Tommy Cash Dropped a New Single, but Who Really Gives a Shit?

TYLA in FULL LOOK by POSTER GIRL

In conversation with the South African artist, I learn that her work ethic is immeasurable and her determination unbreakable. There is nothing that will stand in the way of her and her dreams. She’s been like this since a teen and has no plans of stopping. She was born to be a pop star it seems, with music being the crux of any memory in her life. What most don’t know is that South African music has always been this good, and Tyla’s spin on all these sounds are going to make a New York summer for the books. 

You can hear some deep house inspiration in her newest single and her singles in the past like “Getting Late” give you that pop Afrobeats sound that is taking over. Now, with her new song “Girl Next Door” featuring Ayra Starr dropping today, we had to see what else she has in store for us. She spoke with office about manifestation, working hard, and how her own sound developed.

How are you? What have you been up to?

I'm great. I've been doing a lot, actually. I just finished the tour, then just came to America. I've been recording, and shooting a lot of stuff like modeling and right now, I'm in New York. 

Me too. Me too. Are you staying for long?

No, I'm not staying for long.
 

Yeah, you have a lot, I can just see you're very busy. Everyone is like always saying what they think your sound is. But how would you describe your sound?

I describe my music as very…I feel like it's new and fresh. It's a mixture between pop, R&B, and some African influence from Afrobeats and Amapiano. I don't know if there's like a specific genre, but I definitely feel like it's still a global sound with some African flavor.

I've been noticing you've been saying you want to really spread Amapiano worldwide and I feel like South Africa especially has so much talent. What do you kind of wish people knew more about South Africa's history with music? 

I wish more people were listening and paying attention to the music and the culture, especially from Africa and South Africa to be specific, because we have a lot of it. We have amazing music, amazing culture, and creatives. The attention is increasing but we need more eyes and attention on us because the music is amazing. People are loving it from everywhere. I can see people are using it and hey take a lot of the inspiration from it. So, I want them to let us lead it.

I agree. I feel like this year, especially I would say 2021 up until now more music outside of the U.S. has been getting really popular and gaining more traction, which I really appreciate. I mentioned before I saw you at Amaarae’s Sneak Peek listening party. Was that an unspoken hint of possible collaboration? Eyes were up there. I would really love you both to work together.

We haven't actually worked together before, but I love her music. I love her sound and everything. So I loved that I was able to go and support her. I'm just excited in general, I'm a huge fan of hers. She's a really good person. So it was literally just pure vibes and me just going to support her.

Who else are you supporting right now?

I'm literally rooting for all African artists right now. Rema, Ayra Starr, Tems, Wiz Kid, Ch’cco from back home he's doing amazing, Uncle Waffles. We are literally killing it right now and I'm just excited to see where it goes.

All of y'all are really killing it. Like I'm listening to everybody that you just mentioned pretty much on rotation. So in January, you dropped a very hot single “Been Thinking” and the internet went insane. What was the songwriting process for that like?

So we made that song the first time I came to America, and Tricky Stewart came out for a session. Tricky just showed us a beat and we were looking for an upbeat pop song and it caught all of our attention. We just made the song like that one night and we recorded it the whole night. We played the song and Tricky was adding things here and there and we were just literally jamming to the song. It was just pure good vibes. When the label heard it, instantly they were like, we are dropping this next. So yeah, just pure vibes. 

Pure vibes. I love it. You say a lot of the time that you've told people growing up that you're going to be a pop star and now look at where you are. I believe in manifestation. So, I definitely think you've manifested that and obviously worked hard for it. What would you say to your younger self, that younger girl who was like “I'm going to be a pop star,” and didn't really care about what anybody else had to say about it?

I would just tell her, "Girl you knew it." You knew it. You got this and just keep going. Because I mean, there's obviously been times where I've been questioning it. I was like, is this really gonna happen? Especially being someone from South Africa. At that time, it wasn't really a reality for us to be able to reach these audiences and do these things that I'm doing. So now that it's actually happening, it's amazing. So, yeah, I just tell her keep going, you don't realize how far you're gonna go. Even my younger self, although it was a dream, these things don't happen. In South Africa, these things don't happen. I’d just tell her to keep going and it's going to be better than she ever thought. 

