She made us sweat, made us hotter, made us lose our collective breath and made us water.
No, these aren’t just nonsense Dr Suess rhymes; we’re talking about Joburg-born pop sensation Tyla, who has taken the world by storm with her amapiano-infused hits.
You could not go anywhere without hearing her hit single, Water. The song was so massive that it launched a global dance challenge on TikTok. Even President Cyril Ramaphosa took part. Wooo, Cyril.
Her accomplishments include:
⭐ The first SA artist to grace the US Billboard Hot 100 in over half a century. The last was the late great Bra Hugh Masekela with ‘Grazing In The Grass’ in 1968.
⭐ Winning a Grammy this year for Best African Performance, a new category, plus other major US-based awards
⭐An invitation to perform at THE music festival Coachella
⭐Being interviewed by some of the biggest names in the biz, including MTV, Vogue, Jennifer Hudson on her talk show (yes, this is a thing), and even Trevor Noah interviewed her for, ahem, Interview Magazine.
⭐ Her self-titled debut album quickly broke records just a week after its March release, skyrocketing to over 630 million streams worldwide, making it the fastest streaming album by an African artist in under a week, surpassing Burna Boy’s previous record.
Is there no stopping our “Poppiano” Princess? Well, there might be.
Tyla sadly had to cancel her North American, UK and European tours AND her Coachella performance due to an injury. “I’ve seen doctors and specialists with high hopes, but the pain has only become more agonising, as has the severity of the situation,” she shared. It’s a little gut-wrenching seeing her star pulled back from its rise. We’re sending her prayers and good thoughts.
Not to fret, though, as she performed her latest single, Art, two weeks ago on the Colbert Late Show, so our pretty girl from Joburg is well on the mend!
