moments of our conversation that Water was no fluke.
While Tyla insists she knew it was a hit, how far it has travelled is still hard to fathom.
“I get shocked every day,” she says. “Even my parents are! They don’t even know what to do any more. Every time I tell them something new, they’re like, ‘Yo!’”
The singer describes her rise as, “Just such a beautiful thing to experience for the first time,” and adds, “It’s not getting old, I’m just taking it in every day.”
Sylvia Rhone, CEO and chair of Epic Records, which signed Tyla through a joint venture with Johannesburg/New York-based Fax Records, describes the breakout success of Water as “a textbook study in artist development”.
Rhone says that the process that laid the groundwork for Water was key.
“We recorded during the pandemic, releasing three singles prior to Water – To Last, Overdue and her collaboration with Ayra Starr on Girl Next Door,” she says. “Those tracks, each in their own way, provided momentum and helped set up the arrival of Water. We were confident that it was a song that could connect the viral, streaming and radio worlds, and attract new audiences eager to embrace the South African culture that Tyla represents.”
Epic president Ezekiel Lewis further emphasises the importance of Water to the Tyla story.
“When we signed Tyla, we all knew that we needed music that was rooted in the sounds of Africa, but had the influence of other popular genres,” he explains. “After an enormous amount of effort in the form of multiple writing sessions in different parts of the world, we hit pay dirt with Water and we knew that we were truly ready to launch.”
Born and raised in Johannesburg, Tyla started writing music in primary school.
“I definitely remember the first song I wrote, because it was about a boy I liked,” she laughs. “I wrote it in my diary and my sister found it and read it out to everyone!”
Luckily, she wasn’t deterred and kept singing, dancing and writing music all through high school, eventually uploading covers to Instagram. Her family supported her talent – that is, until Tyla revealed she wanted to pursue music as a career full-time.
“My family loves music,” she says. “But music as a career was never something realistic to them. Out of fear, they were naturally going to try to persuade me not to go into it. But I just remember always telling them that this was my plan.”
Colin Gayle, CEO and co-founder of Africa Creative Agency – who now co-manages Tyla alongside We Make Music’s Brandon Hixon – remembers discovering her for the first time.
“She was just getting out of high school,” he says.“There was another partner involved at the time – his name was Garth Von Glehn – we discovered her on the Explore tab on Instagram. She had an amazing look and was just the cutest little thing, singing covers, but she just had this amazing pristine tone. From there, we chased her down and started developing her.”
Working with Von Glehn and Gayle, Tyla was juggling exams and spending the weekends in the studio recording. As the time came for her to decide whether she was going to go to university or attempt to do music full-time, she knew she’d have her work cut out persuading her parents to let her follow her dreams.
“I had to become the nicest person and do all the chores!” she laughs. “Every single night I would sit them down and explain to them why this is what I wanted to do and that I really believed in it. Luckily, I was a year younger than my grade, so they gave me a year to see where it went. And then everything changed.”
In the wake of dropping single Getting Late at the end of 2019, the song started to make serious waves.
“After Getting Late, I’d got to a point where we were getting offers,” Tyla says. “And I mean, I was so shocked at the time because I was like, ‘How did people in America see this video?!’
“I just remember, every night for maybe a week or two, I was on interviews with labels – and Epic was actually the first one that we spoke to.”
Co-manager Brandon Hixon had sent the Getting Late music video to Sylvia Rhone and Ezekiel Lewis. It was the moment that would kick-start Tyla’s career.
“Once I saw the video, I immediately walked into Sylvia’s office and told her this young woman could bring Africa to the world,” remembers Lewis.
Rhone was also keen from the get-go.
“Tyla’s manager, Brandon, sent me her video and wanted to get our feedback,” she recalls. “I immediately called him and said we wanted in on this project. She impressed me in so many ways – her distinctive vocal style, her movement, her beauty, her presence... I hadn’t experienced that kind of instant reaction to a new artist in a long time. She just blew through the screen, everything about her was screaming, ‘Star! Star! Star!’”