Beautiful. What would you say to your future self? Now you're in this position. What do you think you see for the next five years? I'm sure you're gonna be like, humongous by then. 

Humongous, thank you. I think I’d just tell her that it's worth it. Like, look how far you are. Just look how blessed you are because now, at this point, I am feeling so blessed and happy but when I get to that point, one day, I'm not even going to realize how I got there.

Do you document any accomplishments or big breakthroughs?

I do. I sometimes actually make videos of me just talking to the camera saying, this happened today. And hopefully this catches on or I'm about to release my song and I'm nervous. So maybe one day, we'll come out and it'll be golden footage.

Wait, how old are you?

I turned 21 this year. 

Wow, you're so young. I feel like your journey and your work ethic has been really inspiring. You posted all these videos on the internet, you would just email people, and just take it upon yourself really to just build up yourself and your own career. Obviously you've built a team, but from the beginning, you were pretty much your own advocate. Where does that determination come from for you?

I feel like it just comes from just my passion and love for music and creating and this whole life that I've envisioned ever since I was younger, like I'm the type of person that when I want something I'm gonna fight and I'm gonna push until I get it no matter what. That's where it comes from, my passion and where I see myself being one day.

Where did this love of music stem from? How did you get into writing songs and dancing? And When did you fall in love with this? And when did you really start taking it seriously? 

I don't remember the exact time I fell in love with it because growing up, ever since I was a baby, I remember being surrounded by music just because of my family being like such musical people. My parents used to it to be a wake up call, used to wake us up every morning. Whenever we had get-togethers we'd all be singing, playing music, my uncle would play the guitar. I'm the one that really latched on to it. Not only music, but also dance, and acting, literally the whole creative space I feel like I just fell in love with since I could remember. When I was in school, and I finally got a phone, I remember I would just make singing videos and post it on Instagram and send it to whoever. Like whatever celebrity I could send it to like Drake and Rihanna and all these people. I didn't get a response but still, I was determined. I actually started doing it seriously when someone discovered me in South Africa and he's now my manager. I went to his place with my parents and he has a home studio. So, I recorded there for the first time and I just started making music for real. We made “Getting Late.” I released it and then from there, I started my actual journey on becoming this artist.

How do you find the balance in it all, with just working so hard and being so determined? How do you balance that?

Well, the thing is, I do work very hard and when I finally get downtime, I feel like I'm not doing enough. You know, "Why am I just chilling?" I need to be in the studio, I need to be doing this.  I think what helps me balance it is my family and just being with my friends and the people that I love. I feel like it just reminds me of how it was before I actually started working towards this. Because before, I've always been a family girl and loved just chilling with my siblings, because they are literally my best friends. So, whenever I get the chance I do that, or I pray a lot or I paint or  I draw like I always try to find something to take me away from it. Because when I'm only doing this, it could literally drive you crazy. 

You have a new project coming out soon. How has that process been with writing? What's been the inspiration or the storyline or the through line of this new project?

So I've been recording a lot. I have over 80 songs, so many and I just came to a point where I really want to release a body of work and not even an album. I want to start with an EP, just a few songs, so people can get to know me as an artist, as Tyla, and just see where I'm coming from. There wasn't a specific concept or anything. I just wanted to make music that I love and work with people that I love working with. I work with a lot of African artists and producers. I'm just really excited to share that now with the world. 

I'm really excited to hear it! Are these artists emerging artists? Are you trying to put on more emerging people like yourself?

Well the artists that I'm working with now are doing very well, they are obviously emerging, but they are big artists like Ayra Starr 

and Lojay, and I'm working with P. Priime, an amazing crazy Nigerian producer. Starr is also an amazing Nigerian producer. I'm just happy that I'm able to share my project with them and have them join me on my first project, because I'm a fan of them, and we are friends. So it's just a very exciting thing for me.

I love that. I do feel like everybody's very much missing your stage presence. Will there be another tour in accompaniment with this EP? Can we expect that?

That's definitely the plan. I'd love that. We haven't solidified anything yet but there are definitely performances, once it's released.