South African pop sensation, Tyla‘s sexy song “Water” has been dripping in success ever since it was released in 2023 with the song climbing to No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single soared into the top ten charts in 16 countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Here are 10 Things You Need To Know about the young pop diva.
1. Tyla Laura Seethal known as Tyla, 21, is a South African singer and songwriter. Born in Johannesburg to parents Sharleen and Sherwin Seethal, and raised in Johannesburg. Her family is Coloured, with Zulu, Indian, Mauritian and Irish descent. She signed with Epic Records in 2021 after the domestic success of her 2019 debut single, “Getting Late” featuring Kooldrink.
2. She matriculated from Edenglen High School in 2019 and was the school’s head of culture in that year. While at school, she had begun posting original songs and covers to her Instagram account, as well as sending them out to a number of figures in the music industry. She was subsequently discovered by her first manager, Garth von Glehn, who then organized her first recording sessions.
3. In late 2019 after finishing high school, Tyla released her debut single, “Getting Late” featuring production from Kooldrink, which achieved national success. Filmed by her own manager intermittently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the accompanying music video was released in January 2021. It amassed several million views on YouTube, and was nominated for Music Video of the Year at the 28th South African Music Awards in 2022.
4. She had been studying towards a degree in Mining Engineering, and after much persuasion and “a lot of crying”, her parents had agreed to let Tyla take a year off university to attempt to lift her music career off the ground. She then signed a recording contract with Epic Records through a joint venture with Fax Records in the United States in May 2021. She followed up her debut single with the singles “Overdue” in October 2021, and “To Last” in November 2022.
5. Tyla’s first public performance occurred in 2023 during the Dolce & Gabbana after-party at Milan Fashion Week, following the release of her single “Been Thinking”, which earned Tyla her first chart placements of her career, on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay charts. Tyla then joined Chris Brown as the opening act for his Under the Influence Tour. In May 2023, she released the single “Girl Next Door”, featuring Nigerian singer Ayra Starr.
6. She later released the song “Water” in July 2023 as the lead single from her upcoming self-titled debut studio album. After spawning a viral dance challenge on the social media platform TikTok, with thousands of fans using it over their own videos and testing their skills with the Water Dance Challenge based on the star’s impressive moves in her music video. The song became a top 10 hit in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, among several other countries. It also made Tyla the youngest-ever South African and the first South African soloist in 55 years to enter the US Billboard Hot 100, following Hugh Masekela’s “Grazing in the Grass” in 1968.
7. She performed the song live on The Bianca Show in Sweden and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in the United States. Its accompanying music video, released on 6 October 2023, accumulated 3 million views on YouTube in three days. Water hit the top five in dozens of countries, and ended 2023 as the most-streamed Afrobeats song on Spotify. The success has also earned her fourth place on the BBC’s Sound Of 2024 list – which predicts the artists who’ll dominate the next 12 months in music.
8. She won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance in 2024. Her self-titled debut album is scheduled for release on 22 March 2024. Tyla has also earned nominations for a BRIT Award, a Soul Train Music Award, a MOBO Award, and two South African Music Awards.
9. Her type of song is described as Popiano, it’s essentially a more streamlined, hook-heavy variant of Amapiano – the popular South African sound that blends house music with reggae, jazz and trunk-rattling kwaito bass lines. The lyrics of Water were inspired by Aaliyah’s Rock The Boat.
10. Tyla’s biggest musical influences include Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Drake, Cassie and Wizkid. She has stated that her dream is to become the first global pop star from Africa