Convinced she was witnessing something special, Rhone wasn’t about to let Tyla find a home elsewhere.
“It was a very competitive signing,” she admits. “We decided on a unique approach, expressing our commitment with a billboard in Johannesburg featuring a personal message written directly to Tyla. She was blown away, as it showed how sincere we were about fulfilling her dream.”
“Throughout the whole deal process, [Epic] really believed in what we believed in – they had the same vision for an African artist and they gave me creative freedom,” says Tyla. “It didn’t feel forced, you could really hear in their voice and their actions that they had passion for the project and that was mainly what I was looking for. I remember, like, being in South Africa and getting a video saying, ‘Tyla you are on a billboard’. It was a big picture of me saying, ‘Epic Records, love Sylvia Rhone’, and I mean that sealed it for us – we were already leaning that way, but [after] that it was like, ‘Okay!’”
Ezekiel Lewis tells Music Week that the experience so far has been “the most enjoyable and rewarding work I’ve done in a while” and says the team believe they have a classic album in the making.
“Tyla teaches me South African lingo, or at least tries to, but I fail miserably” he adds. “Also, the whole world has attempted to do the Water dance. I may have even tried it. I would like to think I do most things well, but again I failed miserably!”
Tyla speaks just as emphatically about the partnership.
“Creative control was important to me because the reason for me doing this is because of something very specific,” she says confidently. “I want to be an African pop star – I don’t want to just be another singer. I want to bring my sound, I want to bring my culture, I want to push the vision and I need creative freedom to do that. I’m heavily involved in everything that I do with visuals and music. I always wanted to have that space, no matter what. It’s just something very important to me in order to actually reach what I see as success.”
Rhone makes clear that Epic is fully on board with that idea.
“All our artists engage their fans in completely original ways,” she explains. “Tyla occupies a truly unique place on our roster, amplifying African music and integrating it with a worldwide sound. She just exudes talent vocally and physically, with an expression and feel for dance that is unique to her South African heritage. She’s not a copycat, Tyla is one of one!”
In recent years, African music has been embraced around the world, with artists such as Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr and now Tyla seeing huge success in the UK, Europe and America.
“Everything happens when it’s supposed to happen,” notes Tyla on the shift. “I feel like now, people want something new. They want the vibe, they want to hear what we’ve been making. And I see it as a blessing. A lot of people are already incorporating African sounds in the music, like Jack Harlow with a log drum in his beats – an African sound in American rap music! Just that alone, moments like that, show me how big this is getting and how much bigger it can get.”
Colin Gayle sees social media as a driving force behind the global reach of African music.
“Young people are more open to the world, they don’t have any boundaries any more,” he says. “When we grew up, there were lines – definitely places that we didn’t know about, didn’t see, couldn’t engage [with]. Social media has changed all of that. It’s wide open.”
Having worked in Africa for close to 20 years, he remembers when things were quite different.
“I have been there since the time when no one paid any attention to it, to what it is today,” he says. “I think it’s incredible what it’s doing for the world, but what it’s also doing for Africa’s youth, what they think about themselves and their value. As for why? I think the music is so melodic and it’s happy. It makes you want to dance, even when it’s not in English, you don’t even need to know what [language] it is. It’s just the rhythm and the melody. That’s what is infectious to people.”
Tyla, who takes inspiration from her world-renowned compatriots Charlize Theron and Trevor Noah, speaks about where she comes from with great affection.
“I love my continent, I respect it, I believe in it so much,” she says. “I just want people to see and feel what I feel when I listen to African music and see what we have to offer, you know? It’s something I hold close to my heart and I take seriously because I want to break down doors at the end of the day. I always have my best foot forward and just give people magic.”
There is a spark to Tyla when you talk to her that does suggest a little magic is at play. And TikTok has played a huge part in her story; in many ways it is the perfect medium to get across her infectious personality.
“I’ve always loved making videos and creating – I don’t see it as promo or work or anything,” she says as we discuss her social media presence. “It’s just me doing what I’ve always done.”
