Tyla plays with seduction and serotonin on new album

Even if dance serves as substructure for much of her exquisite eponymous debut album, decidedly directed toward love and lust, the eagerly awaited 14-tracker – potentially the best first album by an African songstress in the past decade or so thanks to elegant and expressive penmanship, a soothing tone and impeccable production – is also anchored in R&B instincts, and dreamy chords lining the entire project heighten its auditory tenderness.

Straightaway, Tyla’s sonic lustre validates the relevance of its author’s pop explorations, influenced first by amapiano and embracing the broader ‘sound of Africa’. Additionally, her choice of English as the LP’s primary language is key to its immediate international appeal.

Unsurprisingly, the album truly excels when she blends raunchy themes with lively beats. After all, it’s how she came to be known. ‘Water’, the collection’s focus track and the 2023 offering that catapulted the South African songstress to her maiden global pop moment, earning her a Grammy, stirs adoration and arousal, teasing her consort to not “get too excited” as there’s a whole night of conjugation ahead.

On ‘Breathe Me’, this theme is extended with further fleshly instruction that borders on narcissism (“Don’t talk too much / I know what you need” ... “You don’t need no air / You can just breathe me,” she commands in high whispers. The Becky G-assisted ‘On My Body’ includes lyrics such as “Can’t put a price on my waistline” and “they can’t tie me down.”

A considerable number of female Africans pursuing pop stardom have embraced a branding tactic focused on sexuality, hardwiring that has underscored Tyla’s emergence. She boasts both a distinct personality and vocal talent, and her rapid commercial ascent marks her as Africa’s potential new pop princess, bundling her into – and perhaps slightly ahead of – an esteemed sisterhood that includes superstars like Tems (featured on the self-advocacy anthem “No 1’), Ayra Starr, and more.

Underneath her sexual spunk, Tyla is fragile and in her romantic pursuits she develops a fever, rationality only returning with near- or post-breakup regret: On the bare ‘Butterflies’, which floats on a lightly plucked guitar, she rues through her emotional fog: “Got me falling in the deep end of your disguise / Sparred with a hundred lies” and on the house record ‘Too Last’ she grieves: “My first love is now my first heartbreak”.

Once in a while, she smells danger before it happens, as heard on the album’s opening ‘Safer’, her sultry voice coasting on percussive Afrobeats.

The album closes out with a remix of ‘Water’, featuring a fresh verse from American rapper Travis Scott. One would have wished that the song, because of its value to her career, would remain untouched, but in the context of music commerce, particularly pertaining to streaming numbers, it makes perfect sense.

Releasing a project that fluently hits all the marks by taking big risks and cutting through genre barriers and regional boundaries should feel extraordinary for Tyla, but as she may already be aware, the pop audience is hardly satisfied for long. No pressure.

Artist: Tyla
Album: Tyla
Label: Fax/Epic
Year: 2024