Mzansi’s newest superstar Tyla Laura Seetha, mostly known as Tyla, is courting international success, thanks to her catchy bop ‘Water.’
From clocking 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify to having her song debut in the top 70 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, the Joburg-born music artist is the fourth female artist after Tems, Libianca, and AyraStarr to top the UK official Afrobeats Chart.
Earlier this week, she appeared on Swedish talk show ‘Bianca’ hosted by influencer and singer Bianca Ingrosso.
And although her meteoric rise to the top appeared to be instant, many of her die-hard fans will know Tyla worked especially hard to gain international recognition.
The song that placed her firmly on the map was her 2021 hit ‘Getting Late' featuring Kooldrink. Even though it didn’t blow up the charts like ‘Water’, the story behind the making of the music video is an interesting one.
The artist’s conception and execution of the video echoed that of Ariana Grande who released the music video for 'The Way’ in 2013 with no budget and no record label support.
During an interview with Elle, Grande said, “Made it ourselves, and we said listen, we have a camera, we have a projector, we have music, we have balloons, we got dancers.”
In the same vein, @for_tyla declared: “She came out ready with no label, ghostwriters, her manager was the videographer, they had to rent venue for 20 minutes, her best friend styled her! She has been a hard worker from the start!”
She came out ready with no label, ghostwriters , her manager was the videographer, they had to rent venue for 20 minutes , her best friend styled her ! She has been a hardworker from the start ! https://t.co/Cj2UVJHo4z
— tyger_for_tyla (@for_tyla) October 10, 2023
Superfan @for_tyla reshared a previous interview where Tyla admitted she didn’t have a producer, videographer or anything of that type when asked who she worked with on the music video.
For the people that need reciepts pic.twitter.com/COCXwjS0Te
— tyger_for_tyla (@for_tyla) October 11, 2023
“It was me, my best friend, my manager - he also shot the video,” she said.
Thinking she was joking, the interviewer asked, “What, your manager shot the video?”
“Yes,” she smiled. “My manager shot the video.”
IOL Entertainment