Where so many artists feel bogged down by the pressures of always being on and feeding the algorithms, Tyla takes it all in her stride.
“Social media has helped me a lot, I genuinely love learning what people like and how to interact with all my supporters,” she explains.
Glyn Aikins, co-president of RCA UK and Since ’93, has long-standing relationships with Tyla’s wider team and sees her affinity for social media as a unique asset.
“At the very beginning of the campaign, Water was launched alongside a Vevo Dscvr live performance, shot here in London last June,” he says. “Around eight weeks after its release, we saw a small trend start to bubble online, driven by the strength of Tyla’s now viral dance and live clips. We were one of the first markets to jump on this trend and implement an early influencer campaign spreading awareness and driving global uptake of the dance. As a result, the UK was one of the markets to see the record enter the Official Charts, and lead the digital strategy for the Water campaign worldwide. We supported the online activity with a strong advertising campaign, as well as a robust promo trip for Tyla, which included visits to all major radio networks, online content with influencers, a performance at Spotify’s Radar London event and a shoot for No Signal’s Class Of 2023.”
Aikins points to success across the Sony roster for a range of African artists like Wizkid, Davido and Tems, while suggesting that Tyla is “arguably the most exciting new artist from the continent.”
“I think Tyla has every chance of being a superstar: she is ambitious, hard-working and consistent with her music,” he says. “The songs to come are very exciting indeed.”
Aikins and the UK team are planning to boost Tyla’s chances by putting in the hard work on the promotions trail.
“Tyla is very much embedded at Radio 1 and 1Xtra and there are discussions around the Live Lounge as well as Radio 1’s Big Weekend,” he says. “She has been supported by both Capital and Kiss networks and we plan to do more when she’s back in the UK in the next few months. In terms of TV, we’d love for her to explore the many opportunities that are coming our way and we’re in the process of figuring out her schedule to make them happen.”
Aikins also foresees further growth in Tyla’s live performance business, with two shows at Koko in London coming up in April.
“The success of Water has led to us seeing sharp growth in engagement for not only the song, but for Tyla herself and consequently the demand for tickets,” he says. “Both dates at Koko sold out in less than a day, so I’m sure the atmosphere will be filled with excitement, singing and dancing – exactly what you expect to see from an exciting young pop star.”
While everyone on the team is keeping her upcoming music under lock and key, Tyla does offer some hints about what we can expect from her debut LP.
“There are some collaborations coming; I’m not sure if I can say yet but there are a few and some very exciting songs,” she hints.
Rumours are swirling that Drake might feature on the album, after Tyla revealed in a radio interview that he’d slid into her DMs. Marshmello and Travis Scott have already remixed Water so there’s no doubt that top-tier artists are already falling over themselves to work with her.
“I ended up flying to Salt Lake City to meet with Travis in his suite while he was on tour to get the files for his parts,” recalls Epic president Lewis. “As for other collaborations, we are open to anything authentic and natural that would not compromise Tyla’s artistic integrity. It’s all about chemistry! Tyla takes her music very seriously and we do not want to compromise how she presents that music and her image to the world.”
That being said, Lewis does confirm that there are “many artists in the UK and around the globe that Tyla would love to work with”.
“Our international team does a great job of bringing those opportunities to us and we are certainly open to zeroing in on the right collaborations to complement both artists,” he adds.
The excitement bursting out of Tyla for people to hear her forthcoming work is palpable. She seems completely unfazed by the success of Water, genuinely just impatient for people to hear what more she has to offer.
“The music is big; I really feel like it’s a new sound completely,” she says. “Obviously I’m inspired by amapiano and Afrobeats and pop and R&B, but I just feel like the way I – and the people I’ve worked with – manage to fuse it together is in a new, fresh way. So I’m excited for people to feel what we feel when we play it back.”
And Tyla makes it very clear just how much she has been enjoying the fruits of her labour.
