Tyla: The girl next door  

Tyla is the perfect girl next door — this becomes clear the minute she steps on the set of her cover shoot just after lunchtime. It’s a big day for her, as her latest feature with Nigerian afrobeat sensation Ayra Starr, perfectly titled Girl Next Door, dropped a few hours earlier.

Tyla is among a crop of singers — alongside Starr, Elaine, Ice Spice, and Doja Cat — leading the resurgence of the Y2K pop-princess era, with that girl-next-door allure combined with flirty fashion, carefree anthems, and cool vibez. It’s certainly a funkier shift from the angst-ridden era of alterna-pop spearheaded by Lorde and Billie Eilish.   

Tyla’s fail-proof outfit is a pair of relaxed cargo trousers and white crop top, finished with her signature cornrow braids. Before she even goes into makeup, she places an oh-so-relatable order of Spur buffalo wings and crumbed mushrooms. Her bestie Thato (they have known each other forever, I later learn) is there by her side. The two turn the photoshoot into the equivalent of a slumber party, with Thato helping Tyla change into every look. Her requested playlist as she poses for the camera is “anything by Rihanna”.  

“I’ve never done a photoshoot like this, with so many outfit changes,” Tyla says excitedly when we step away for our tête-à-tête at South Africa’s first fine-art physical-NFT gallery, Usurpa. As we admire the fantastic artworks by Terence Maluleke, Baba Tjeko, and Nene Mahlangu, Tyla gushes about her stratospheric trajectory since turning 21 in January. Her biggest career highlight so far has been opening for US musician Chris Brown during his European tour Under The Influence. She lived every aspiring pop star’s dream in February and March, performing in big, sold-out venues in Dublin, London, Birmingham, Paris, Zurich, Glasgow, Munich, Manchester, and Frankfurt. 

“That moment was unbelievable because we’d been listening to him since we were young. These were people we’d only see on TV, so the fact that I was approached and just had that opportunity was crazy. Having to perform in front of thousands, on huge stages, and at many places I was visiting for the first time [made me] so nervous,” Tyla says, “but he was very welcoming. We were having lunch and he came over to introduce himself — I didn’t even know he was there. After that, my team and his team were partying every night, and after the party we were just chilling, bowling. It didn’t feel like work, although it was tiring. His team and he made us feel welcome.”  

In between, Tyla attended the Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2023 womenswear show in Milan, joining other invited guests such as Colombian singer J Balvin. To say the internet lost its collective mind as she sat in the front row next to megastar Kim Kardashian would be an understatement. It became Tyla’s coming-out party, and the debutante looked the part in a sculptural Dolce & Gabbana metallic-silver mini so shiny you could see your reflection all the way in SA. For the private after-party at Palazzo Reale, where she performed, Tyla changed into a silk-and-satin bodysuit, styled with a bomber jacket, sock heels, and Sicily bag by the Italian fashion house.  

“I was so shocked when my manager asked me very casually if I wanted to go to the Dolce & Gabbana show. It was such a mission because I didn’t have my visa and I had to come back to SA to get my visa and then fly out to Milan. As soon as I landed, I went straight to the headquarters and they dressed me. They did my nails and I felt like a princess,” Tyla says. “Then we went to the event and that dress was difficult to walk in, but so beautiful. Then I sat down, but I thought there was no way Kim Kardashian was coming. When I saw her, she looked even more beautiful in person. She sat down and introduced herself, like I didn’t know who she was. She was so nice — we went backstage, we spoke and took pictures. It was a very surreal thing.”

If that wasn’t enough, two weeks before her SMag photoshoot, Tyla attended another big fashion event. Along with fellow South African Elaine, she went to the launch of Mugler’s collaboration with H&M in New York City. There she rubbed shoulders with actress Pamela Anderson, singer Charli XCX, nepo baby Lourdes Leon, actress Dominique Jackson, singer Moses Sumney, and actress Chloë Sevigny.   

“I have always been a big dreamer, but obviously my parents and family will tell me to be realistic. It’s very rare that we get these opportunities in SA. Growing up, I used to watch a lot of Michael Jackson and Rihanna concerts; I loved it and wanted to do that. We are very close as a family and they are so proud, they get excited and it’s a whole celebration,” Tyla says.  

Born Tyla Seethal in Edenvale, on the East Rand, she is the middle child of five. While she always knew that she belonged on stage, it wasn’t until she was in grade 12 that a music manager discovered her through her self-recorded videos on Instagram.

After she had finished matric at 17 her parents allowed her to take a gap year, and that’s when she did her first studio recording, accompanied by her BFF Thato. Her smash hit Getting Late, with SA DJ Kooldrink, was born and Mzansi couldn’t get enough of the new kid on the block.

She later reunited with Kooldrink and DJ Lag for Overdue, which featured on the soundtrack of the second season of Netflix drama series Blood & Water. Her other songs, including Been Thinking, Ke Shy, To Last, and Thata Ahh, earned her the coveted feat (joining former SMag cover star Sio and Elaine) of being named global streaming platform Spotify’s EQUAL recipient in March. As part of the campaign, her billboard lit up New York’s Time Square. But Tyla doesn’t want to limit herself to amapiano, describing herself as the type of musician to release an amapiano track today, R&B tomorrow, and afrobeat the next — the perfect example being her collaboration with Starr, which was recorded in mid-2020 during a short trip to Nigeria.  

“Like I said, I’m a big dreamer. Obviously, I’m proud and feel blessed about everything that has been happening, but my goal is to one day be the biggest pop star in the world. I want people to say that that pop star was born and raised in South Africa. I want to be on Rihanna and Drake’s level,” she says.   

Tyla plans to release her first full-length project by the end of the year.