“I know a lot of artists get tired of their songs because they hear them so many times, but I’ve literally been listening to the album every day and I love it so much”, she says. “People are going to be surprised at how versatile I am. Obviously, they’ve heard Water and a few of my other songs, but I really feel like I explored a lot with this album.”
She adds that, by now, she has been working on the record for around three years.
“I’ve tried a lot of things and I have played around and people can see a lot of different sides of me,” she says. “I’m really confident in the music that I have. I’m confident in the sound and I know that we’re gonna get another Water – we’re gonna get plenty more – and it’s just gonna get better and better and better!”
Even if she’s not feeling the pressure herself, it’s clear the team Tyla has around her are cognisant of how this much noise can be a lot for someone so early on in their career.
“Normally, Brandon and I wouldn’t travel the world with artists,” says Colin Gayle. “But with Tyla, we are very hands on. My wife, Brandon’s wife and us, we are all a team. It’s a family thing and we’re there with her to help her unpack all of the things that are coming at her.”
“We’re very conscious about the things that we do and also the things that we don’t do,” echoes Hixon. “Sometimes the word ‘no’ is a great thing. Her being from South Africa and in the United States and in Europe – it’s also a culture shock, you know? So we can’t just do everything. It’s important to be cautious.”
The fact that both Gayle and Hixon are parents themselves helped ease Tyla’s own parents’ concerns about their daughter heading off around the world.
“They know we take care of her as if she’s our child; we always make sure she’s safe,” confirms Gayle.
If the run-up to the album launch wasn’t busy enough, February brought another huge marker in Tyla’s calendar, as she won a Grammy for Water in the new Best African Music Performance category. The fact this division exists is testament to how quickly this movement is spreading.
“It’s surreal!” Tyla tells Music Week, just days ahead of the ceremony. “I was like, ‘God, you’re doing a lot now!’ Like, what is happening? I never expected that at all, especially so soon. Firstly, the category being new – I’m so blessed to be a part of the first group to be nominated. An African category in the Grammys, what the heck? It’s a win for us all. We all have the same vision as African artists to push the sound to the world. But I mean, if I were to win, oh my gosh, it would mean so much to me for South Africa, for Africa. I don’t even want to think about it because it makes me have goosebumps! But winning would just mean the world to me.”
Tyla says that any accolades only underline the importance of persevering through the tougher moments.
“I’ve had so many moments where I’ve wondered if this wasn’t for me, or if maybe I wasn’t ever gonna get the song,” Tyla confesses. “I’ve had a lot of times where I cry and break down and worry about what else I would do
if I wasn’t doing this. So, I mean, if I were to win, I don’t know, I feel like I would be a new person.”
“There are no barriers as to what she can achieve,” affirms Sylvia Rhone. “We feel Water is the tip of the iceberg – with a sold-out worldwide tour on the horizon, her debut album coming and a new track Truth Or Dare already hitting the Top 5 in the Afrobeats charts in the
US and UK, Tyla is poised for even greater heights...”
“She’s Africa’s pop star,” echoes Hixon. “But she’s doing it out of South Africa. To see that country rise like it’s been doing over the past few years and for her to be part of that rise and bringing amapiano music to the world is crazy.”
For Tyla, the power she has to inspire young girls just like her is always front of mind and is a driving force in everything she does.
“I get tagged in so many baby and toddler videos of them listening to my music and dancing to it,” she laughs as our conversation winds to a close. “It reminds me of when I was that age and watching Justin Bieber, One Direction or Rihanna, and just being so amazed by this artist and the music. It’s so crazy that children are seeing me like that now. I think about that every single day.”
Above all, Tyla wants her story to inspire anyone who has aspirations to make it in pop music, to become a star.
“I just want them to know that it’s so possible, no matter where you are,” she concludes. “Me being from South Africa, this thing doesn’t happen all the time. It wasn’t easy, but it’s possible. Everything is possible – I believe that fully right now because there was a lot of times where it didn’t feel like that. And now I’m sitting with a Hot 100 song and the world is dancing and singing to it. It just shows how anything can be yours if you set your mind to it. So go for it – if you believe in it, go for it.”
